How do I begin researching what evoo's are the "real thing"?

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http://lifehacker.com/the-most-and-least-fake-extra-virgin-olive-oil-brands-1460894373

This is a great site: http://www.truthinoliveoil.com/extra-virginity The book is a fun read as well!

queenliz99 wrote: »

http://lifehacker.com/the-most-and-least-fake-extra-virgin-olive-oil-brands-1460894373

Yep.

Store brand at Whole Foods (365) is real . . . . although all of the other olive oils Whole Foods sells are fake, according to Slate.com
Slate says that these at a Trader Joes are real: Greek Kalamata, California Estate, and Premium.
I would rather buy almond or walnut oil than spend time thinking about which olive oil is really mixed with safflower or canola.

Pollywog_la wrote: »

If I don't have google handy, it usually seems if you find one produced and bottled in California...you have a better shot at it being real than the mass produced ones bottled in Italy (but sourced from all over the place).
This used to be true, so hope it still is.

Actually, the opposite is true. The government regulation of olive oil in Italy, Greece, and Spain is much more stringent than it is in the US. All countries sell adulterated olive oil, but you are much more likely to get what the label says if it is imported from any of those three countries.

@catscats222 is a serial thread starter.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10284983/olive-oil-i-do-not-believe-it-will-make-me-any-healthier

As far as I can tell, this cat never contributes twice to the same thread.

If you like the taste, does it make any difference?

If you're cooking with evoo, putting it in hot pans, you won't notice the taste because the heat kills it off. There is NO purpose to using it in hot pans. Other than Rachael Ray, I don't think anyone has ever suggested that cooking with evoo was a good idea.

It's nice when it's room temp, on good bread or whatever. But this whole idea of spending extra money on evoo to use when cooking is a wacky notion. Don't bother! The flavor cooks out and it has a low smoke point, anyway.

jgnatca wrote: »

According to this article, the only way to know for sure is to buy directly from the producer/farmer.

http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-tell-if-your-olive-oil-fake/

Not practical for this Canadian. I've decided to live with uncertainty.

This. There are far more important things in life to get spun out about...

This month's issue of Cook' Illustrated includes a tasting of extra virgin olive oil. Part of the accompanying discussion were indications that most olive oils on the American market, as offered at our grocers, would qualify as virgin olive oil, not EXTRA-VIRGIN olive oil. This would be fine for most cooking purposes. But we're trained to expect EVOO and VOO does not appear as such in our stores.

California Olive Ranch and Lucini brands were recommended. All othere were only recommended with reservations-- most had comments from the tasters of bland or boring.

catscats222 wrote: »

Extra virgin olive oils
News came out that we are not getting what we think we are getting.
Mixed with other oils, or mixed with regular olive oil - not extra virgin.
I use the walmart evoo since i do not have much money.
And i figured walmart would not lie to me - right?
I would pay extra to someday taste the real thing that is not mixed with cheap stuff -but how does a customer know?

At least in Europe, EVOO needs to have low acidity (below 0.8), VOO is more acidic (up to 2%).One can produce VOO with much higher acidity, but it is no longer suitable for human consumption as it is, and if you happen to find any, you can easily tell by smell and taste.
Refined oil (which is what one could easily use to make a profit and pass it as EVOO) has very low acidity (close to zero) but you can tell by taste, as it really has no flavour compared to EVOO. It would probably be impossible to tell if you just cook with it, especially if you do not use entire cups of it, but you can tell if it is raw, by the lack of flavour.
I live in an olive oil producing country and it is practically impossible to find VOO, as oil is either sold as EVOO (and priced accordingly) or just refined. If EVOO is going to be a "scam" it would be far more probable that it is mixed with refined oils or even with completely different oils, even oils that should not be edible. But I would be very surprised if any big company managed such a scam, someone would notice.