Re: looking for an olive oil that tastes like olives

The Ranger wrote: 
On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 00:05:45 -0800, alan
<no-longer-valid@xxxxxxxxx> replied:
[snip olive oils from California]

Any recommendations for a brand of oil?


There are many more brands to sample! Have you tried any of the
Spanish OO? 

No.  I was warned that OO from that region tends to be more acidic.


Of the brands you have tried, were they EVOO or other
pressings? 

Usually EV

What type of bread have you been dipping in them? What 

Batard, Levian

have you accompanied these OO with (food and drink)? How close are 

So far, I have only be using bread

you to the SFBayArea? 

Yes, I live is SF bay area.

Do you have any ethnic grocers or delis near
you? Are you looking for oils without heavy bouquets, more subtle
flavors? Do you favor cold-pressed oils?

Ummm, I don't know. I don't really care, except that I would like it to taste like cooked olives.


Just some other things to help narrow down the choices.


Sorry, I am an olive oil newb. 


No need to apologize! It was a legit question and will hopefully
spur you on to posting reviews of other OO.

BTW: Could you go into more details with the four you posted? I
have two of them (unopened) and am very curious about that "tastes
like paint" one...

The Ranger


Well, I can't really say with much detail. The "tastes like paint" one is California Olive Ranch Arbrosama. My Italian buddy, who knows more about foods than I do, likes it a lot. Anyway, I would say that this oil is on the stronger side. Right when you put it in your mouth, you notice a kind of strong, solventy sensation. For me it reminds me of smelling paint. Maybe you could say it is from the more "sharp" sensation of something raw. (Not quite the same as tasting "green") I would also say that it is "almost bitter", but not bitter to the point of being bad. Finally, if you leave it in your mouth for longer than ~15 seconds, it causes a burning sensation in the back of your throat. My Italian buddy sez something about saliva breaking something down and something something. Anyway, I don't like that sensation at all. (He sez it is normal, though) As long as you don't leave it in your mouth, or eat too much at once, it should be ok. I had some today, and I thought it was all right. I think it's a good oil to use with bread if you are eating other foods at the same time, especially foods that numb the palette. (I was eating something spicy). This OO is strong enough that you can still taste it. When I last had an OO taste comparison, the ranking of this oil kept rising as I switched back and forth bewteen oils. By the end of the taste test, I had a hard time tasting the other oils. (I didn't do any of that palette cleansing stuff)

As for the California Olive Ranch (CRO) Arbequina, it was the first "good" olive oil that I noticed. (I haven't paid much attention before). AT first I liked it because it had a nice light, buttery, fruity(?) flavor that made it very pleasant going down. However, as time goes on, I am liking it a bit less. It might be too wimpy except to only eat with bread and nothing else. I went thru my bottle pretty fast coz I found myself soaking my bread in it to get any flavor. And by the end, you've eaten too much OO, and have kind of an oily sensation in your mouth. I don't think this OO is bad at all, but I think I prefer something stronger.

I guess the CRO blended one is kind of intermediate between the above two. I'm not good at describing how things taste, e.g. hint of apple and all that other crap. I guess I would say it tastes like how you expect olive oil to taste, minus the taste of cooked olives that I was looking for. I'm not sure how to describe it's "goodness", but it doesn't have any of the negatives of the above two. Medium in strength, maybe.

The Asti one I have turns out not to be the "California" version that my Italian buddy sez is the good one. It is also probably medium strength. My Italian buddy sez it is not as good as any of the CRO's. without being descriptive, I thought it was "fine", and different than the CRO blend. Maybe it was not as good.
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