Extra Virgin Olive oil is there a difference?

QUESTION

I was just wondering if there is a difference additives wise in different brands of extra virgin olive oil? I’ve recently swapped to a cheaper one, trying to save money but I’m not sure if it’s affecting me. It’s squeaky gate extra virgin olive oil first cold pressed all rounder.

ANSWER

Generally speaking, olive oils don’t contain additive (unless you are using an olive oil spray using propellants).

It usually has a long life span (12-18 months) depending on how it is stored.

To be labelled as Extra Virgin it needs to be pass certain chemical and sensory tests which are indicators of quality. These standards are the minimum level quality required. So you can still have variations in quality of the oil and hence different pricing points.

There are a variety of reasons for this different price point, it could be due to blends of olives being used as opposed to single variety, the supply available, different harvest practices, different infrastructure costs and flavour.

I often buy my oil in bulk from local producers and I have a special olive oil that is more expensive from an artisan producer that I use for raw salads.

So, if you aren’t fussy on your olive oil flavour, it would be a great place to save some dollars in the weekly budget.