This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to do an olive oil tasting. I wasn’t expecting to be able to detect a difference between the olive oils but surprisingly enough it was quite simple to identify the differences. The cheapest olive oil we tasted was from a local supermarket and you could tell. While the aroma was quite pleasant the taste was overwhelmingly bitter and not enjoyable in the slightest. It was very easy to decide that this would be my least favorite of the four oils.
The next olive oil we tasted was a higher quality oil and it turned out to be my favorite. It was an Agricole Diocesane oil. It smelled very earthy almost like freshly cut grass. The flavor of this oil was also quite grassy while it was in the mouth. However, when it reached the throat it tasted strongly of pepper.
The next oil was the Buccia Nera, it had strong pepper taste while in the mouth but tasted quite bitter when in the throat. The bitterness of this oil overpowered the pleasant pepper flavor in my opinion.
Finally, a bottle purchased at a local market, a Tenute di Fraternita oil. This oil had the most distinguishable taste but it was overpowering for my taste. I couldn’t handle more than a very small amount of this oil. It had a very strong pepper taste with hint of a nutty flavor I couldn’t put a name to.
A Foodie Visits Italia 