How Experts Choose and Use Olive Oil

Shopping for olive oil

Supermarkets and specialty stores have shelves full of olive oil, but which one should you choose? And once you purchase it, when and how should you use it besides in salad dressings? We spoke with a chef, a retailer, and an olive oil educator to find out. They are each olive oil experts who not only know and have worked with producers (and in some cases worked harvest season) but have also written extensively about it.

Our Experts

Cathy Whims picking olives

Cathy Whims is a chef and author of The Italian Summer Kitchen: Timeless Recipes for La Dolce Vita. A master of regional Italian cuisine, her many personal relationships with farmers and ranchers in the Pacific Northwest give her access to top-quality ingredients, allowing her food to reflect the best of both the region and the season, in the true Italian spirit. She also travels frequently to Italy. She has earned her six nominations for James Beard Best Chef Northwest and currently runs three Portland, Oregon restaurants—the flagship Nostrana, urban pizza and cocktail spot Oven & Shaker, and her modern wine bar Enoteca Nostrana.

Ari Weinzweig credit Benjamin Weatherston

Ari Weinzweig, along with his business partner, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen in 1982 and was one of the pioneers introducing Americans to high-quality olive oil. He still manages day-to-day operations for the businesses in Zingerman’s Community, which has grown to 11 businesses. In addition to being a specialty food and business expert, he is also a prolific writer. Prior to writing his most recent series of books on leadership, he wrote many ingredient-focused books, including Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating and A Guide to Good Olive Oil.

Emily Lycopolos

Emily Lycopolos aka the Olive Oil Critic, is an olive oil sommelier, educator, and author with over 15 years of experience in the olive oil industry. She has taught over 500 culinary students and introduced olive oil to many more enthusiasts. She is an instructor at the Center for Hospitality and Culinary Arts at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario, and developed their Olive Oil Specialist Micro-Credential Program. She is the author of The Olive Oil and Vinegar Lover’s Cookbook and the box set of olive oil and vinegar recipes from Italy, Greece, Spain and Syria. Read more about Lycopolos and olive oil sommeliers.

What do consumers get wrong about extra virgin olive oil?

Olive oil for sale

Ari Weinzweig (AW): That just “extra virgin olive oil” means it’s good. But buying it in the mass market is not the way to get a good one.

Cathy Whims (CW): Treating it like it’s a precious commodity that you shouldn’t use. I lead a trip to Bologna and the people on the trip hoard it. Don’t buy anything but extra virgin, and learn how to read the label. I remember I was doing an event in NYC had to run to the Whole Foods to buy olive oil, then I looked at the label, and it was 2 vintages old! People are afraid to sauté with it. Everything you’re going to cook, olive oil will make it better.

Emily Lycopolos (EL): I think the biggest thing that consumers still don’t quite understand about olive oil is that it is a product that needs to be consumed fresh, even though it’s shelf stable at room temperature, it is oxidizing and needs to be consumed quickly, 12 to 18 months from harvest. The other thing that I think people don’t realize about olive oil is the wide variety of flavors present in an oil that’s fresh and sound. There are over 1500 unique named olive cultivars, and each has its own unique characteristics. So often olive oil is assumed to be a ubiquitous liquid fat, and it’s not; each is unique and adds a different flavor to your meals. Some are spicy, some are buttery, some are really herbaceous, others are floral; the tasting notes and unique characteristics of an olive oil are both deep and broad.

How should they choose olive oil?

EL: I always look for the packaging first on a bottle —dark glass or stainless steel are essential for quality olive oil and freshness. Then, I look for a harvest date, not the bottling date, on the packaging. From there, I look for cultivars, DOP/IGP, country of origin, and any chemistry that’s found on the bottle. One of my favorite labels is from Favuzzi. It is easy to read and packed with all the information to make a good decision without being overwhelming.

CW: It needs to fit your budget and how much you will use. Think about a 750 ml bottle and how many tablespoons it takes to cook dinner, it’s maybe 3-8 Tablespoons, so it goes even further than you think. It could be included in 6 dinners a week. Taste it by sampling it on bread or plain cooked beans.

AW: I would encourage people to taste and make their own decisions. A lot of not good oil isn’t going to help a dish. This year I’ve tasted some Seka Hills and Enzo, both are really good. You’ll find write-ups on those in the Zingerman’s newsletter and anything from The Rogers Collection, Gustiamo, Hellenic Farms, and Manicaretti.

Which olive oils do you use?

Mahjoub olive oil

AW:My go extra virgin olive oil is Mahjoub from Tunisia.

CW: We use Seka Hills and California Olive Ranch. Sometimes Spanish or French oil. Right now I was given 2 bottles, from a producer, Luretik in Santa Barbara, one is Sicilian and is lighter and another that is stronger and is more peppery, and I use it on winter soups. A lighter and a more intense one are to have. But then I have more around too.

EL: I’m in the midst of recipe testing, so my kitchen is full. That said, I usually have a buttery olive oil that’s mild and creamy like an arbequina or ascolano for baking, pancakes, and simple salads, I have a medium intensity oil that is herbaceous with note of tomato like picual or nocellara del Belice for scrambled eggs, drizzling on toast, and everyday use, and then I have a robust and spicy oil like an IGP Tuscany or coratina that I use for roasting vegetables, stir-fries, and more complex dressings. I use olive oil for everything; it’s the only liquid fat in my kitchen, so we go through it quickly.

How much olive oil do you use?

EL: Too much, haha! We’re a family of 3 and we go through at least 500ml a week, if not more.

AW: We go through a lot. We cook every night.

CW: At the restaurant, we buy the biggest amount because we are flying through it. I use 3-5 and decant into dark bottles. For garnishing, I would recommend a 750 ml or 500 ml bottle. The goal is to get through it quickly since air, light and heat are what cause it to deteriorate.

Are hand-harvested oils better than mechanically harvested oils?

Harvesting olives

AW: Like all things, you’ll get different opinions, but handpicking leads to generally better oils. It costs way way more and wide tree spacing is another issue. Older trees older yield, better flavor but at a higher cost.

CW: I definitely believe that hand picked is best. It is a much gentler treatment of the olive and helps prevent bruising. Bruising leads to oxidation of the olive, which affects the flavor and the life of the oil in a negative way. However there are many other factors that contribute or detract from great oil such as when the harvest occurs, how long the olives sit after picking before pressing, and the health of the olive tree and it’s olives

EL:I think they both have their advantages and disadvantages. Hand-harvested oils tend to be picked closer to ripe or at the point of verasion, as they release easily and come off the tree without as much effort, and there is less opportunity for the fruit to be damaged through harvesting using hands or mechanical rakes. But hand harvesting takes time, and is a lot of labor to do effectively and efficiently, so it can take a while to get enough olives to do a run at the mill. The olive is most fragile from pick to extraction, so decreasing that time window is essential. Hand harvesting does take time.

Mechanical harvesting is quick, efficient, and reduces the amount of time from the olive attached to the tree to oil, which is excellent. Still, most of the time (at least in North America), the groves that are mechanically harvested need to be picked greener because the harvester can damage and bruise the fruit, which also makes the oil spicer typically, and any SHD or intensive plantings that are of course, designed for mechanical harvesting do need irrigation and to be feed frequently, making the oil a little more bland with less character - but this is due more to planting style than harvesting method. Mechanical harvesting is a great way to achieve quality at scale without excessive cost at the shelf level, and making olive oil accessible is key to ensuring this healthy product lives on kitchen counters and lands in daily dishes.

Olive oil cake

What are your favorite ways to use very fresh olive oil?

AW: We do steak Fiorentina, or pasta. Make the oil the feature of what you’re eating, that is the point.

EL: Oh that’s such a hard question! Fresh fresh oil, I love just drizzled on fresh bread or tomatoes or cheese. Simply enjoyed is best, and really, I’ll just drink it. It’s amazing whisked into chocolate mousse, or using it in a cocktail - I love to fat wash vodka or gin and extract the fresh fresh flavor of the oil into the alcohol and enjoy it that way too! The possibilities are truly endless.

CW:I put in on almost everything! I would say any antipasti are good with a generous drizzle. Any pasta, if it’s olive oil based, I use it at the end, I give a generous drizzle. That’s something I learned from Marcela Hazan, and 75% or more of our sauces are olive oil-based. I like the fresh taste. The uncooked oil can make a difference. With pinzimonio, and we usually have it on the table while we are cooking. When we’re in Italy working harvest, we serve soups, a soup feeds a lot of people, and we pour olive oil all over it to finish the dish.

Also over so many desserts, especially over ice cream, but even over dark chocolate. Or over a cake, it’s become my favorite cake. I saw a recipe from Nancy Harmon Jenkins for olive oil biscuits. Olive oil cakes. I think it’s the most moist and flavorful, even better than a pound cake. The flavor works really well with custard. Sometimes I use a milder oil for panna cotta or flan.

I do notice that my cooks at the restaurant are shy of using olive oil in mayonnaise, afraid it will become bitter, but I go for it and use all olive oil. I had another mini-revelation for a mayonnaise recipe for my book; I learned that if you’re not beating the oil by hand, it can turn bitter.