Pretty good video. Just allow me to correct you on some errors: Italian oil is *not* higher quality than Greek and Spanish. That's just the perception, which (unfortunately) you're reinforcing. And this perception is by Americans who (as you correctly noted) have no idea what it should taste like. Italy heavily marketed its culture to the world after WWII, which Greece and Spain (sadly) didn't do. Also due to massive Italian emigration to countries like the United States, people have been introduced to olive oil only via Italy, and thus the average American associates olive oil only with Italy. This has led to a massive global demand for Italian oil that's higher than Italian production. So they bulk import from Spain and Greece and bottle it. Greek producers were complacent with this for too long, but after the 2010s financial crisis, there's a push for Greece to market itself, and develop its own bottling industry. Indeed, the few Greek bottlers that export to the US, are expensive and high-quality. In Spain, there's a tradition of using all the different qualities of olive oil for different cooking uses. Extra Virgin (the highest quality) is the first press. The second and third presses produce lower qualities, which Spaniards also used for things like deep frying. It's posaible that Italian bottlers by the 2nd and 3rd presses in bulk for re-export to America
For me, a Jordanian/Palestinian, we mostly take our own olives to special factories where they process it for us to olive oil… that’s why you’ll find many of us even traveling with our oil, it’s important to us, and you can never find that fine taste on a supermarket shelf… and now I know why 😅
My mom's family has olive plantations in Lebanon and they make their own olive oil, and throughout my entire life, I've always wondered why the store bought "extra virgin olive oil" doesn't taste as good as their oil, not even close. Now I think I know the answer!
@@homyce It's the same here in Italy too, I grew up surrounded by olive groves and our local oil is obviously infinitely superior to what you find in the supermarket. They are often mixtures of different olive oils (always extra virgin) so they can’t taste “pure”.
Omg me too!! Im moroccan and Mt dad's family owns land full of olive trees and I've always loved olive oil but when I tried it here in the USA and in restaurants here it was so bitter and disgusting I was like what is this...
There is extra virgin olive oil, which from the first cold extraction pressure, then virgin olive oil, from second extraction which can be warm and in the end what is called olive oil, which is the virgin oil mixed with other oils, each brand use is own proportions. Usually the home made extra virgin olive oil is better than the comercial one, because the artisanal use lower pressures. I said better, but it is relative, the taste and aroma are really intense, not sure if someone not used to that would enjoy it, but from Jonhy Harris example i think so.
I live in Portugal and my father has some olive trees. With those olives, he takes them to a special place where everyone can bring their own olives to be pressed and juiced for their oil. Like a community mill. Let me tell you, that original and unprocessed olive oil tastes nothing like the ones you see on the market. It's darker and has a much more intense taste. It works very well for some dishes, but not for soups and salads. At Christmas, we always have 2 bottles, one from home made olive oil and one bought in the supermarket for those who don't like it, it goes really well with our christmas dish of boiled potatoes, lettuce and cod fish.
What you say is "weird". I think you can make a better olive oil than that. How long does your father wait after harvest before going to the mill ?? Do they cold press it ??
@@albtub I'm not sure how long he waits. But I can definitely believe that you can get very different types of olive oil depending on how you make it even without any processing and additives. This is just the way we do it here and we're used to it.
@@albtub olives can be pressed several times (at least as long as you don't use the trituration/centrifugation approach, I think) with each successive press (hot or cold) producing lower quality oil. Also, different pressing methods (and not only temperature) producee different results. Furthermore, olive oil may be filtered or unfiltered (the first is clearer, the second cloudier). Second and further pressings (except the last, which is pomace and basically the worst) are usually blended between them and with virgin olive oil to get better oils (than the latter pressinfs, not than the virgin and extra virgin).
As a greek I feel fortunate and priviliged that I never had to buy olive oil from the supermarket since I have relatives making it. And trust me , every other greek has some similar source of olive oil through a friend or relative. You can definitely taste the difference between the real thing and processed junk.
I am from India and my aunt living in Greece sent me olive oil once ... that was an eye opening experience for me... I have tried a bunch of expensive olive oils before... but they were not even close to the real thing...
can you please ship it to India? Here I've been using olive oil for the last 7 years and nothing magical seems to me in it because probably it's not genuine. really wanted to test the original one. please let me know :) thx
Over here in Germany also. Started to buy mine in a little store i know would rather close than sell fake anything (owner is Italian and a serious foodie ;)). Pricy yet soo much better than the supermarket stuff.
At least within the EU the regulations on origin and process/procedure/traditions of certain products is mostly protected and therefore action is taken when it is discovered that someone is defrauding the actual product and farmers.
As someone from Spain, it is mind boggling how (with all respect for Italy) Italians have deluded you into thinking that their olive oil is superior just because it's theirs. I know there is a huge community of Italians in the US so I guess that's the reason, but you just need to check the numbers. Spain produces way more high quality virgin olive oil than any other country in the world BY FAR. There are entire regions and communities that have been dedicated to this for centuries. It's not rare at all for people from southern Spain to have a decently sized chunk of land in the countryside where they grow olive trees, for self consumption, or to sell.
redoberon, you're absolutely correct. Spanish oil is a superior product, but they have people convinced that anything Italian is better. They have a grasp on the US market. The same can be said about wine, being Spain the largest producer of quality wines in the world. Case in point, the prosecco explosion. Cava being made with the traditional method of champagne production is forgotten. Don't get me started about Pata Negra vs Prosciutto. The whole thing sickens me.
@@sir.fuentes7642 well not exactly, everything, look reputation of Fiat and Maserati in north America :) As an italian myself I admit there is a lot of bad quality around italy.
Hi everyone, I am a Greek olive oil producer myself. I’m not selling olive oil - and I mention this in advance for obvious reasons. First of all, something I was hoping to hear and I didn’t is that the olive oil you are buying in the USA and in general in any non-Mediterranean country is a second class olive oil. Depending on its oil acridity you define the quality of your oil. All people know and buy the extra virgin olive oil, which is a B class here in the Mediterranean counties. What we produce and eat/drink is the ‘so called’ Extra Extra Virgin olive oil. The acridity must be between 0 and 0.8. What you get is actually olive oil more than 0.8 acridity (0.8 to 2.0). You can’t even grasp the difference between an olive oil of 0.3 and 1.8. It’s almost like you’re getting something else. Another product. The reason why most producers don’t achieve these low numbers of acridity is mostly due to profit and/or lack of knowledge and manpower. It costs a lot to only collect (labour is expensive and quantity not enough) the olives that are still on the branches - it’s a very intensive job during the winter months where rain can ruin the quality of the olives as well as your equipment. Many producers decide not only to collect the ones already dropped in the ground, but there others (lazy ones) not even following the traditional way of collecting them and they just put some cloth on the ground waiting for all olives to fall naturally. This method increases acridity dramatically, therefore, the olive oil quality. And now you can understand the reason why you don’t get this quality of olive oil anywhere else. Producers would rather keep the good quality locally for their families or extensive families and close friends. Who ever gets to help in this very hard and intensive task, will be rewarded with the ‘so called’ golden liquid. At least now you know. When a little of an extra extra virgin olive oil costs here in Greece 10-12 euros, you can’t really expect to get it for 15 dollars and get the real deal.
@@lewstone5430 why are you so upset by this well typed (not spoken lol) informative comment? I get pissed off at lots of things online… but THIS triggered you? I hope things get better for you. ✌🏻
As a Greek with olive trees in Peloponisos near the river Neda I can truly feel sorry for people getting scammed cause olive oil is a true health benefit! Be careful guys and girls and only buy from reputable brands.
we have 100 tree in Spain and get roughly 100-150 liters liters every year from the first cold press . So approx 5 family uses those oil .. we dont buy anoy other oils .. everything except baking pastry is done by olive oil..
Wow I never realized how lucky I am to be consuming the organic extra virgin olive oil my father produces with his own hands here in Greece all these years! Just took it all for granted!
@@yeetboi268olive oil tastes delicious. Different olives have different flavors. Some is very robust and can just be eaten with bread. Others are bit less spicy and tastes more like well olives
Italian here. I love how you adressed the mafia aspect. It is truly a scourge on this amazing land that too often gets glorified in movies and media with tropes like the "gentleman thief" or "gangster's honor". These are not honorable family loving men. These are murderers and parasites
I'm Italian and for the last 20 years my parents have been buying extra virgin olive oil from a teacher turned farmer in Viterbo (near Rome) because it is SO FREAKING GOOD. It tastes phenomenal and it makes every food shine. I still have memories when I was little and my parent would drive from Rome to Viterbo with huge canisters to get up to 40 liters of olive oil, priced at €10 per liter. That crazy amount usually lasts for a year or two, and we continue to make this fun ritual. I encourage everyone who visits Rome to visit local farmers in the small towns near the city, because I can testify they all produce pure, authentic extra virgin olive oil with love and passion. As always, thanks Johnny for covering this story!
My Nonni would produce there own on there farm in pignano provincia di (frozinone). Man was it amazing. Man do I miss them so much. BTW my Nonna was born in Italian but she her parenti were from palestine.
Damn. My EVOO is $33 a liter... though it is transported across the Atlantic and passes through more middlemen than farm to table! Either way I understand the quality of that good olive nectar! Ellora farms is super tasty EVOO. But it ain't 10 bucks a liter...
I am from Ukraine. About 10 years ago we used to buy olive oil in the exact same huge metal jars as shown in the beginning of the video. It was convenient to buy in an extra large size, so it lasts for long, and it was budget-friendly (back then we couldn't afford the expensive glass-bottle ones from the store). And I clearly remember how one time the oil from a newly opened jar smelled like fish and we had to get rid of the entire jar. We never bought those again. Now I watched this video and discovered why, so many years after. This is mind-blowing! Thanks Johnny for your detailed investigation and teaching the viewers to look for the real thing 🙏
I remember meeting once a chef of a restaurant in his kitchen. I saw a Tupperware on top of a table with oil and some olives inside and asked him what was he preparing. He proudly said "olive oil, of course!", then showed me a big bottle of vegetal oil he took and refilled his Tupperware with more oil, where there were about 10 green olives swimming. Never went back to his restaurant.
In my readings, olives originated in Greece. Ancient Romans embraced olive oil and put it more into production because they believed that butter caused leprosy--leprosy was more prevalent in Northern Europe than in the southern regions such as the Middle East. Ancient Roman legions that carried enormous weights on their backs and walked hundreds of miles rubbed olive oil on their feet before going to sleep.
My uncle in Algeria makes olive oil. I'm in Canada, and the first time I tasted it, I was floored!!! It tasted INCREDIBLE, wasn't perfectly filtered so it still had some tiny remnants of olives in it. I simply couldn't believe the difference compared to any other ''olive oils'' I bought over here.. It tasted, well, like actual olives for god's sake... We've been scammed for way too long, by greedy criminals and lazy governments.
Not lazy, complicit. Fines to individuals (not companies) involved and jail time is needed. When it comes to public health and food safety there needs to be more strict repercussions, one without fancy lawyers.
I'm Spanish (Spain is, as you showed, the largest producer of olive oil worldwide) and now that I'm living in the US I share with you the thought that many people here do not know what it really tastes like real extra virgin olive oil. I have friends who make their own olive oil (they live on rural areas and have some tenths of acres of olive trees) and it is really something completely different, much stronger than what one may find. It means a great deal that you are doing yhese video so that people just do not start thinking that extra virgin olive oil is just normal olive oil with a bit darker color, they are different indeed, and its prodiction really labor intensive. Btw, lots of olive oil from Spain are bottled amd labelled in italy, selling as Italian (legally even) benefitting from the increased price. That can be seen by the fact that in italy, spain, greece... we suffer price increases much sooner than the international market. Nevertheless, in Spain it ja still much much cheaper than here in the US. Thank for the video it was really interesting and beneficial for a vital tradition of Mediterranean culture!
No se enteran de nada, en este pais no comen para degustar, solo comen para saciar el hambre. Pero casi que mejor asi por que de lo bueno no hay para todos.
Hi, Can I ask you a question? Since you're Spanish and live in the US, can you shed some light on the olive oils from Italy, Spain and Greece sold at tjmaxx? The ones from Spain and Greece have production date and sells lower than the Italian version which doesn't have a production date on the label. I used to buy the ones from Italy in the beginning but then started buying the ones from Spain and Greece with the production date which is normally less than 2 months old from the date produced. I want to know if they are real or fake. Thanks.
I forgot to mention the ones from Spain and Greece have the region where it was produced and says made in Spain or Greece. It tastes amazing on breads.
Fun fact: During ancient times the greek city states used to burn each others olive farms when at war, because they were so valuable and it was an easy way to cause harm to their enemies. This was partly because the trees take a long time to grow before producing anything.
Not just an ancient practice. ISIS did it in Iraq. Turkey continues to burn the olive groves of Kurdish farmers in Iraq. Settlers do it to Palestinians. It's a devastating act of violence.
Guess that explains why some say why an olive branch is a sign of peace. If the trees were living long enough to bear fruits, then there must have been a long period of peace in that region for the trees to grow that old.
I'm 90 years old and drink one spoonful daily. I only buy 'Organic' 'First Cold Pressed' 'Unrefined' 'California' 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' in a dark glass bottle. You can find one at Safeway.
As a Greek, I can say that I eat very good olive oil all the time, our food culture is obsessed with olive oil we put it everywhere. It's not hard to find very good olive oil in Greece and it actually tastes very differently across regions, my personal favourite is olive oil from Crete. Also, the best way to taste extra virgin olive oil is on a piece of bread.
Same. As an albanian, we produce our own olive oil. Its true its nothing like store-bought tho, its smell is much stronger, much better taste, even different viscosity.
I'm from Puglia, the region where the Olive Oil Heist happened. Puglia produces around 40% of italy's olive oil and is the largest producer of oil in the country. You can really tell the difference between a high quality one directly from a farmer and some random producer. I always try to bring some proper stuff back to the UK where I live now. Thanks for the story Johnny.
I’m Spanish, and my first thought with the dyed seed oil scam was: you can only get away with this in countries whe people don’t have easy access to the real stuff. Even a “cheap” extra virgin olive oil tastes completely different to any other type of oil. Also, and this is hard to explain and teach, olive oil has a particular viscosity that a most of seed oils don’t. I have family in England and once spent 20 minutes in Sainsbury’s tipping bottles sideways to find the “gloopiest” oil I could.
@@Jesusiscoming24 I would use Tung oil, its food grade safe. I recommend raw tung oil as well not stuff that has been processed. However it does take forever and a day to dry but its good stuff.
My issue with olive oil is that everything made with olive oil kind of tastes like olive oil, same thing as with butter. Don't get me wrong, its taste is awesome, but different and more neutral oils are just as legit.
Australia has an industry body, and the government regulations on agricultural products are quite strict relative to other countries. The majority of the extra virgin olive oil sold here is produced in Australia. The only overseas brands sold in supermarkets are the ones that passed certification
I am Italian. I've been living with Extra virgin olive oil all my life. I moved to Andalusia in Spain 15 years ago. Here, the culture of olive oil is a step higher. As with wine you select the grapes by name (Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot noir,...), in Spain we select our oil by the name of the variety of olives (Picual, Arbequina, Hojiblanca, ...) and I can certify that on average Spanish olive oil is of better quality
I only buy 'Organic' 'First Cold Pressed' 'Unrefined' 'California' 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' in a dark glass bottle. You can find one at Safeway. I drink one spoonful daily. By the way, I'm 90 years old.
As a Palestinian who grow in a family of generations of Olive Oil producers, seeing who people cheat Olive Oil hurts me on a personal level. My family has lots of Olive trees growing in north of Palestine, all our olives trees came from one olive tree that is 600 years old still living in our land. That 600 year old tree is from an Olive Tree called Tsuri. It was brought by the romans from a village in Lebanon called Tsur (Tyre). The Romans liked the taste and planted it alot in what is now North Palestine. My grandma used this olive oil to cure all illnesses when I was a child. The taste is Divine Fruity, and almost spicy, amazing taste, and I can tell you, I never tasted better Olive Oil. And we did drink shots of it growing up. My grandfather used to say: " Drink olive oil and knock down walls" (It rhymes in Arabic) Can't wait to see this years Olive Oil yield. We Cold press our olive oil... (Edit: since alot of people are asking me, please see replies for my email)
@@MOTIIII24 It's called Tsur, or in English Tyre is a city in Lebanon, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a tiny population. Google it :) I've done the research long ago.
As an Italian oil producer, the best way to taste 100% extra virgin oil is to buy from families that produce oil for their personal consume, like we do. Also the timing is super important: conservatives free oil changes it's taste during months, in october-november the oil has just being harvested so it's taste is at it's best. Good indicators of an high quality oil are it's taste (it must be kinda spicy like pepper) and also it must cost at least 9/10€ per liter
The first part I agree with - buy from family or small producers. But as a Slovenian olive oil producer myself I can say that the real stuff will cost you at least 16 to 20+ euros per liter. There is no profit if you want to sell it for a cheaper price, especially for small ecological producers. And even homemade may not automatically mean good oil.
@@TAL97 Probably the Slovenian market is different, here the prices are lower, probably due to the higher offer. Nevertheless prices in Italy are goin up this year, due to inflation and other factors, in some zones even 15€ per liter. We are harvesting now and we I'll probably sell around 10-11€, in line with my country's prices. Mhh homemade oil is always better in my opinion (as long as it is ground in a certified mill and obtained with non rotten olivas)
The world is strange. I started watching your channel last week for some CIA history. Yesterday I was at the doctor's office and she was telling me the olive oil most of us use isn't the good stuff. Today this video is im my feed. I'm sure my phone was listening, but still... Strange syncronicity!
The Czech food inspection just did a big test of extra virgin olive oils from stores a couple weeks back. Out of the 21 different brands they tested, only 7 passed the test for actually being extra virgin olive oil. The rest of them were all lower quality olive oil, mostly pommace oil, but 2 of the samples they tested actually turned out to be lampante oil, the lowest quality olive oil that's not produced for human consumption but instead for use in oil lamps. We do have laws stemming from the common EU law for food labeling. Still doesn't protect you from fraudulent products. Some even had the PDO seal on them. Still turned out to be cheap crap pretending to be extra virgin olive oil. These scammers will always find a way to make it work.
As a Moroccan I usually buy my olive oil straight out from the press and sometimes I get the olive from a tree in our garden and then go and press it , so when i moved to the US and bought that "Extra virgin olive oil " it didn't taste remotely close to what it should be ,it's just blank , olive oil has a greessy texture to it his a raw olive after taste and looks dark green, the bottled one has nothing to do with that.
My favourite part is how the google doc and video don't explicitly state a SINGLE brand you can trust whatsoever. Like, he has the studies and the info. He clearly buys some he trusts himself. But won't give us any insight on the name of the company he buys from.
@lars2894 ty so much. Good intel is so helpful. I'll keep an eye out. Ironically kirkland olive oil from costco is the real stuff too I found out, so now I've got three to try.
No worries. Each grocery chain has their own rebranded private label of a "top-shelf" olive oil - Partanna for Wall mart, 365 Organic for Whole Food, Italian Reserve for Trader Joe, Specially Selected for Aldi, and Kirkland for Costco. IMHO, Partanna is the best, and the other 4 are on par with Terra Delyssa but fairly more expensive. With Kirkland I would only buy "Kirkland Organic Signature from Tuscany". Their Spanish and Italian varieties are subpar quality for the price. And some brands are known to constantly change their sources (eg. California Ranch, Bertolli, Olivita, Carpelli, etc) over the years. You want to look for specifically two things on the label: 1) olives harvest date (not bottled date or expiration) 2) a single source of origin like "produced in north sicilly" (more specific the region the better). Best thing you can do is to buy small bottles and taste them side-by-side.
In NZ, I was told, that oil from nz groves can be tested independently in Australia to confirm their oils are indeed EV. I buy direct from a grove I visited and met the owner and saw his small process plant and shop
Thank you for covering this topic. I used to work with a Sicilian olive oil farm, importing the extra virgin olive oils to the US and educating consumers around the country in grocery stores about this. It’s amazing what people don’t know and then when you offer them a taste comparison - their minds are always blown. Such a story behind this product. I’m really happy it’s getting told even more.
Just to say, and this is really strange to say, but I actually live in Italy and although I know that there is a difference from the extra virgin oil from the olive oil itself I have to express that not all the extra virgin olive oil tastes the same... I get that regulations about food and such in the US are to say the least bizarre, but, growing in Brazil and have tasting extra virgin oil made in Portugal for all my life, it seems odd of how different it is from the Italian extra virgin oil, but the problem grows even bigger when you notice that the ones being made in Calabria are so much different from which is made in Sicily, Puglia, Abruzzo, Campania... Just goes to say that even in close regions not only the olives that are made are different and adapted for its soil, but also its oil, tastes different: for the example I bought a five litters can of home made extra virgin oil from a friend that has olive plantations in Calabria and the smell when I oppened it was absurd, it filled my house and I loved it, the taste was uniche and much strong, but talking to Italians I got to know that so many of them didn't appreciate it as much because it was so strong and spicey, and they would preffer those from Umbria or even Sicily. Much like it happens to grappes and wine, they are not the same eventhough you learn to apreciate all of them and learn about your own taste. It is strange to think that almost 70% was fake or you guys are just a little bit ignorant about olives and olive oil itself, but I don't think that it is the case, if you take all the olive variesties for a taste you'd feel the difference what's to say about its oil that concentrates so much of it's flavors and shows so much of it's differences... Just to finish I really don't think that the "amanzingness" of extra virgin oil was discovered by the world in the 1960 becouse of some study of an american, it was always recognized and appreciated even if it was not a trend, and how much different they taste based on the variety not only of the soil but also from the specific olives that they are produced from (just for an example the best "mussarela di bufala" there is you'll find in Napoli, and why's that if all milk should taste the same).
I’ve been living in Italy 6 months a year and the olive oil tastes the same as what I buy in NY and LA and I don’t spend 25$ per bottle. There should be a strong « burning » sensation when the oil goes down the throat, which is sometimes very painful. An Italian olive oil specialist says this is how to know if it’s fresh and authentic. You can also try the refrigerator test (Google it for full details).
@@Jesusiscoming24 I don’t know about that. You could look into shou sugi ban. It’s the Japanese are of charring board, making them last for a super long time.
As a Spaniard, life without EVOO would be so bland. It´s rooted in our culture where almost every national or regional dish contains at least a hint of olive oil, from fried foodstuffs to a gourmet quality meal. Thank you very much Johnny for exploring such an interesting subject, especially coming from a perspective outside of Southern Europe where we just assume its existence and prevalence in everyday life.
As a Croatian I definitely agree. I have my own 40 trees, but I am so sad because this year we wont have even 100 kilos... There have been great droughts this year.
However, it is very sad that in Spain, we are great at producing tasteful quality foods and horrible at marketing them. It happens with many products. Spanish Wine, Champagne (called cava), many varieties of cheese, and of course, olive oil... We produce the best stuff and sell it for less than our neighboring countries.
Your Extra Virgin olive oil and wines are the best along with the greeks .... so far olive oil from Spain and Greece are beautiful ..... each has its own quality and beauty.
A 3 minute commercial pitch, a 3 minute outro, some other small fillers, and 1/3rd of this video is gone. Here's an idea for a next video: "How RUclipsrs steal 1/3rd of your life, by using unnecessary fillers"
Thanks for bringing this up. Constantly during the video I had the impression that filler descriptions and commentary, dramatic pauses and just the general conduction of the video had the sole intent of making this video longer. Kind of frustrating to be honest.
I get u, it’s like “dude we’re not here for shopping”. When the pitch starts I fast forward until I hear them talking about “use our promo code for 15% off ect….” 😝 usually spot on lol🤷🏻♂️
I was hoping we would learn how to test our oil since the vid was so much longer than the rest. Sounds like ph test could be easily done by anyone, but what to look for?
As an Spaniard, I can really tell that italians really know how to sell their products better than us, even when Spain has the biggest tradition and production of olive oil in the world...more than 40%
It's one of the reasons I live here. I buy my EV olive oil, directly from the people who grow the trees. EDIT: If you come to Italy to visit, go to an open Saturday morning market, and find the lady with the rough unmarked, or hand-marked bottles. My friends have nice but very simple labels, and they hand-fill-in the year of the gathering. Buy a small 100ml bottle and taste it. Then decide if you want to take some back. But at least taste it. Then go visit the monuments and museums. And then eat.
First of all, very good video Johnny, as usual. A word of advice for my US friends, being an Italian. The price of good EVO in Italy is about 9 to 12 Euros a Litre, anything below that is considered for mass consumption and starts to raise red flags, so being on the other side of the Atlantic and considering import fees, shipping, distribution and various middlemen it's improbable to pay it less than about 25-30 a Litre. An immediate red flag for you should be the size of the bottle. EVO is sold in 1 liter bottle or 3/4 liters for some boutique oils. If you find a bottle that is in exact Oz that's an immediate red flag. You should also understand the process. Extra virgin means that it is the result of the first "gentle" pressing of the fruit. The fruit is not heated to induce the release of oil so it's cold pressed. After this first passage and the EVO is extracted there's a second one. We call this just Olive Oil (no extra virgin). It's still good oil and it's used for mass consumption, usually for cooking and its price is usually half of EVO. There's also a third pressing that is much stronger and usually also crushes the seed of the fruit. We call this third pressing "Sansa" and it's mainly used for animal feed or cosmetics. You can still buy it and eat it and if it comes from a reputable source it still ha some decent nutrients attached to it but it's usually sold to manufacturers of other types of product. Sadly, despite having a very strict wine labeling procedure, we don't do the same for EVO, so we usually choose brands based on price or word of mouth or first hand experience. Basically we buy the best stuff we can afford, because, being EVO 90% of our culinary fats, it really adds up in our family budget. I usually buy, for example, about 3 liters a month for a two people household, so if I choose to buy the good stuff, I sped about 60 euros a month just for cooking fats. So to recap the long comment, be doubtful of imperial units sized bottles. Be doubtful of oil that is too green (good EVO is really yellow, especially if unfiltered). Be doubtful (always) of cheap oil. It costs a lot even here where it is made, it's impossible that it costs there less than it costs here with no shipping. tariffs and middlemen.
Wait. I might be miss remembering, but when I was 8 years old, my family used to bring olives to the town's mill and get *some kind* of olive oil, that was greenish. And I'd say that olive oil that we get from farmers it's also greenish. What's wrong with that?
@@Taka.1011It mainly depends on the variety and color of the olives. Green Is chlorophyll so it's not and intrinsic flaw for It to be greenish but One of the most common wats to cheat on oil quality Is to add chlorophyll. If you know the source there's no reason for doubt 😊
This is good info. As an American, I feel like olive oil is a bit like the Emperor has no clothes. People like to believe that they are the exception, that their preferred brand is actually the real thing and that they would know if they were consuming bad or fake olive oil. Personally, I've always hated "olive oil," and everyone (other Americans using the same olive oil I hate) are like, "Oh, but it's so good for you. It's superior to all other oils, the flavor is incomparable," etc. etc. I've just been like, I don't know, I just don't like it. Then I read Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat and she says that most people in America are consuming rancid olive oil and thinking that that is how olive is supposed to taste. That was a big eye-opener for me. This video is, again, confirmation that I've probably never tasted authentic high-quality olive oil, and that my taste buds are not defective. Even the boutique brands that aren't in grocery stores and supposedly authentic I am skeptical of. I guess I'm going to have to travel to Italy and go straight to the source.
Great info Johnny! Although I live in Germany, I have some great Italian restaurants here in my part of town. They are all from Sicily and southern Italy. Once a year they harvest the olives and then they bring huge containers of the olive oil here. I also notice how the taste of the oil changes in six months after they have opened the containers. In the beginning the oil is amazing, be it for garlic spaghetti con peperoncini, or spaghetti al pesto! The olive oil is always the most important element! It is also also good to drink a tablespoon of it in the morning before eating just to get your digestive system working!
yeah but mutti and la molisana slap hard as an export food. idk if they have a good repuration in italy but here in poland these 2 brands are miles better than barilla overrated shit
@@ImotekhtheStormlord-tx2it Italians eat a lot of Molisana pasta. In my opinion is the best. I've been to Kielce in Poland recently for work and I've seen that Molisana was selling good there, you have good tastes!
I'm glad that you mentioned the fact that Spanish EVOO is actually being sold as "Italian" EVOO. It's good to remember that half of the global production of olive oil comes from Spain. But well, Italians are really good at marketing and their food is also amazing.
Evoo also shouldn't be used to cook with. It has a high amount of solid plant material still in it. Even though it's microscopic its in there. It also loses its flavor when cooked or can add a bitter flavor. Refined olive oil is good for cooking. In America its labeled olive oil or light olive oil. This stuff has been refined and is a great med temp cooking oil. In my kitchen I use extra virgin olive oil for cold dishes or as a flavor oil at the end of cooking. I use olive oil to use as a binder for meat rubs, on brussel sprouts, asparagus, potatoes, or med heat cooking. I use avocado oil for high heat cooking, normally on a pan to sear something. I would use peanut oil for deep frying if I deep fried stuff. And butter is always good on stuff too! When I buy EVOO I treat it like buying my truffle oil. I'm not afraid to spend more because I don't use it near as much as I used too since finding refined olive oil. I look for Italian origin, a brand I trust, and I'm okay spending more. I think my personal favorite would be Ellora farms. Edit: my two other oils are flavor oils. I love toasted sesame oil in things, and my newest oil is TRUFF's truffle infused olive oil. So I guess I have 3 cooking oils (butter, light olive oil, avocado oil) and 3 flavor oils (EVOO, toasted sesame, truffle) Also when I researched truffles. Black truffle tastes like a more potent white truffle. While white truffles are much more expensive than black ones. So a black truffle oil will offer more of the same flavor for less money!
@@brandonhoffman4712 EVOO is excellent for cooking it has a smoke point of 375°. People have used EVOO for medium frying and cooking for centuries. That thought that EVOO can't be used for frying has been debunked years ago. Look it up.
You are wrong. Regards from Spain a country with an average of 5 years more life expectancy than the USA cooking with EVOOil, natural cold press olive oil. The taste of food cooked with EVOOil is wonderful, much better for me and for anyone who enjoys EVOOil taste and its health qualities. Refined olive oil may be also a good oil to cook but it is obtained with chemical dissolvents and does not have the health qualities of EVOOil. Is it better refined olive oil than other seed oils, such as canola, soy, corn, sunflower, etc.? yes, as the transparent refined product obtained of very low olive oil quality that requires for human consumption a chemical treatment to take away excessive acidity, bad smell and taste of those low-quality oils obtained from olives in bad conditions, it is usually mixed in Spain with a percentage of the good stuff EVOOil to provide it with some olive color and taste, if that is the case in your country product given that when I travel to America, Asia, or Africa, olive oil in those continents, either EVOOil or other olive oil qualities, usually it does not taste as the original product. Yes, generally they are from Italy as per the label. The major advantage of refined olive oil over EVOOil is the price. It is cheaper. Then those who are not used to EVOOil taste may prefer refined olive oil because as it is a mix largely made of refined olive oil left odorless and tasteless it tastes much less olive oil than the real thing. Good marketers those Italians but better olive oils producers than Spain's they are not.@@brandonhoffman4712
Sounds like paradise! Hopefully you guys keep your island cleaner than Crete... I've been there twice so far and LOVE the island, but the amount of trash I see all over the place breaks my heart! It's paradise, people! Treat it as such!
A public company should be accountable for assesment of all the Olive Oil manufacturers and provide citizens with detailed reports so that they are able to understand which is better. Prices will jump, but it's better to have a 10% rise, than overpaying for a fake product.
Here's a tip: If you know any Italians, ask them if they know anyone who owns olive trees or sells olio novello (extra virgin oil from olives that have just been harvested and pressed). Chances are, they know someone who can provide you with a bottle. You'll discover the spicy flavors of olio novello like never before. Enjoy it over a slice of toasted, artisanal bread.
when I used to live in South Asia, I used to believe that the extra virgin olive oil that I got in supermarkets were real, until I shifted to the middle east and tasted real olive oil. The taste difference and richness of oil was so much apart.
When I first started "eating clean" and learning about dieting and stuff, I came across videos from small channels about this topic. I thought it was a conspiracy of some sort back then. Thanks for proving me wrong!!
Yup very true. I went to Italy and met a local farmer. Tried their olive oil and it blew my mind! The ones you can get from known public sources in Italy was good but not this good. Going back to Canada, the olive oil we get in stores is pure trash.
Drinking it raw is definitely not weird. I am from Syria, and specifically from the western countryside of Hama, an olive-producing region. During the harvest season, we used to drink a little glass of olive oil first thing in the morning. Nice video. I think once you taste/see the real stuff, it is so easy to identify the bad/mixed stuff.
it all depends on the quantity that is drink, a spoon every morning is normal going around with a oil bootle and drinking it as water is definately wierd.
Something to remember: Every olive oil that is produced AND bottled in Greece (especially in Peloponesse in regions like Kalamata) that says Extra Virgin on its label AND is in a DARK bottle, is at least as good as any "premium" Italian olive oil in a fancy bottle and is much cheaper, and usually much better.
Is it possible to make a video explaining why teeth and eyes were conveniently left out of health care? I would love to hear your take on it, honestly.
Eyes and especially mouth are the windows to your health. It makes perfect sense for the medical community to leave out these two and make money out of people just by treating and not curing. Otherwise they would all become jobless😅 Most students in pharmacy don't know a crap about chemistry and don't even understand physiology and anatomy. These kinds of people come up with drugs like the wonderpill and then you wonder why every drug has zillion side effects.
Semi same in the UK, dentists aren't covered under the NHS unless you're under 18 or you have either a disability or are on benefits. I think it's actually a great video idea, I've always wondered why because it's still a type of medical care.
Wow! This is one of the best videos of Johnny Harris and I'm so proud to see how much he - as an American - understands and appreciates this special food from the Mediterranean. Good olive oil is hard to find even in Italy. You never know what's the trick (most of times, a legit quibble) that food companies use to label the bottle with the most attractive names and features. I came to the conclusion that the best Italian extra virgin olive oil is the one you have the luck to pick and harvest on your own, in your family olive grove (or at your friend's farm). Whatever else you may find at the supermarket (in Italy or abroad) is just "oil", even if it's a real and authentic "extra virgin". It may taste like "wow" but you can't catch the feeling of what really olive oil is by just opening a bottle. Yesterday I picked the olives of my grove from some 300+ years old olive tree. I got the help of my family and 2 friends of mine (of course they will be rewarded with some liters of oil). While picking the olives I was thinking about how many people and families used to feed from the same tree. Generation after generation. And these trees will definitely live longer than me and my son. Finally we went to the frantoio (olive mill) with a good 500 kgs of olives to press (we would take 50 liters out of that). The scent of the cold pressed new oil was so intense that I got tears in my eyes. I could even feel the "taste" by just smelling the air in the room. There were families showing their kids how's the machine working to extract this yellow gold from a black bead. Farmers were waiting for their turn to press their olives and everybody was talking to each other about the weather, olive diseases, yields and - of course - recipes for the most epic "bruschetta" they will have within 1 hour time, just the time to get back home with the precious liquid. Few people in the world have the luck to experience all of this, I know. Most of Italians simply don't know about scams and frauds just because most of us don't buy it. Instead, we make our own homemade olive oil. "Making" oil with this whole immersive experience is something incredible. Just come and visit Italy NOW to feel all of this.
Sorry but no. I’m Spanish, grew up with the real deal, Costco is what we buy here in the US, but it’s no where near the real deal, it doesn’t smell like olive oil, it doesn’t taste like olive oil, it says it comes from 3 different countries in the label.. it’s Ok but it’s not olive oil 😊
I did some research and found a family owned business in Rome, they have their own olive plantation and a tiny supermarket in Rome. Not in a tourist area but somewhere locals live. So when I visited Rome I went to that store and got 3 bottles of their olive oil. And it was amazing! I gifted one bottle to my parents. It tasted fresh like grass and it felt like silk on the tongue. Oh by the way, if your ear hurts and you have the real deal olive oil, you can drop a few drops into your ear and you'll get better quickly.
I live in the UK. Whenever I’m at a supermarket I literally will spend 20 minutes looking through all the various labels on the bottles. I knew that a lot of the oils are ‘fake’. However I didn’t realise it was this bad and that the Mafia was involved! Thank you again for yet another hugely informative video ❤
i lived there for 5 years and trust me u cant find real one... i grow my own since i am kid here in italy and that is in my opinion diluted or just low quality olive, even when i was working at sushi samba they would buy mediocre one and pay full price, when i bought mine (with other delicacies) they got mindblown beyond belief xD u can find decent ones in little italy but its mostly big franchises oil, decent but still far from the spicy and greasy real one
@@verde2762 I was just about to ask, how can I find a real one in the UK? 😢 Is there any brands that ship to the UK that we could order online, that you know of?
There some specialist retailers for olive oil in the U.K. (two in Borough market for example) that may have good stuff. Otherwise getting top quality Greek or Spanish oil (look for a Greek or Spanish shop selling it) may be the best bet.
Not really a secret. As someone that grew up around a Mediterranean diaspora, olive oil brought back from friends farms in repurposed 2L water bottles was like gold.
I am from Greece, and it's pretty well known fact here that much of our olive oil is sent to Italy and rebranded as Italian extra virgin olive oil. Amazin'
Σπουδάζω Αγγλία οπότε έχω δοκιμάσει κάθε είδος ελαιόλαδο που υπάρχει, κ το ελληνικό είναι όντως μακράν καλύτερο από το ιταλικό κ το ισπανικό, οι Ιταλοί απλά έχουν πολύ καλό marketing ρε φίλε
We are all very aware in the Mediterranean region of how important quality food has in our lives, olive oil being one! I feel I need to stress though that Spain is the major producer of olive in the world and has as good or better quality olive oil that Italian has. In many cases, good Italian olive oil has been produced in Spain and relabelled in Italy. You mentioned in you video that cheap Spanish olive oil is sold by the Italian mafia, however Italy can sale their own cheap olive oil to unaware buyers. I think we need to clarify that not because the oil comes from Spain is cheep. I love your videos by the way. Keep it up. Can we have more on food orígenes? The banana video was excellent !
Excellent video as usual. Cought my eye as recently expanded one of my companies into food products, including an EVOO from my parents' birth region, Sparta, Greece. Over the past 11 months I had to learn a lot and still know very little. And because all of our products are private labels, the responsibility involved is even higher. Videos like this are of great importance for people who have no access to such knowledge. My congrats to the team.
For anyone wanting to get into the deep rabbit hole of olive oils, focus on finding EVOOs that use single varietals (types of olives) to figure out which specific olives you like as it influences the flavor the most (although processing and handling do too). My personal favorites are the Italian varieties of Itrana and Moraiolo for raw/fresh tasting purposes, and Greek Koroneiki olives are good for use in baked goods or, more generally, as a butter replacement. Also, good EVOO has a high smoke point, so it'll be fine for sauteeing and frying.
@@erzsebetkovacs2527 they just don't know what they're talking about. lower quality olive oils have lower smoke points though, and this figure is often listed on reference lists of oil smoke points, so it may be part of where the myth comes from
The best olive oil I've ever tasted came from an actual local Greek farmer while I was in Greece. We were eating at his local restaurant and he offered to sell us the oil he had just made. It was bottled in regular plastic bottles with no labels and it tasted amazingly. You could actually just drink it, it was that good.
@@OldtimeytoolsWhy? Because he put it in a plastic bottle? Believe me if somebody dilutes their oil in Greece, all the locals will know and he will get shunned. There is no reason to dilute the oil if you are producing a small batch for you and your family, and maybe to sell some. That's why local producers have the guaranteed best oil, and pretty much everyone in Greece is using ONLY evoo at home..
I only buy 'Organic' 'First Cold Pressed' 'Unrefined' 'California' 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' in a dark glass bottle. You can find one at Safeway. I drink one spoonful daily. By the way, I'm 90 years old.
I lived in Spain for several years, and I can say with absolute certainty that Spaniards value their olives and olive oil VERY highly. If you ever visit, taste the olives at an olive shop (yes, those exist). It will completely change your perspecitive of what olives even are. And if you want a better price here in the states, trust me, buy genuine Spanish olive oil from a reputable source. It's as good or better than most italian oil. The stuff will transform the way you eat.
Thank you for pointing it out. When he said Italian oil is the best in the world all I could think is "nope, he has no clue about good Spanish olive oil". We control 30% of that market for a reason! It's a huge cultural thing here, and my family look at me weird because I cook with margarine as it's less calorically dense, but it'd be the same with butter. People don't use them, everything (except deep-fried stuff) is fried with olive oil here
Living in rural Greece, most of the people I know, have their own olive trees and they make their olive oil by themselves. That’s common all across Greece and I assure you that although this olive oil is not extra virgin, it’s day and night compared to any other processed “extra virgin olive oils”.
@@Serena-or7sl I know, thats what I said. The quality of the olive oil also has to do with the acidity of it, which is determined to the amount of branches attached to the olives.
@@Giannis. what do you mean the amount of olives per branch?because my olive branches are denser that grapes and i get amazing acidity everytime 0,3-0,4
My mum was Turkish and would fly to Bodrum once a year specifically to harvest the olives from her tree and produce fresh olive oil with it. I live in the UK and it's crazy how sheltered we've become from to the point we have no idea what we're putting in our bodies, we just see them as magical things that we buy with no connection to nature at all.
I recently moved to Croatia and you can buy olive oil from grannies here. There is even a museum here for olive oil. Then one day I’ve met a local girl and she said did you know that probably all olive oil is fake in Europe, I couldt believe her thought she’s crazy. Thanks so much for this video! Great analysis and I’m going to so much enjoy every damn bottle I will buy from the local grandma.
@@ItatiaiaBR No also in the EU there is a lot a shitty fake oil. Maybe not to the extend as in the US, but supermarket oil here is def not comparable to real olive oil
I first had real olive oil at age 29. I did research, bought real oil, took one sip, and immediately realized that I had NEVER had real olive oil before! It is spicy, extremely grassy tasting, and burns the throat slightly.
Depends on the age of the olives when harvested too. Earlier harvests yield less but have more flavour. Later harvests yield more and taste smoother and such oils are generally cheaper. There is a really good epicurious video about this on youtube.
I use a cheaper extra virgin olive oil when frying or cooking at higher temperatures because a lot of the volatile compounds get evaporated or cooked away. Always finish with a good olive oil for flavour however, or for making a salad dressing when it can stay cold.
I have been living in Spain for almost 6 years now and I can say that having access to good and authentic extra virgin olive oil is a game changer on how I prepare and cook my meals. EVOO has an acquired taste. Here, there are numerous brands, from big suppliers to small olive oil factories, and you get to play around the intensity of flavour you want. That being said, it would be difficult for countries that don't have easy access to this product to discern which one is real or not. A normal EVOO here for cooking is around 6-10€ (1 liter) so it is insane for me to think of paying 25$ for a small bottle.
I'd still be willing to pay that price knowing I'm getting the real stuff; I checked out his doc in the link, but I'd like to know what are some commonly available brands in US stores that meet all those criteria? I've been to some olive oil tastings, and all I know is that the real, high quality stuff has a distinct combination of bitterness and zestiness that has a pleasant mouth feel, and slightly burns your throat. If it's harsh on the pallate and throat, the acidity is too high, which means it's likely fake or old. If I'm being real though, I mostly use oils for cooking, and I can get the same nutritional benefits of olive oil, primarily the high Omega 3 content, from other oils.
in spain theres no "fake" olive oil, it is label by the procedence, the worst olive oil available is the one that contains the bones of the olive and skin@@nahor88
As a Turkish Mediterranean and someone who’s family has an olive farm and produce to give away to friends and use our own, I only buy either rarely known Turkish brands which are from small family run farms or Greek brands as an expat living in Dubai. PS: If you taste a real extra virgin olive oil, you’ll get to know how to differentiate them. Stay healthy everyone 🤞
I am Greek and have been scammed by some of our local (non branded) producers that you find around tourist areas. Better buy branded (and official quality controlled by authorities), but small. In Dubai try Zois Fine Food :)
Ben de Manisalıyım, bizde de yağ eşten dosttan hediye olarak veya para ile alınır. Ben hayatımda marketten yağ aldığımı hatırlamam. Bunu izleyince memlekete şükrettim, bu ülkede hemen herkesin ev yapımı yağ aldigi arkadaşı vardır.
You're Turkish. Why the need for the extra description? You should also separate yourself from other Turks by detailing your ancestors, height, education level, eye colour etc.
I’m so lucky to live in Europe and close to Greece. I live in Romania and I buy my genuine olive oil from an older farmer in Greece which my uncles has known personally for almost 30 years. I buy every season a barrel of 19 liters for 150 euros and it lasts me through the year. The flavour and slight bitterness is unmistakeable.
I recently went to a olive oil class (I'm weird too, Johnny😁) at Olive Brooklyn and learned what the real thing tastes like which is slightly bitter, grassy and sometimes a touch of peppery-ness. Since changing my diet, I feel like I'm just now learning what food actually tastes like and it's both eye opening and sobering. Great video!
Living in Australia, has some great health benefits. Among other things, rigorous food testing means that we're mostly free from these kinds of scammers and we grow our own.
@@MisterF_1984 many of the cheaper ones you find at woolies are still mixed with other hydrogenated vegetables oils (those not labeled as extra virgin). You can find decent legit brands like cobram estate, but still not as good as a proper family-owned EVOO. If you want top quality olive oil in Australia, get in either from directly from organic farms or at specialized delicatessen stores but expect to pay at least around $40 for a 500ml bottle.
In the late 90's, as a business student, I was able to talk to a relevant portuguese producer that told me he would only sell 15% of his juice to local market, Spain, UK and Brazil. The remaining was sold in bulk to Italy and they would label it as local and got unreal margins. I think that was it, not fake mixures, people would drink quality anyway.
Even in Italy, a lot of stuff on supermarket shelves will say something about olives being of EU and non EU origin. Saw this in France as well. Honey is the other big industry like this. The irony of course is that Tunisian olive oil and Spanish olive oil are not worse than Italian at all. I think the best olive oils I tasted were from Portugal (family friends hand produced), Tunisia, and Jaen in Spain 😂
@@scott9334i'm italian, i have tried various oil from a various region of italy, and every region oil have different taste from each other, there are some more spicy, some more sweet, some more acid, this is the same for all the other regio of mediterranean see
My family is poor and they worked as simple workers for years in Greece, they were collecting olives and other vegetables, and were able to get this olive oil at lowest prices possible so growing up I used to taste the olive oil as it is and my buds are used to it , I don’t think anyone could fool me !
A Greek olive oil producer from Zakynthos taught me that no genuine olive oil should have more than 13g of saturated fat / 100 ml. Dunno how true that is but since then I always check the label and if its 13 or above I hard pass. I did notice that indeed, the ones under 13 taste a lot more "green and fresh" and give me less of a reflux reaction (its still straight oil, so use sparingly). Also, I know everyone is all over Italian olive oil, but do give other regions a try. Middle East, Greece, Spain, etc.
As a member of a family of small oil producers I want to thank you. You are doing us only good when exposing the frauds. P.S. It's well known here in Greece the Italians are buying our olive oil for cheap to resell it as Italian native afterwards. We have the good stuff, but we don't know how to do the marketing.
@@kamela1958 Sorry, we don't even do bottling. We have limited quantities for us and for friends only. I guess the good thing is to attract you back in Greece to enjoy some more. 😀
It’s about time someone called out the barstardisation of olive oil. Only recently I was made aware of this type of practice, whereby vegetable oil was added during the processing of the fresh olives from a now elderly person who use to work in an olive mill 50+ years ago. Keep up the good work Johnny!
This reminds me of the Austrian wine scandal. Some Austrian wineries were adding diethylene glycol (a component in antifreeze) to make their wine seem artificially sweeter. In that case, it caused significant reputational damage to Austrian wineries, as well as legal trouble for those that were adulterating their wine.
As an Italian I have to say, this video was very needed. Everywhere you go you find terrible Italian rip-offs products, and people get easily scammed because they simply don't know how this stuff is supposed to taste like. Here we are well aware of how good/bad the products we find in stores are, and a good reason for this is that in Italian suburbs it is very common for those who produce some of their own food themselves to hand it over to relatives and friends (especially in the south), for example we have chickens and we give away eggs, and all our friends and relatives really appreciate them (because the eggs you buy at the store are terrible compared to those) and we have some friends that each season give us extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes, potatoes, apples, strawberries, cherries, sheep meat of any kind (that lust one is a speciality of "Abruzzo", the Italian region I'm from) and each year with the tomatoes they give us we also make enough tomato sauce to last us for a whole year and we hand over that as well to our friends and relatives and those are very popular among them (again, because the one you find at the store is acid af). By applying this same reasoning to foods from other cultures I can easily believe people when they say for example that sushi tastes very differently in Japan that it does here😅
Bongiorno! I just came back from a holiday to Italy; and having tasted some of the oils furnished directly by farms in Umbria and Marche…wow! Indeed, it tasted like a completely different product than what I had become accustomed to. It was also fascinating to visit the local wine & oil co-ops, where the locals would just bring their jug & buy the products in bulk for very reasonable prices.
I'm from Spain, part of my family has olive trees and I'm laughing at all of this bc..I know the real taste of good olive oil too! it's easier to get an overall mid tier product that is better than average, than actually buying the really good stuff if you never tasted the real deal
the "Spain oil is sold to Italy" part I know a lot too, my country is not as good as selling itself to the world as Italy is". I've been to Italy, I tasted italian and spanish oil and when it's good it's really good in taste, albeit with different tastes and nuances you only catch if you've been eating stuff with olive oil all your life, thus that scam is really easy to make, buy in bulk from Spain and bottle in Italy
Late November/December is harvest time for olives here in Portugal. My late grand parents, had Olive groves, they used to put burlap tarps around the trees, used wooden ladders (made by my granddad) and kind of a rake (don't know the name in English) to strip them from the branches. When I was a kid, I wondered why the olive oil in the supermarked looked like sunflower oil, so much different from the one at home.
Get it from the south of France or Corsica. No mafia or corruption to speak of, shorter supply chains, strict regulations for labeling and quality control...
I had the pleasure to live in Portugal for a while and taste real olive oil produced by friends and I could help in the process. It was SO DELICIOUS that I would eat every day with just bread or put on every of my meals. It’s been years and I still miss it, never had the chance to buy an oil like that one.
If you'll ever be travelling to Slovenia (coastal region) I'll be glad to take you on an olive oil tasting, we are one of the northest region that produce olive oil, so it is very bitter, but also very specific taste and I only buy from local families. Great video btw!
I produce my own olive oil in Dalmatia ( southern coastal part of Croatia, I have 180 olive trees), also worked in the olive press for 4 years I was the manager and the only employee of that small press. I tasted, smelled, cleaned after over 500 different batches of olives and the oils produced. I, also had the opportunity to taste a lot of oils made in Istria ( north penninsula of Croatia) some of wivh were awarded gold medals for quality in Italy. So, now I'm done with the introduction let me tell you what I really wanted to say - I had an opportunity to taste olive oil made in California and it was GREAT.
When I lived in Valencia, Spain, had the chance to buy fresh olive oil, just pressed from recently harvested olives (it was November), produced in a small village nearby. I never forgot how delicious it was.
I sell real olive oil from small family farms in Europe and agree with every word you say. I get furious when I see people in the supermarket buying rubbish labeled EVOO. And what infuriates me most is that I can’t explain anything to them. It's good that you are trying to do this. Thank you so much!
I have high respect for you Johnny!!! Covering this scam is very good and I am thankful for what you are doing. Please cover other food scams like juice or other food we are told are this but actually are totally different.
I'm Brazilian, and moat of our olive oil here actually comes from Portugal, which makes our local market and exception to global trends. Nevertheless, Italian and Spanish okive oils tend to be more expensive. To the best of my knowledge, there are labeling and testing regulations in place that ensure that companies label their bottles properly. These regulations are especially strict in tegards to companies that mix olive oil with soybean oil. They can't label it as olive oil and rather have to sell it under the term: "mixed oil." Great video and great insights into something I had never put much thought into.
In a nutshell: buy Spanish olive oil because it is the same quality as Italian olive oil, but you won't risk buying mafia pee-pee. And it's cheaper because there's no absurd premium.
In my case, I go with extra virgin olive oil from either Portugal or Spain. They are the most balanced between price and quality and with less of that mafia in the way.
Maybe it's because I'm Spanish and I have olive oil literally every day, but in my opinion it's incredibly easy to tell apart extra virgin olive oil from the other stuff, it just tastes that much better that even when taking it with other things you can instantly tell if it's good or not
Im spanish and I think that the only true extra virgin olive oil that I’ve had is produced by my father -in-law. It’s really labour intensive and the whole family helps out picking the olives from the trees during the winter. The pueblo (village) have a cooperative where everyone gives the olives they’ve recollected and then extract the oil using shared machines. They give us a 5L bottle every Christmas and I’m always looking forward to it. It’s reserved for salads and dipping bread. There’s nothing like it, even in local supermarkets :(
A few months ago i read the label on my oil and was shocked and mad to see the small print added that it was olive oil with canola oil added! Now mind you this was a green bottle with a big picture of olives on the branch in the olive oil section of the cooking oil isle...now i even read my mayo to see what else when it says olive oil mayo and it also had other oils added. So now it's the expensive small company specialty brands im using. They dont lie so far. What a world.
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And think about the world's most expensive wood OUD, they're faking it too because it's very rare to find even in the wild these days.
So where's the document with the tips?
Pretty good video. Just allow me to correct you on some errors: Italian oil is *not* higher quality than Greek and Spanish. That's just the perception, which (unfortunately) you're reinforcing. And this perception is by Americans who (as you correctly noted) have no idea what it should taste like.
Italy heavily marketed its culture to the world after WWII, which Greece and Spain (sadly) didn't do. Also due to massive Italian emigration to countries like the United States, people have been introduced to olive oil only via Italy, and thus the average American associates olive oil only with Italy. This has led to a massive global demand for Italian oil that's higher than Italian production. So they bulk import from Spain and Greece and bottle it. Greek producers were complacent with this for too long, but after the 2010s financial crisis, there's a push for Greece to market itself, and develop its own bottling industry. Indeed, the few Greek bottlers that export to the US, are expensive and high-quality.
In Spain, there's a tradition of using all the different qualities of olive oil for different cooking uses. Extra Virgin (the highest quality) is the first press. The second and third presses produce lower qualities, which Spaniards also used for things like deep frying. It's posaible that Italian bottlers by the 2nd and 3rd presses in bulk for re-export to America
Imean good chol.
I hope yoir businrss is ok
As extra virgin myself, I'd like to thank you for covering this story
just like me fr
LOL
++
LMAO😂
Why are we here in this life? Why do we die? What will happen to us after death?
For me, a Jordanian/Palestinian, we mostly take our own olives to special factories where they process it for us to olive oil… that’s why you’ll find many of us even traveling with our oil, it’s important to us, and you can never find that fine taste on a supermarket shelf… and now I know why 😅
Nice, just like I take my native snacks whenever travelling
@@alok.01no you don't because you don't have any worthwhile native snacks
in italy is exactly the same
we do the same thing in serbia with flour lol makes sense we’re #2 globally in bread consumption per capita
احبك قاسم ❤❤
My mom's family has olive plantations in Lebanon and they make their own olive oil, and throughout my entire life, I've always wondered why the store bought "extra virgin olive oil" doesn't taste as good as their oil, not even close. Now I think I know the answer!
“Virgin” is different from “extra virgin”, maybe that’s why.
@@magman129 that's what I meant. Edited my original comment.
@@homyce It's the same here in Italy too, I grew up surrounded by olive groves and our local oil is obviously infinitely superior to what you find in the supermarket. They are often mixtures of different olive oils (always extra virgin) so they can’t taste “pure”.
Omg me too!! Im moroccan and Mt dad's family owns land full of olive trees and I've always loved olive oil but when I tried it here in the USA and in restaurants here it was so bitter and disgusting I was like what is this...
There is extra virgin olive oil, which from the first cold extraction pressure, then virgin olive oil, from second extraction which can be warm and in the end what is called olive oil, which is the virgin oil mixed with other oils, each brand use is own proportions. Usually the home made extra virgin olive oil is better than the comercial one, because the artisanal use lower pressures. I said better, but it is relative, the taste and aroma are really intense, not sure if someone not used to that would enjoy it, but from Jonhy Harris example i think so.
I live in Portugal and my father has some olive trees.
With those olives, he takes them to a special place where everyone can bring their own olives to be pressed and juiced for their oil. Like a community mill.
Let me tell you, that original and unprocessed olive oil tastes nothing like the ones you see on the market.
It's darker and has a much more intense taste. It works very well for some dishes, but not for soups and salads.
At Christmas, we always have 2 bottles, one from home made olive oil and one bought in the supermarket for those who don't like it, it goes really well with our christmas dish of boiled potatoes, lettuce and cod fish.
Funny that even the olive oil Johnny Harris is drinking in this video is of a class B KKKKK
These ones are not good for cooking. Its to clowded. Those particals burn in the pan
What you say is "weird".
I think you can make a better olive oil than that.
How long does your father wait after harvest before going to the mill ??
Do they cold press it ??
@@albtub I'm not sure how long he waits. But I can definitely believe that you can get very different types of olive oil depending on how you make it even without any processing and additives. This is just the way we do it here and we're used to it.
@@albtub olives can be pressed several times (at least as long as you don't use the trituration/centrifugation approach, I think) with each successive press (hot or cold) producing lower quality oil. Also, different pressing methods (and not only temperature) producee different results. Furthermore, olive oil may be filtered or unfiltered (the first is clearer, the second cloudier).
Second and further pressings (except the last, which is pomace and basically the worst) are usually blended between them and with virgin olive oil to get better oils (than the latter pressinfs, not than the virgin and extra virgin).
As a greek I feel fortunate and priviliged that I never had to buy olive oil from the supermarket since I have relatives making it. And trust me , every other greek has some similar source of olive oil through a friend or relative. You can definitely taste the difference between the real thing and processed junk.
im tunisian and we literally have like 3 trees at our garden we make enough for ourselves and relatives every season
I am from India and my aunt living in Greece sent me olive oil once ... that was an eye opening experience for me... I have tried a bunch of expensive olive oils before... but they were not even close to the real thing...
can you please ship it to India? Here I've been using olive oil for the last 7 years and nothing magical seems to me in it because probably it's not genuine. really wanted to test the original one. please let me know :) thx
I actually prefer Greek and Spanish oil, because I know they are genuine. And I live in the EU.
In Southern Italy is the same!
Thank you for covering this topic.
Nice 👍 post
Nice one
Nice
Thumbs up
Very nice
This was a huge scandal in Denmark six years ago. Some of the oil sold as "Extra virgin olive oil" were deemed unfit for human consumption.
Over here in Germany also. Started to buy mine in a little store i know would rather close than sell fake anything (owner is Italian and a serious foodie ;)). Pricy yet soo much better than the supermarket stuff.
@@peterpain6625am Ende kaufst du direkt von der Mafia 😂
@@mr.neworld2031 solange es echtes Olivenöl ist wäre es mir wurscht
At least within the EU the regulations on origin and process/procedure/traditions of certain products is mostly protected and therefore action is taken when it is discovered that someone is defrauding the actual product and farmers.
Do more foods!
As someone from Spain, it is mind boggling how (with all respect for Italy) Italians have deluded you into thinking that their olive oil is superior just because it's theirs. I know there is a huge community of Italians in the US so I guess that's the reason, but you just need to check the numbers. Spain produces way more high quality virgin olive oil than any other country in the world BY FAR. There are entire regions and communities that have been dedicated to this for centuries. It's not rare at all for people from southern Spain to have a decently sized chunk of land in the countryside where they grow olive trees, for self consumption, or to sell.
redoberon, you're absolutely correct. Spanish oil is a superior product, but they have people convinced that anything Italian is better. They have a grasp on the US market. The same can be said about wine, being Spain the largest producer of quality wines in the world. Case in point, the prosecco explosion. Cava being made with the traditional method of champagne production is forgotten. Don't get me started about Pata Negra vs Prosciutto. The whole thing sickens me.
@@sir.fuentes7642 Agree.
imho avocados produced in both Spain and Sicily is better than any extra virgin olive oil, both for taste and nutritional values
@@sir.fuentes7642 well not exactly, everything, look reputation of Fiat and Maserati in north America :)
As an italian myself I admit there is a lot of bad quality around italy.
dude i would not give you my one tree oblica from dalmacija for all your spanish oil...2000 years plus old olives can not be matched in quality
Hi everyone,
I am a Greek olive oil producer myself. I’m not selling olive oil - and I mention this in advance for obvious reasons.
First of all, something I was hoping to hear and I didn’t is that the olive oil you are buying in the USA and in general in any non-Mediterranean country is a second class olive oil. Depending on its oil acridity you define the quality of your oil. All people know and buy the extra virgin olive oil, which is a B class here in the Mediterranean counties. What we produce and eat/drink is the ‘so called’ Extra Extra Virgin olive oil. The acridity must be between 0 and 0.8. What you get is actually olive oil more than 0.8 acridity (0.8 to 2.0). You can’t even grasp the difference between an olive oil of 0.3 and 1.8. It’s almost like you’re getting something else. Another product.
The reason why most producers don’t achieve these low numbers of acridity is mostly due to profit and/or lack of knowledge and manpower. It costs a lot to only collect (labour is expensive and quantity not enough) the olives that are still on the branches - it’s a very intensive job during the winter months where rain can ruin the quality of the olives as well as your equipment. Many producers decide not only to collect the ones already dropped in the ground, but there others (lazy ones) not even following the traditional way of collecting them and they just put some cloth on the ground waiting for all olives to fall naturally. This method increases acridity dramatically, therefore, the olive oil quality.
And now you can understand the reason why you don’t get this quality of olive oil anywhere else. Producers would rather keep the good quality locally for their families or extensive families and close friends. Who ever gets to help in this very hard and intensive task, will be rewarded with the ‘so called’ golden liquid.
At least now you know. When a little of an extra extra virgin olive oil costs here in Greece 10-12 euros, you can’t really expect to get it for 15 dollars and get the real deal.
I was just in Greece + Crete in May and heard about the acridity percentage for the first time. Amazing real deal, olive oil over there!
Is olive oil a bit spicy?
Oh my, you’re so exclusive! Now stop talking.
Bruh, either poke your own eyes out or just unplug your router.@@lewstone5430
@@lewstone5430 why are you so upset by this well typed (not spoken lol) informative comment? I get pissed off at lots of things online… but THIS triggered you? I hope things get better for you. ✌🏻
As a Greek with olive trees in Peloponisos near the river Neda I can truly feel sorry for people getting scammed cause olive oil is a true health benefit! Be careful guys and girls and only buy from reputable brands.
ελα πατριδααα
But which brands are reputable?
we have 100 tree in Spain and get roughly 100-150 liters liters every year from the first cold press . So approx 5 family uses those oil .. we dont buy anoy other oils .. everything except baking pastry is done by olive oil..
@@p0xushonestly, it really depends on the farmer. In Greece we usually buy directly from them and taste it before we pay
@@dimiathanSo basically you can't be sure unless you buy it from the farmer in Greece. Super.
Wow I never realized how lucky I am to be consuming the organic extra virgin olive oil my father produces with his own hands here in Greece all these years! Just took it all for granted!
olive oil doesn't taste that good tho
@@yeetboi268olive oil tastes delicious. Different olives have different flavors. Some is very robust and can just be eaten with bread. Others are bit less spicy and tastes more like well olives
One of our friends gifted us a bottle of olive oil. It tastes absolutely amazing! Never tried that before.
Me too. Always hated when dad asked me, as a child, to help to harvest olive trees. Didn't know at that time, but what a blessing
While I'm glad for your new found gratitude, I'm also a bit shocked that it took this video for that realization to come up :D
Italian here. I love how you adressed the mafia aspect. It is truly a scourge on this amazing land that too often gets glorified in movies and media with tropes like the "gentleman thief" or "gangster's honor". These are not honorable family loving men. These are murderers and parasites
Which Italian olive oil brand is 100% pure? Asking to you as Italian 😊
@@EiwaGreen-kc2wu Partanna.
So shameful how grown men, can take a good thing, and turn it into a profit for themselves 😢😢
I'm Italian and for the last 20 years my parents have been buying extra virgin olive oil from a teacher turned farmer in Viterbo (near Rome) because it is SO FREAKING GOOD. It tastes phenomenal and it makes every food shine. I still have memories when I was little and my parent would drive from Rome to Viterbo with huge canisters to get up to 40 liters of olive oil, priced at €10 per liter. That crazy amount usually lasts for a year or two, and we continue to make this fun ritual. I encourage everyone who visits Rome to visit local farmers in the small towns near the city, because I can testify they all produce pure, authentic extra virgin olive oil with love and passion. As always, thanks Johnny for covering this story!
Buy Spanish and greek.... they have better olive oil etc
My Nonni would produce there own on there farm in pignano provincia di (frozinone). Man was it amazing. Man do I miss them so much. BTW my Nonna was born in Italian but she her parenti were from palestine.
Spanish and greek better oil? you don't know what you are speaking about @@atta1798
Thanks for sharing I intend to visit soon and will do just that! 👏
Damn. My EVOO is $33 a liter... though it is transported across the Atlantic and passes through more middlemen than farm to table!
Either way I understand the quality of that good olive nectar! Ellora farms is super tasty EVOO. But it ain't 10 bucks a liter...
I am from Ukraine. About 10 years ago we used to buy olive oil in the exact same huge metal jars as shown in the beginning of the video. It was convenient to buy in an extra large size, so it lasts for long, and it was budget-friendly (back then we couldn't afford the expensive glass-bottle ones from the store). And I clearly remember how one time the oil from a newly opened jar smelled like fish and we had to get rid of the entire jar. We never bought those again. Now I watched this video and discovered why, so many years after. This is mind-blowing!
Thanks Johnny for your detailed investigation and teaching the viewers to look for the real thing 🙏
Those "news" are no hidden secret since over 15 years.... Are you living behind the moon?
Go and protect your country! You have more important things to care about than olive oil!
@@sampejkeshut up lol
bruh 😂@@sampejke
@@sampejke lmao
I remember meeting once a chef of a restaurant in his kitchen. I saw a Tupperware on top of a table with oil and some olives inside and asked him what was he preparing. He proudly said "olive oil, of course!", then showed me a big bottle of vegetal oil he took and refilled his Tupperware with more oil, where there were about 10 green olives swimming. Never went back to his restaurant.
In my readings, olives originated in Greece. Ancient Romans embraced olive oil and put it more into production because they believed that butter caused leprosy--leprosy was more prevalent in Northern Europe than in the southern regions such as the Middle East. Ancient Roman legions that carried enormous weights on their backs and walked hundreds of miles rubbed olive oil on their feet before going to sleep.
My uncle in Algeria makes olive oil. I'm in Canada, and the first time I tasted it, I was floored!!! It tasted INCREDIBLE, wasn't perfectly filtered so it still had some tiny remnants of olives in it. I simply couldn't believe the difference compared to any other ''olive oils'' I bought over here.. It tasted, well, like actual olives for god's sake... We've been scammed for way too long, by greedy criminals and lazy governments.
Not lazy, complicit. Fines to individuals (not companies) involved and jail time is needed. When it comes to public health and food safety there needs to be more strict repercussions, one without fancy lawyers.
how to order online?
@@deequi77 They don't allow it! It's privately owned land, so he's not a big business..
@@BladeDoomer86hi, I live in Algeria. Any way I can contact your uncle? Even if he cannot, maybe he can connect me with other producers. Thank you
I'm Spanish (Spain is, as you showed, the largest producer of olive oil worldwide) and now that I'm living in the US I share with you the thought that many people here do not know what it really tastes like real extra virgin olive oil. I have friends who make their own olive oil (they live on rural areas and have some tenths of acres of olive trees) and it is really something completely different, much stronger than what one may find. It means a great deal that you are doing yhese video so that people just do not start thinking that extra virgin olive oil is just normal olive oil with a bit darker color, they are different indeed, and its prodiction really labor intensive.
Btw, lots of olive oil from Spain are bottled amd labelled in italy, selling as Italian (legally even) benefitting from the increased price. That can be seen by the fact that in italy, spain, greece... we suffer price increases much sooner than the international market. Nevertheless, in Spain it ja still much much cheaper than here in the US. Thank for the video it was really interesting and beneficial for a vital tradition of Mediterranean culture!
No se enteran de nada, en este pais no comen para degustar, solo comen para saciar el hambre. Pero casi que mejor asi por que de lo bueno no hay para todos.
Salut to Spain 🇪🇸 ❤️
Hi, Can I ask you a question? Since you're Spanish and live in the US, can you shed some light on the olive oils from Italy, Spain and Greece sold at tjmaxx? The ones from Spain and Greece have production date and sells lower than the Italian version which doesn't have a production date on the label. I used to buy the ones from Italy in the beginning but then started buying the ones from Spain and Greece with the production date which is normally less than 2 months old from the date produced. I want to know if they are real or fake. Thanks.
I forgot to mention the ones from Spain and Greece have the region where it was produced and says made in Spain or Greece. It tastes amazing on breads.
I heard they do the same with Tunisian oil.
Fun fact: During ancient times the greek city states used to burn each others olive farms when at war, because they were so valuable and it was an easy way to cause harm to their enemies. This was partly because the trees take a long time to grow before producing anything.
Not just an ancient practice. ISIS did it in Iraq. Turkey continues to burn the olive groves of Kurdish farmers in Iraq. Settlers do it to Palestinians. It's a devastating act of violence.
Guess that explains why some say why an olive branch is a sign of peace. If the trees were living long enough to bear fruits, then there must have been a long period of peace in that region for the trees to grow that old.
kinda like what Israel does when the IDF brutally destroys Palestinian homes and olive groves
I have a 50cm olive oil on my balcony and it grows so slow that I can only hope my great-great grandchildren can witness the first olives on it.
Fun? That's horrible 😭
I'm 90 years old and drink one spoonful daily.
I only buy 'Organic' 'First Cold Pressed' 'Unrefined' 'California' 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' in a dark glass bottle. You can find one at Safeway.
As a Greek, I can say that I eat very good olive oil all the time, our food culture is obsessed with olive oil we put it everywhere. It's not hard to find very good olive oil in Greece and it actually tastes very differently across regions, my personal favourite is olive oil from Crete. Also, the best way to taste extra virgin olive oil is on a piece of bread.
With just a sprinkle of salt!!
Cool
Same thing in Morocco also alot of people buy oil directly from the local farmers
Same. As an albanian, we produce our own olive oil. Its true its nothing like store-bought tho, its smell is much stronger, much better taste, even different viscosity.
we have the same obsession with olive oil in Tunisia lol
I'm from Puglia, the region where the Olive Oil Heist happened. Puglia produces around 40% of italy's olive oil and is the largest producer of oil in the country. You can really tell the difference between a high quality one directly from a farmer and some random producer. I always try to bring some proper stuff back to the UK where I live now. Thanks for the story Johnny.
What a lovely area of Italy you are from
@@jotttnthe most boring, flat area
Avocado tastes better, and it's also made in Italy (Sicily more precisely)
I’m Spanish, and my first thought with the dyed seed oil scam was: you can only get away with this in countries whe people don’t have easy access to the real stuff. Even a “cheap” extra virgin olive oil tastes completely different to any other type of oil. Also, and this is hard to explain and teach, olive oil has a particular viscosity that a most of seed oils don’t.
I have family in England and once spent 20 minutes in Sainsbury’s tipping bottles sideways to find the “gloopiest” oil I could.
Can you use extra virgin olive oil to stain wood to preserve wood for gardening so not to use stain that is bad for vegetables
@@Jesusiscoming24 I would use Tung oil, its food grade safe. I recommend raw tung oil as well not stuff that has been processed. However it does take forever and a day to dry but its good stuff.
My issue with olive oil is that everything made with olive oil kind of tastes like olive oil, same thing as with butter. Don't get me wrong, its taste is awesome, but different and more neutral oils are just as legit.
As a Lebanese I feel you!
Saludos desde Barcelona. Yes there is no way you could get away with fake olive oil here. Tenemos suerte 😊
Australia has an industry body, and the government regulations on agricultural products are quite strict relative to other countries. The majority of the extra virgin olive oil sold here is produced in Australia. The only overseas brands sold in supermarkets are the ones that passed certification
That is good to know. Do you have any links to this supermarket testing and certification of olive oils in Australia
I am Italian. I've been living with Extra virgin olive oil all my life.
I moved to Andalusia in Spain 15 years ago. Here, the culture of olive oil is a step higher. As with wine you select the grapes by name (Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot noir,...), in Spain we select our oil by the name of the variety of olives (Picual, Arbequina, Hojiblanca, ...) and I can certify that on average Spanish olive oil is of better quality
thanks, i was starting to wonder why spain was so shadowed in this video... its like talking about pizza and putting the focus on argentina...
Yes. One of the best olive oils I tasted was from Spain.
Yes but you can not tell all olive oil is fake . I am mediteranian and we consume olive oil from Spain, Portugal and mostly Greece
I only buy 'Organic' 'First Cold Pressed' 'Unrefined' 'California' 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' in a dark glass bottle.
You can find one at Safeway. I drink one spoonful daily. By the way, I'm 90 years old.
@@sladjanab Yes you can tell ,If it dont have that peppery bite in your thoat 100% sore its not real.
As a Palestinian who grow in a family of generations of Olive Oil producers, seeing who people cheat Olive Oil hurts me on a personal level.
My family has lots of Olive trees growing in north of Palestine, all our olives trees came from one olive tree that is 600 years old still living in our land.
That 600 year old tree is from an Olive Tree called Tsuri. It was brought by the romans from a village in Lebanon called Tsur (Tyre).
The Romans liked the taste and planted it alot in what is now North Palestine. My grandma used this olive oil to cure all illnesses when I was a child.
The taste is Divine Fruity, and almost spicy, amazing taste, and I can tell you, I never tasted better Olive Oil. And we did drink shots of it growing up.
My grandfather used to say: " Drink olive oil and knock down walls" (It rhymes in Arabic)
Can't wait to see this years Olive Oil yield. We Cold press our olive oil...
(Edit: since alot of people are asking me, please see replies for my email)
@withamara3206 can I buy from your family online and have it shipped to Canada?
I think it is actually Syrian not from Tsur.
What is the name of the farm. I will be happy to contact and buy some good fresh olive oil.
@@MOTIIII24 It's called Tsur, or in English Tyre is a city in Lebanon, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a tiny population. Google it :) I've done the research long ago.
Do you deliver to the UK? Serious question
Amazing! I would love to try authentic Palestinian Olive oil, I've heard it's some of the best in the world.
As an Italian oil producer, the best way to taste 100% extra virgin oil is to buy from families that produce oil for their personal consume, like we do. Also the timing is super important: conservatives free oil changes it's taste during months, in october-november the oil has just being harvested so it's taste is at it's best. Good indicators of an high quality oil are it's taste (it must be kinda spicy like pepper) and also it must cost at least 9/10€ per liter
Do you ship internationally? 😅
@@cosy1 Sadly no :3
The first part I agree with - buy from family or small producers. But as a Slovenian olive oil producer myself I can say that the real stuff will cost you at least 16 to 20+ euros per liter. There is no profit if you want to sell it for a cheaper price, especially for small ecological producers. And even homemade may not automatically mean good oil.
@@TAL97 Probably the Slovenian market is different, here the prices are lower, probably due to the higher offer. Nevertheless prices in Italy are goin up this year, due to inflation and other factors, in some zones even 15€ per liter. We are harvesting now and we I'll probably sell around 10-11€, in line with my country's prices. Mhh homemade oil is always better in my opinion (as long as it is ground in a certified mill and obtained with non rotten olivas)
And where would I, a Norwegian, do that?
The world is strange. I started watching your channel last week for some CIA history. Yesterday I was at the doctor's office and she was telling me the olive oil most of us use isn't the good stuff. Today this video is im my feed. I'm sure my phone was listening, but still... Strange syncronicity!
The Czech food inspection just did a big test of extra virgin olive oils from stores a couple weeks back. Out of the 21 different brands they tested, only 7 passed the test for actually being extra virgin olive oil. The rest of them were all lower quality olive oil, mostly pommace oil, but 2 of the samples they tested actually turned out to be lampante oil, the lowest quality olive oil that's not produced for human consumption but instead for use in oil lamps. We do have laws stemming from the common EU law for food labeling. Still doesn't protect you from fraudulent products. Some even had the PDO seal on them. Still turned out to be cheap crap pretending to be extra virgin olive oil. These scammers will always find a way to make it work.
As a Moroccan I usually buy my olive oil straight out from the press and sometimes I get the olive from a tree in our garden and then go and press it , so when i moved to the US and bought that "Extra virgin olive oil " it didn't taste remotely close to what it should be ,it's just blank , olive oil has a greessy texture to it his a raw olive after taste and looks dark green, the bottled one has nothing to do with that.
How were you able to escape morocco 😅
My favourite part is how the google doc and video don't explicitly state a SINGLE brand you can trust whatsoever. Like, he has the studies and the info. He clearly buys some he trusts himself. But won't give us any insight on the name of the company he buys from.
So I'm not the only one disappointed that not a single brand of olive oil is mentioned here!
I recommend Terra Delyssa and Partanna if you live in the USA. Both are single region sourced, fresh (harvested
@lars2894 ty so much. Good intel is so helpful. I'll keep an eye out. Ironically kirkland olive oil from costco is the real stuff too I found out, so now I've got three to try.
No worries. Each grocery chain has their own rebranded private label of a "top-shelf" olive oil - Partanna for Wall mart, 365 Organic for Whole Food, Italian Reserve for Trader Joe, Specially Selected for Aldi, and Kirkland for Costco. IMHO, Partanna is the best, and the other 4 are on par with Terra Delyssa but fairly more expensive.
With Kirkland I would only buy "Kirkland Organic Signature from Tuscany". Their Spanish and Italian varieties are subpar quality for the price. And some brands are known to constantly change their sources (eg. California Ranch, Bertolli, Olivita, Carpelli, etc) over the years.
You want to look for specifically two things on the label:
1) olives harvest date (not bottled date or expiration)
2) a single source of origin like "produced in north sicilly" (more specific the region the better).
Best thing you can do is to buy small bottles and taste them side-by-side.
@lars2894 super helpful, thank you so much.
In NZ, I was told, that oil from nz groves can be tested independently in Australia to confirm their oils are indeed EV. I buy direct from a grove I visited and met the owner and saw his small process plant and shop
Do not know anything about NZ or Australia olive oils, but am willing to learn.
if Johhny keeps doing this channel long enough he will find out basically everthing is a lie.
*- in USA
At least we know how smart he thinks he is.
So true😂 I guess money and power makes humans lie.
@@Dan-ch8kv how do we know?🤔
Welcome to the post-truth society
Thank you for covering this topic. I used to work with a Sicilian olive oil farm, importing the extra virgin olive oils to the US and educating consumers around the country in grocery stores about this. It’s amazing what people don’t know and then when you offer them a taste comparison - their minds are always blown. Such a story behind this product. I’m really happy it’s getting told even more.
Just to say, and this is really strange to say, but I actually live in Italy and although I know that there is a difference from the extra virgin oil from the olive oil itself I have to express that not all the extra virgin olive oil tastes the same... I get that regulations about food and such in the US are to say the least bizarre, but, growing in Brazil and have tasting extra virgin oil made in Portugal for all my life, it seems odd of how different it is from the Italian extra virgin oil, but the problem grows even bigger when you notice that the ones being made in Calabria are so much different from which is made in Sicily, Puglia, Abruzzo, Campania... Just goes to say that even in close regions not only the olives that are made are different and adapted for its soil, but also its oil, tastes different: for the example I bought a five litters can of home made extra virgin oil from a friend that has olive plantations in Calabria and the smell when I oppened it was absurd, it filled my house and I loved it, the taste was uniche and much strong, but talking to Italians I got to know that so many of them didn't appreciate it as much because it was so strong and spicey, and they would preffer those from Umbria or even Sicily. Much like it happens to grappes and wine, they are not the same eventhough you learn to apreciate all of them and learn about your own taste. It is strange to think that almost 70% was fake or you guys are just a little bit ignorant about olives and olive oil itself, but I don't think that it is the case, if you take all the olive variesties for a taste you'd feel the difference what's to say about its oil that concentrates so much of it's flavors and shows so much of it's differences... Just to finish I really don't think that the "amanzingness" of extra virgin oil was discovered by the world in the 1960 becouse of some study of an american, it was always recognized and appreciated even if it was not a trend, and how much different they taste based on the variety not only of the soil but also from the specific olives that they are produced from (just for an example the best "mussarela di bufala" there is you'll find in Napoli, and why's that if all milk should taste the same).
I’ve been living in Italy 6 months a year and the olive oil tastes the same as what I buy in NY and LA and I don’t spend 25$ per bottle. There should be a strong « burning » sensation when the oil goes down the throat, which is sometimes very painful. An Italian olive oil specialist says this is how to know if it’s fresh and authentic. You can also try the refrigerator test (Google it for full details).
Can you use extra virgin olive oil to stain wood to preserve wood for gardening so not to use stain that is bad for vegetables
I had my mind blown when I actually had the real deal in Florence so I get it 💯
@@Jesusiscoming24 I don’t know about that. You could look into shou sugi ban. It’s the Japanese are of charring board, making them last for a super long time.
As a Spaniard, life without EVOO would be so bland. It´s rooted in our culture where almost every national or regional dish contains at least a hint of olive oil, from fried foodstuffs to a gourmet quality meal. Thank you very much Johnny for exploring such an interesting subject, especially coming from a perspective outside of Southern Europe where we just assume its existence and prevalence in everyday life.
As a Croatian I definitely agree. I have my own 40 trees, but I am so sad because this year we wont have even 100 kilos... There have been great droughts this year.
@@lukatore123 Same in Spain, for 2 years in a row. The price at the supermarket is reaching almost 10€/l, right now.
However, it is very sad that in Spain, we are great at producing tasteful quality foods and horrible at marketing them. It happens with many products. Spanish Wine, Champagne (called cava), many varieties of cheese, and of course, olive oil... We produce the best stuff and sell it for less than our neighboring countries.
ok
Your Extra Virgin olive oil and wines are the best along with the greeks .... so far olive oil from Spain and Greece are beautiful ..... each has its own quality and beauty.
A 3 minute commercial pitch, a 3 minute outro, some other small fillers, and 1/3rd of this video is gone. Here's an idea for a next video: "How RUclipsrs steal 1/3rd of your life, by using unnecessary fillers"
Get Sponsorblock, it helps
Thanks for bringing this up. Constantly during the video I had the impression that filler descriptions and commentary, dramatic pauses and just the general conduction of the video had the sole intent of making this video longer. Kind of frustrating to be honest.
I get u, it’s like “dude we’re not here for shopping”. When the pitch starts I fast forward until I hear them talking about “use our promo code for 15% off ect….” 😝 usually spot on lol🤷🏻♂️
I was hoping we would learn how to test our oil since the vid was so much longer than the rest. Sounds like ph test could be easily done by anyone, but what to look for?
As an Spaniard, I can really tell that italians really know how to sell their products better than us, even when Spain has the biggest tradition and production of olive oil in the world...more than 40%
Joder que si
never underestimate the power of marketing and PR.
the italians are great at marketing. france like spain, I find they just dont care to sell.
I agree on the Italian marketing. Up to now people still think Italian coffee is the best and they don’t even grow the plant.
@@yompyz I’ve always thought that this is ridiculous 😂 just like Swiss chocolate
It's one of the reasons I live here. I buy my EV olive oil, directly from the people who grow the trees. EDIT: If you come to Italy to visit, go to an open Saturday morning market, and find the lady with the rough unmarked, or hand-marked bottles. My friends have nice but very simple labels, and they hand-fill-in the year of the gathering. Buy a small 100ml bottle and taste it. Then decide if you want to take some back. But at least taste it. Then go visit the monuments and museums. And then eat.
First of all, very good video Johnny, as usual.
A word of advice for my US friends, being an Italian. The price of good EVO in Italy is about 9 to 12 Euros a Litre, anything below that is considered for mass consumption and starts to raise red flags, so being on the other side of the Atlantic and considering import fees, shipping, distribution and various middlemen it's improbable to pay it less than about 25-30 a Litre.
An immediate red flag for you should be the size of the bottle. EVO is sold in 1 liter bottle or 3/4 liters for some boutique oils. If you find a bottle that is in exact Oz that's an immediate red flag.
You should also understand the process. Extra virgin means that it is the result of the first "gentle" pressing of the fruit. The fruit is not heated to induce the release of oil so it's cold pressed.
After this first passage and the EVO is extracted there's a second one. We call this just Olive Oil (no extra virgin). It's still good oil and it's used for mass consumption, usually for cooking and its price is usually half of EVO. There's also a third pressing that is much stronger and usually also crushes the seed of the fruit. We call this third pressing "Sansa" and it's mainly used for animal feed or cosmetics. You can still buy it and eat it and if it comes from a reputable source it still ha some decent nutrients attached to it but it's usually sold to manufacturers of other types of product.
Sadly, despite having a very strict wine labeling procedure, we don't do the same for EVO, so we usually choose brands based on price or word of mouth or first hand experience. Basically we buy the best stuff we can afford, because, being EVO 90% of our culinary fats, it really adds up in our family budget. I usually buy, for example, about 3 liters a month for a two people household, so if I choose to buy the good stuff, I sped about 60 euros a month just for cooking fats.
So to recap the long comment, be doubtful of imperial units sized bottles. Be doubtful of oil that is too green (good EVO is really yellow, especially if unfiltered). Be doubtful (always) of cheap oil. It costs a lot even here where it is made, it's impossible that it costs there less than it costs here with no shipping. tariffs and middlemen.
Wait. I might be miss remembering, but when I was 8 years old, my family used to bring olives to the town's mill and get *some kind* of olive oil, that was greenish. And I'd say that olive oil that we get from farmers it's also greenish. What's wrong with that?
@@Taka.1011It mainly depends on the variety and color of the olives. Green Is chlorophyll so it's not and intrinsic flaw for It to be greenish but One of the most common wats to cheat on oil quality Is to add chlorophyll. If you know the source there's no reason for doubt 😊
Can you use extra virgin olive oil to stain wood to preserve wood for gardening so not to use stain that is bad for vegetables
This is good info. As an American, I feel like olive oil is a bit like the Emperor has no clothes. People like to believe that they are the exception, that their preferred brand is actually the real thing and that they would know if they were consuming bad or fake olive oil. Personally, I've always hated "olive oil," and everyone (other Americans using the same olive oil I hate) are like, "Oh, but it's so good for you. It's superior to all other oils, the flavor is incomparable," etc. etc. I've just been like, I don't know, I just don't like it. Then I read Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat and she says that most people in America are consuming rancid olive oil and thinking that that is how olive is supposed to taste. That was a big eye-opener for me. This video is, again, confirmation that I've probably never tasted authentic high-quality olive oil, and that my taste buds are not defective. Even the boutique brands that aren't in grocery stores and supposedly authentic I am skeptical of. I guess I'm going to have to travel to Italy and go straight to the source.
Great info Johnny! Although I live in Germany, I have some great Italian restaurants here in my part of town. They are all from Sicily and southern Italy. Once a year they harvest the olives and then they bring huge containers of the olive oil here. I also notice how the taste of the oil changes in six months after they have opened the containers. In the beginning the oil is amazing, be it for garlic spaghetti con peperoncini, or spaghetti al pesto! The olive oil is always the most important element! It is also also good to drink a tablespoon of it in the morning before eating just to get your digestive system working!
As an italian I'm really happy about this video.
There are many scams about our food, often made by us italians.
yeah but mutti and la molisana slap hard as an export food. idk if they have a good repuration in italy but here in poland these 2 brands are miles better than barilla overrated shit
@@ImotekhtheStormlord-tx2it Italians eat a lot of Molisana pasta. In my opinion is the best. I've been to Kielce in Poland recently for work and I've seen that Molisana was selling good there, you have good tastes!
This is the main source of income for your mafia. Not drugs or prostitution, but food.
Lmao italy buy olive oil from tunisia and mix it to his oil and label it as italian olive oil 😅
Yeah between olive oil and parmesano the potential for fraud is too great
I'm glad that you mentioned the fact that Spanish EVOO is actually being sold as "Italian" EVOO. It's good to remember that half of the global production of olive oil comes from Spain. But well, Italians are really good at marketing and their food is also amazing.
Evoo also shouldn't be used to cook with. It has a high amount of solid plant material still in it. Even though it's microscopic its in there. It also loses its flavor when cooked or can add a bitter flavor. Refined olive oil is good for cooking. In America its labeled olive oil or light olive oil. This stuff has been refined and is a great med temp cooking oil.
In my kitchen I use extra virgin olive oil for cold dishes or as a flavor oil at the end of cooking. I use olive oil to use as a binder for meat rubs, on brussel sprouts, asparagus, potatoes, or med heat cooking. I use avocado oil for high heat cooking, normally on a pan to sear something. I would use peanut oil for deep frying if I deep fried stuff. And butter is always good on stuff too!
When I buy EVOO I treat it like buying my truffle oil. I'm not afraid to spend more because I don't use it near as much as I used too since finding refined olive oil. I look for Italian origin, a brand I trust, and I'm okay spending more. I think my personal favorite would be Ellora farms.
Edit: my two other oils are flavor oils. I love toasted sesame oil in things, and my newest oil is TRUFF's truffle infused olive oil. So I guess I have 3 cooking oils (butter, light olive oil, avocado oil) and 3 flavor oils (EVOO, toasted sesame, truffle)
Also when I researched truffles. Black truffle tastes like a more potent white truffle. While white truffles are much more expensive than black ones. So a black truffle oil will offer more of the same flavor for less money!
dont expect an american to understand this...
At least 1/3 of this chat room is currently American.
Seems like Italy has its head up its but like ww2...
@@brandonhoffman4712 EVOO is excellent for cooking it has a smoke point of 375°. People have used EVOO for medium frying and cooking for centuries. That thought that EVOO can't be used for frying has been debunked years ago. Look it up.
You are wrong. Regards from Spain a country with an average of 5 years more life expectancy than the USA cooking with EVOOil, natural cold press olive oil. The taste of food cooked with EVOOil is wonderful, much better for me and for anyone who enjoys EVOOil taste and its health qualities. Refined olive oil may be also a good oil to cook but it is obtained with chemical dissolvents and does not have the health qualities of EVOOil. Is it better refined olive oil than other seed oils, such as canola, soy, corn, sunflower, etc.? yes, as the transparent refined product obtained of very low olive oil quality that requires for human consumption a chemical treatment to take away excessive acidity, bad smell and taste of those low-quality oils obtained from olives in bad conditions, it is usually mixed in Spain with a percentage of the good stuff EVOOil to provide it with some olive color and taste, if that is the case in your country product given that when I travel to America, Asia, or Africa, olive oil in those continents, either EVOOil or other olive oil qualities, usually it does not taste as the original product. Yes, generally they are from Italy as per the label. The major advantage of refined olive oil over EVOOil is the price. It is cheaper. Then those who are not used to EVOOil taste may prefer refined olive oil because as it is a mix largely made of refined olive oil left odorless and tasteless it tastes much less olive oil than the real thing. Good marketers those Italians but better olive oils producers than Spain's they are not.@@brandonhoffman4712
Feeling so lucky to have our own olive grove in a small greek island
You are lucky olive oil got expensive!!!
Where in Greece that sounds so cool
Sounds like paradise! Hopefully you guys keep your island cleaner than Crete... I've been there twice so far and LOVE the island, but the amount of trash I see all over the place breaks my heart! It's paradise, people! Treat it as such!
@@a5gamer276 Corfu, look it up its nice
OK we gonna listen to you. Random guy on RUclips. Thank you
A public company should be accountable for assesment of all the Olive Oil manufacturers and provide citizens with detailed reports so that they are able to understand which is better. Prices will jump, but it's better to have a 10% rise, than overpaying for a fake product.
Here's a tip: If you know any Italians, ask them if they know anyone who owns olive trees or sells olio novello (extra virgin oil from olives that have just been harvested and pressed). Chances are, they know someone who can provide you with a bottle. You'll discover the spicy flavors of olio novello like never before. Enjoy it over a slice of toasted, artisanal bread.
Se non pizzica si usa per cucinare
when I used to live in South Asia, I used to believe that the extra virgin olive oil that I got in supermarkets were real, until I shifted to the middle east and tasted real olive oil. The taste difference and richness of oil was so much apart.
you were probably eating soybean oil
Where exactly in south asia
I'm guessing Indonesia @@sameenwaseem4803
Step in, step on.
When I first started "eating clean" and learning about dieting and stuff, I came across videos from small channels about this topic. I thought it was a conspiracy of some sort back then. Thanks for proving me wrong!!
Why are we here in this life? Why do we die? What will happen to us after death?
@@nevergiveup5939the people who love us will miss us
same lol but i didn’t think it was an conspiracy i just thought it tasted like vegetable oil …
It is a criminal CONSPIRACY, but not a fake one because there's actual evidence for it
We don't care
Yup very true. I went to Italy and met a local farmer. Tried their olive oil and it blew my mind! The ones you can get from known public sources in Italy was good but not this good. Going back to Canada, the olive oil we get in stores is pure trash.
Drinking it raw is definitely not weird. I am from Syria, and specifically from the western countryside of Hama, an olive-producing region. During the harvest season, we used to drink a little glass of olive oil first thing in the morning. Nice video. I think once you taste/see the real stuff, it is so easy to identify the bad/mixed stuff.
Can you use extra virgin olive oil to stain wood to preserve wood for gardening so not to use stain that is bad for vegetables
it all depends on the quantity that is drink, a spoon every morning is normal going around with a oil bootle and drinking it as water is definately wierd.
اهلين بلد
If it doest come outa a recycled bottle it's not authentic
How do you have internet? Aren’t you guys all bombed down !?
Something to remember: Every olive oil that is produced AND bottled in Greece (especially in Peloponesse in regions like Kalamata) that says Extra Virgin on its label AND is in a DARK bottle, is at least as good as any "premium" Italian olive oil in a fancy bottle and is much cheaper, and usually much better.
Yes - I buy my olive oil from the same region KALAMATA and I love it !!
WHERE IS IT CHEAPER?
Tuscan and Umbrian oil is the best oil in the world. Sorry for you.
@@kaban84Morocco olive oil is the best bud
chinese olive oil is superior everybody knows this.
Is it possible to make a video explaining why teeth and eyes were conveniently left out of health care? I would love to hear your take on it, honestly.
Eyes and especially mouth are the windows to your health. It makes perfect sense for the medical community to leave out these two and make money out of people just by treating and not curing. Otherwise they would all become jobless😅 Most students in pharmacy don't know a crap about chemistry and don't even understand physiology and anatomy. These kinds of people come up with drugs like the wonderpill and then you wonder why every drug has zillion side effects.
Ok
what are you talking about? are you a bot or what?
Semi same in the UK, dentists aren't covered under the NHS unless you're under 18 or you have either a disability or are on benefits. I think it's actually a great video idea, I've always wondered why because it's still a type of medical care.
How do you insert maps into an episode covering this topic ?
Wow! This is one of the best videos of Johnny Harris and I'm so proud to see how much he - as an American - understands and appreciates this special food from the Mediterranean.
Good olive oil is hard to find even in Italy. You never know what's the trick (most of times, a legit quibble) that food companies use to label the bottle with the most attractive names and features.
I came to the conclusion that the best Italian extra virgin olive oil is the one you have the luck to pick and harvest on your own, in your family olive grove (or at your friend's farm). Whatever else you may find at the supermarket (in Italy or abroad) is just "oil", even if it's a real and authentic "extra virgin".
It may taste like "wow" but you can't catch the feeling of what really olive oil is by just opening a bottle.
Yesterday I picked the olives of my grove from some 300+ years old olive tree. I got the help of my family and 2 friends of mine (of course they will be rewarded with some liters of oil).
While picking the olives I was thinking about how many people and families used to feed from the same tree. Generation after generation. And these trees will definitely live longer than me and my son.
Finally we went to the frantoio (olive mill) with a good 500 kgs of olives to press (we would take 50 liters out of that).
The scent of the cold pressed new oil was so intense that I got tears in my eyes. I could even feel the "taste" by just smelling the air in the room. There were families showing their kids how's the machine working to extract this yellow gold from a black bead. Farmers were waiting for their turn to press their olives and everybody was talking to each other about the weather, olive diseases, yields and - of course - recipes for the most epic "bruschetta" they will have within 1 hour time, just the time to get back home with the precious liquid.
Few people in the world have the luck to experience all of this, I know.
Most of Italians simply don't know about scams and frauds just because most of us don't buy it. Instead, we make our own homemade olive oil. "Making" oil with this whole immersive experience is something incredible.
Just come and visit Italy NOW to feel all of this.
The Costco’s Kirkland brand organic olive oil was one of the few brands that the UC Davis tests found to meet the “extra virgin” standards.
Yup! May that never change... especially if we can prevent too much climate change.
That’s good to know!
Kirkland products are what you need in your bunker
Sorry but no. I’m Spanish, grew up with the real deal, Costco is what we buy here in the US, but it’s no where near the real deal, it doesn’t smell like olive oil, it doesn’t taste like olive oil, it says it comes from 3 different countries in the label.. it’s Ok but it’s not olive oil 😊
@@Oldtimeytools Spain is notorious for being the “cheaper” Olive oil. The Kirkland olive oil is from Italy.
I did some research and found a family owned business in Rome, they have their own olive plantation and a tiny supermarket in Rome. Not in a tourist area but somewhere locals live. So when I visited Rome I went to that store and got 3 bottles of their olive oil. And it was amazing! I gifted one bottle to my parents. It tasted fresh like grass and it felt like silk on the tongue.
Oh by the way, if your ear hurts and you have the real deal olive oil, you can drop a few drops into your ear and you'll get better quickly.
My mom used to do the ear trick and I did it with my kids. We’d warm it up a bit. Nothing more soothing.
I live in the UK. Whenever I’m at a supermarket I literally will spend 20 minutes looking through all the various labels on the bottles. I knew that a lot of the oils are ‘fake’. However I didn’t realise it was this bad and that the Mafia was involved! Thank you again for yet another hugely informative video ❤
i lived there for 5 years and trust me u cant find real one... i grow my own since i am kid here in italy and that is in my opinion diluted or just low quality olive, even when i was working at sushi samba they would buy mediocre one and pay full price, when i bought mine (with other delicacies) they got mindblown beyond belief xD
u can find decent ones in little italy but its mostly big franchises oil, decent but still far from the spicy and greasy real one
@@verde2762 I was just about to ask, how can I find a real one in the UK? 😢
Is there any brands that ship to the UK that we could order online, that you know of?
I’m from Scotland and would love to know too!
Spanish Olive oil is the BEST. The controls are exhausting
There some specialist retailers for olive oil in the U.K. (two in Borough market for example) that may have good stuff. Otherwise getting top quality Greek or Spanish oil (look for a Greek or Spanish shop selling it) may be the best bet.
LOVE LOVE LOVE your media!! We are lucky to have people like you on RUclips!
Not really a secret. As someone that grew up around a Mediterranean diaspora, olive oil brought back from friends farms in repurposed 2L water bottles was like gold.
That's the stuff.
5 litre white and opaque old wine jugs are the stuff
I am from Greece, and it's pretty well known fact here that much of our olive oil is sent to Italy and rebranded as Italian extra virgin olive oil. Amazin'
Σπουδάζω Αγγλία οπότε έχω δοκιμάσει κάθε είδος ελαιόλαδο που υπάρχει, κ το ελληνικό είναι όντως μακράν καλύτερο από το ιταλικό κ το ισπανικό, οι Ιταλοί απλά έχουν πολύ καλό marketing ρε φίλε
We are all very aware in the Mediterranean region of how important quality food has in our lives, olive oil being one! I feel I need to stress though that Spain is the major producer of olive in the world and has as good or better quality olive oil that Italian has. In many cases, good Italian olive oil has been produced in Spain and relabelled in Italy. You mentioned in you video that cheap Spanish olive oil is sold by the Italian mafia, however Italy can sale their own cheap olive oil to unaware buyers. I think we need to clarify that not because the oil comes from Spain is cheep.
I love your videos by the way. Keep it up. Can we have more on food orígenes? The banana video was excellent !
Excellent video as usual. Cought my eye as recently expanded one of my companies into food products, including an EVOO from my parents' birth region, Sparta, Greece. Over the past 11 months I had to learn a lot and still know very little. And because all of our products are private labels, the responsibility involved is even higher. Videos like this are of great importance for people who have no access to such knowledge. My congrats to the team.
For anyone wanting to get into the deep rabbit hole of olive oils, focus on finding EVOOs that use single varietals (types of olives) to figure out which specific olives you like as it influences the flavor the most (although processing and handling do too).
My personal favorites are the Italian varieties of Itrana and Moraiolo for raw/fresh tasting purposes, and Greek Koroneiki olives are good for use in baked goods or, more generally, as a butter replacement. Also, good EVOO has a high smoke point, so it'll be fine for sauteeing and frying.
Why do they say, then, that one shouldn't use EVOO for frying?
@@erzsebetkovacs2527 they just don't know what they're talking about. lower quality olive oils have lower smoke points though, and this figure is often listed on reference lists of oil smoke points, so it may be part of where the myth comes from
This guy oils 🙌
@@Oliveoillovers Hey! Funny to see y'all here! I love your site :)
The best olive oil I've ever tasted came from an actual local Greek farmer while I was in Greece. We were eating at his local restaurant and he offered to sell us the oil he had just made. It was bottled in regular plastic bottles with no labels and it tasted amazingly. You could actually just drink it, it was that good.
You probably tasted the standard stuff not the extra virgin, much better for you and tastes way better
@@OldtimeytoolsWhy? Because he put it in a plastic bottle? Believe me if somebody dilutes their oil in Greece, all the locals will know and he will get shunned. There is no reason to dilute the oil if you are producing a small batch for you and your family, and maybe to sell some. That's why local producers have the guaranteed best oil, and pretty much everyone in Greece is using ONLY evoo at home..
I only buy 'Organic' 'First Cold Pressed' 'Unrefined' 'California' 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' in a dark glass bottle.
You can find one at Safeway. I drink one spoonful daily. By the way, I'm 90 years old.
Whats the brand name ?
I lived in Spain for several years, and I can say with absolute certainty that Spaniards value their olives and olive oil VERY highly. If you ever visit, taste the olives at an olive shop (yes, those exist). It will completely change your perspecitive of what olives even are. And if you want a better price here in the states, trust me, buy genuine Spanish olive oil from a reputable source. It's as good or better than most italian oil. The stuff will transform the way you eat.
Thank you for pointing it out. When he said Italian oil is the best in the world all I could think is "nope, he has no clue about good Spanish olive oil". We control 30% of that market for a reason! It's a huge cultural thing here, and my family look at me weird because I cook with margarine as it's less calorically dense, but it'd be the same with butter. People don't use them, everything (except deep-fried stuff) is fried with olive oil here
Italy gets a lot of oil from Spain.
😂
Exactly. The climate is identical, olives are the same but we don't have that prestige bs
@@boscodomingo Margarine is not a healthy alternative to other oils, you would be better off with animal fats such as lard or butter.
Living in rural Greece, most of the people I know, have their own olive trees and they make their olive oil by themselves. That’s common all across Greece and I assure you that although this olive oil is not extra virgin, it’s day and night compared to any other processed “extra virgin olive oils”.
same in Tunisia and the difference between the real one and the bottled marketed one is like 2 different things.
Cold pressed olive oil is extra virgin (or virgin) olive oil
@@Serena-or7sl I know, thats what I said. The quality of the olive oil also has to do with the acidity of it, which is determined to the amount of branches attached to the olives.
@@Giannis. what do you mean the amount of olives per branch?because my olive branches are denser that grapes and i get amazing acidity everytime 0,3-0,4
My mum was Turkish and would fly to Bodrum once a year specifically to harvest the olives from her tree and produce fresh olive oil with it. I live in the UK and it's crazy how sheltered we've become from to the point we have no idea what we're putting in our bodies, we just see them as magical things that we buy with no connection to nature at all.
I recently moved to Croatia and you can buy olive oil from grannies here. There is even a museum here for olive oil. Then one day I’ve met a local girl and she said did you know that probably all olive oil is fake in Europe, I couldt believe her thought she’s crazy. Thanks so much for this video! Great analysis and I’m going to so much enjoy every damn bottle I will buy from the local grandma.
Can you use extra virgin olive oil to stain wood to preserve wood for gardening so not to use stain that is bad for vegetables
This ain't true. This video is about US. EU have laws about this. Watch the video
@@ItatiaiaBR No also in the EU there is a lot a shitty fake oil. Maybe not to the extend as in the US, but supermarket oil here is def not comparable to real olive oil
The production quality of these videos is just insanely good. I think I havent seen any better on RUclips.
I first had real olive oil at age 29. I did research, bought real oil, took one sip, and immediately realized that I had NEVER had real olive oil before! It is spicy, extremely grassy tasting, and burns the throat slightly.
When is freshly pressed - it slightly burns your throat but after a couple of months it gets better
Depends on the age of the olives when harvested too. Earlier harvests yield less but have more flavour. Later harvests yield more and taste smoother and such oils are generally cheaper. There is a really good epicurious video about this on youtube.
I use a cheaper extra virgin olive oil when frying or cooking at higher temperatures because a lot of the volatile compounds get evaporated or cooked away. Always finish with a good olive oil for flavour however, or for making a salad dressing when it can stay cold.
I have been living in Spain for almost 6 years now and I can say that having access to good and authentic extra virgin olive oil is a game changer on how I prepare and cook my meals. EVOO has an acquired taste. Here, there are numerous brands, from big suppliers to small olive oil factories, and you get to play around the intensity of flavour you want. That being said, it would be difficult for countries that don't have easy access to this product to discern which one is real or not. A normal EVOO here for cooking is around 6-10€ (1 liter) so it is insane for me to think of paying 25$ for a small bottle.
I'd still be willing to pay that price knowing I'm getting the real stuff; I checked out his doc in the link, but I'd like to know what are some commonly available brands in US stores that meet all those criteria?
I've been to some olive oil tastings, and all I know is that the real, high quality stuff has a distinct combination of bitterness and zestiness that has a pleasant mouth feel, and slightly burns your throat. If it's harsh on the pallate and throat, the acidity is too high, which means it's likely fake or old.
If I'm being real though, I mostly use oils for cooking, and I can get the same nutritional benefits of olive oil, primarily the high Omega 3 content, from other oils.
What is a good brand to buy in Madrid?
in spain theres no "fake" olive oil, it is label by the procedence, the worst olive oil available is the one that contains the bones of the olive and skin@@nahor88
As a Turkish Mediterranean and someone who’s family has an olive farm and produce to give away to friends and use our own, I only buy either rarely known Turkish brands which are from small family run farms or Greek brands as an expat living in Dubai.
PS: If you taste a real extra virgin olive oil, you’ll get to know how to differentiate them. Stay healthy everyone 🤞
I am Greek and have been scammed by some of our local (non branded) producers that you find around tourist areas. Better buy branded (and official quality controlled by authorities), but small. In Dubai try Zois Fine Food :)
I'm in the states, and after having real extra virgin olive oil in Italy I've been chasing that here ever since
@@tiusernamenabalw I will give it a try neighbor thank you :)
Ben de Manisalıyım, bizde de yağ eşten dosttan hediye olarak veya para ile alınır. Ben hayatımda marketten yağ aldığımı hatırlamam. Bunu izleyince memlekete şükrettim, bu ülkede hemen herkesin ev yapımı yağ aldigi arkadaşı vardır.
You're Turkish. Why the need for the extra description? You should also separate yourself from other Turks by detailing your ancestors, height, education level, eye colour etc.
I’m so lucky to live in Europe and close to Greece. I live in Romania and I buy my genuine olive oil from an older farmer in Greece which my uncles has known personally for almost 30 years. I buy every season a barrel of 19 liters for 150 euros and it lasts me through the year. The flavour and slight bitterness is unmistakeable.
I recently went to a olive oil class (I'm weird too, Johnny😁) at Olive Brooklyn and learned what the real thing tastes like which is slightly bitter, grassy and sometimes a touch of peppery-ness. Since changing my diet, I feel like I'm just now learning what food actually tastes like and it's both eye opening and sobering. Great video!
Which brands you recommend
Living in Australia, has some great health benefits. Among other things, rigorous food testing means that we're mostly free from these kinds of scammers and we grow our own.
In Australia you can still end up with a pretty bad olive oil if you stick to the mainstream mass-produced brands sold at big supermarkets only.
Any sources to confirm this? E.g. is the Coles/Woolworths EVOO legit and how do we know? Cheers!
@@MisterF_1984 many of the cheaper ones you find at woolies are still mixed with other hydrogenated vegetables oils (those not labeled as extra virgin). You can find decent legit brands like cobram estate, but still not as good as a proper family-owned EVOO. If you want top quality olive oil in Australia, get in either from directly from organic farms or at specialized delicatessen stores but expect to pay at least around $40 for a 500ml bottle.
Can't they grow olive oil in Australia and the US? They have hot climate areas. Is it really limited to the meddittereanean ?
@@chatteyjthere is an Australian olive oil industry based in South Australia
In the late 90's, as a business student, I was able to talk to a relevant portuguese producer that told me he would only sell 15% of his juice to local market, Spain, UK and Brazil. The remaining was sold in bulk to Italy and they would label it as local and got unreal margins. I think that was it, not fake mixures, people would drink quality anyway.
Same thing in Tunisia since the association agrement.
Even in Italy, a lot of stuff on supermarket shelves will say something about olives being of EU and non EU origin. Saw this in France as well. Honey is the other big industry like this.
The irony of course is that Tunisian olive oil and Spanish olive oil are not worse than Italian at all. I think the best olive oils I tasted were from Portugal (family friends hand produced), Tunisia, and Jaen in Spain 😂
@@scott9334i'm italian, i have tried various oil from a various region of italy, and every region oil have different taste from each other, there are some more spicy, some more sweet, some more acid, this is the same for all the other regio of mediterranean see
My family is poor and they worked as simple workers for years in Greece, they were collecting olives and other vegetables, and were able to get this olive oil at lowest prices possible so growing up I used to taste the olive oil as it is and my buds are used to it , I don’t think anyone could fool me !
How do you know a particular content is good?
When you wonder how a 21 plus minute video went so fast.
Great content as usual.
Wow - I didn't even realise this was that long! 😮 Truly great content
Didn’t realize I was sitting on the throne this long either. Hahaha.
@jimmymoller8640 yeah not gonna lie, it do be like that
A Greek olive oil producer from Zakynthos taught me that no genuine olive oil should have more than 13g of saturated fat / 100 ml. Dunno how true that is but since then I always check the label and if its 13 or above I hard pass. I did notice that indeed, the ones under 13 taste a lot more "green and fresh" and give me less of a reflux reaction (its still straight oil, so use sparingly). Also, I know everyone is all over Italian olive oil, but do give other regions a try. Middle East, Greece, Spain, etc.
As a member of a family of small oil producers I want to thank you. You are doing us only good when exposing the frauds.
P.S. It's well known here in Greece the Italians are buying our olive oil for cheap to resell it as Italian native afterwards. We have the good stuff, but we don't know how to do the marketing.
Do you sell yours online and can ship to the UK? Have been to Aegina and gutted i didnt buy any olive oil. 😢
Spaniard here, Italians do the same with our olive oil, ham and wine
@@kamela1958 Sorry, we don't even do bottling. We have limited quantities for us and for friends only. I guess the good thing is to attract you back in Greece to enjoy some more. 😀
Now I want to visit Greece even more
Same with Spain
It’s about time someone called out the barstardisation of olive oil. Only recently I was made aware of this type of practice, whereby vegetable oil was added during the processing of the fresh olives from a now elderly person who use to work in an olive mill 50+ years ago. Keep up the good work Johnny!
This reminds me of the Austrian wine scandal. Some Austrian wineries were adding diethylene glycol (a component in antifreeze) to make their wine seem artificially sweeter. In that case, it caused significant reputational damage to Austrian wineries, as well as legal trouble for those that were adulterating their wine.
As an Italian I have to say, this video was very needed.
Everywhere you go you find terrible Italian rip-offs products, and people get easily scammed because they simply don't know how this stuff is supposed to taste like.
Here we are well aware of how good/bad the products we find in stores are, and a good reason for this is that in Italian suburbs it is very common for those who produce some of their own food themselves to hand it over to relatives and friends (especially in the south), for example we have chickens and we give away eggs, and all our friends and relatives really appreciate them (because the eggs you buy at the store are terrible compared to those) and we have some friends that each season give us extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes, potatoes, apples, strawberries, cherries, sheep meat of any kind (that lust one is a speciality of "Abruzzo", the Italian region I'm from) and each year with the tomatoes they give us we also make enough tomato sauce to last us for a whole year and we hand over that as well to our friends and relatives and those are very popular among them (again, because the one you find at the store is acid af).
By applying this same reasoning to foods from other cultures I can easily believe people when they say for example that sushi tastes very differently in Japan that it does here😅
You can still get terrible sushi in Japan fyi
Bongiorno! I just came back from a holiday to Italy; and having tasted some of the oils furnished directly by farms in Umbria and Marche…wow! Indeed, it tasted like a completely different product than what I had become accustomed to. It was also fascinating to visit the local wine & oil co-ops, where the locals would just bring their jug & buy the products in bulk for very reasonable prices.
I'm from Spain, part of my family has olive trees and I'm laughing at all of this bc..I know the real taste of good olive oil too! it's easier to get an overall mid tier product that is better than average, than actually buying the really good stuff if you never tasted the real deal
the "Spain oil is sold to Italy" part I know a lot too, my country is not as good as selling itself to the world as Italy is". I've been to Italy, I tasted italian and spanish oil and when it's good it's really good in taste, albeit with different tastes and nuances you only catch if you've been eating stuff with olive oil all your life, thus that scam is really easy to make, buy in bulk from Spain and bottle in Italy
Bella anch'io sono italiano e sono assolutamente d'accordo, tutti ci copiano ma nessuno sa come le cose sono veramente, qui in italy
Late November/December is harvest time for olives here in Portugal. My late grand parents, had Olive groves, they used to put burlap tarps around the trees, used wooden ladders (made by my granddad) and kind of a rake (don't know the name in English) to strip them from the branches. When I was a kid, I wondered why the olive oil in the supermarked looked like sunflower oil, so much different from the one at home.
So the moral of the story is to buy olive oil from places like Spain and Greece etc. where there’s no mafia
Sure, there's no mafia there. SURE.
Get it from the south of France or Corsica. No mafia or corruption to speak of, shorter supply chains, strict regulations for labeling and quality control...
“You may have never tasted real extra virgin olive oil”
*laughs in Lebanese*
Laughs in Jordanian
😂
I had the pleasure to live in Portugal for a while and taste real olive oil produced by friends and I could help in the process. It was SO DELICIOUS that I would eat every day with just bread or put on every of my meals. It’s been years and I still miss it, never had the chance to buy an oil like that one.
Can you use extra virgin olive oil to stain wood to preserve wood for gardening so not to use stain that is bad for vegetables
Use Tong oil.
U can buy "galo or caixeiro" online ...
@@Jesusiscoming24 - You need something that won't go rancid.
@@billybob1723 .. I heard of mineral oil
If you'll ever be travelling to Slovenia (coastal region) I'll be glad to take you on an olive oil tasting, we are one of the northest region that produce olive oil, so it is very bitter, but also very specific taste and I only buy from local families. Great video btw!
I produce my own olive oil in Dalmatia ( southern coastal part of Croatia, I have 180 olive trees), also worked in the olive press for 4 years I was the manager and the only employee of that small press. I tasted, smelled, cleaned after over 500 different batches of olives and the oils produced. I, also had the opportunity to taste a lot of oils made in Istria ( north penninsula of Croatia) some of wivh were awarded gold medals for quality in Italy. So, now I'm done with the introduction let me tell you what I really wanted to say - I had an opportunity to taste olive oil made in California and it was GREAT.
When I lived in Valencia, Spain, had the chance to buy fresh olive oil, just pressed from recently harvested olives (it was November), produced in a small village nearby. I never forgot how delicious it was.
American food standards never cease to amaze.
Agreed. Also dental hygiene in the UK is astounding to me. It leads me to believe there is far more inbreeding in the UK than is reported.
@@collinbarnard207 Astoundingly good or bad? I wouldn't know either way, you'd have to ask someone from the UK.
And never cease to despair or disappoint
Finally! So happy you covered this weird story! I remember hearing about it when I worked in the food service industry.
I sell real olive oil from small family farms in Europe and agree with every word you say. I get furious when I see people in the supermarket buying rubbish labeled EVOO. And what infuriates me most is that I can’t explain anything to them. It's good that you are trying to do this. Thank you so much!
I have high respect for you Johnny!!! Covering this scam is very good and I am thankful for what you are doing. Please cover other food scams like juice or other food we are told are this but actually are totally different.
i read that America grows olives so guessing they can make their own
I'm Brazilian, and moat of our olive oil here actually comes from Portugal, which makes our local market and exception to global trends. Nevertheless, Italian and Spanish okive oils tend to be more expensive. To the best of my knowledge, there are labeling and testing regulations in place that ensure that companies label their bottles properly. These regulations are especially strict in tegards to companies that mix olive oil with soybean oil. They can't label it as olive oil and rather have to sell it under the term: "mixed oil."
Great video and great insights into something I had never put much thought into.
In a nutshell: buy Spanish olive oil because it is the same quality as Italian olive oil, but you won't risk buying mafia pee-pee. And it's cheaper because there's no absurd premium.
@@WealthyandNerdy I am sure the Greek people would totally benefit from not exporting any olive oil and your economy wouldn't suffer at all.
Dude subbed after u talked about you pullups. Feel your energy.
In my case, I go with extra virgin olive oil from either Portugal or Spain. They are the most balanced between price and quality and with less of that mafia in the way.
Maybe it's because I'm Spanish and I have olive oil literally every day, but in my opinion it's incredibly easy to tell apart extra virgin olive oil from the other stuff, it just tastes that much better that even when taking it with other things you can instantly tell if it's good or not
Amen brother
As a Greek, I totally agree. It's so easy to tell the difference, but again, Greeks are by far the biggest per capita consumers of olive oil.
@@auto952and Spain is second.
This is why I like to buy French cheese, the guys eating it daily will actually produce it better
@@Darkmaiki And are most likely to counterfeit it well too.
Im spanish and I think that the only true extra virgin olive oil that I’ve had is produced by my father -in-law. It’s really labour intensive and the whole family helps out picking the olives from the trees during the winter. The pueblo (village) have a cooperative where everyone gives the olives they’ve recollected and then extract the oil using shared machines. They give us a 5L bottle every Christmas and I’m always looking forward to it. It’s reserved for salads and dipping bread. There’s nothing like it, even in local supermarkets :(
Where? Can you purchase it? I'm tired of the hacendado garbage.
A few months ago i read the label on my oil and was shocked and mad to see the small print added that it was olive oil with canola oil added! Now mind you this was a green bottle with a big picture of olives on the branch in the olive oil section of the cooking oil isle...now i even read my mayo to see what else when it says olive oil mayo and it also had other oils added. So now it's the expensive small company specialty brands im using. They dont lie so far. What a world.