by Eva Strand, from the May 1999 Newsletter
Who could ever guess that there are so many fine nuances of flavor in olive oil? Seven different kinds of olive oil, bulk and packaged, all available at the Co-op, were selected for this tasting session. We tasted the oils plain on white bread to get the pure flavor of the oil.

The bulk olive oil at the Co-op is Extra Virgin non-organic olive oil from Spectrum. We considered it a basic all-round olive oil with a mild but noticable olive taste - good for cooking as well as in salad dressings. The price is right. It is a good buy.

Spectrum Tuscan style Extra Virgin organic olive oil turned out to be a well-liked oil with a light but earthy Calamata olive flavor - a favorite among some of us. Another winner was Anatoli Extra Virgin non-organic olive oil from Greece with a fruity, olivy, just-right taste. I am not surprised to read on the label that this is an award-winning oil. It was my favorite. California's Napa Valley Extra Virgin non-organic olive oil was a top notch mild, fruity, creamy oil - only good comments on this one also.

Spectrum organic olive oil had a very mild, sweet flavor and is well suited for cooking or in dressings where you don't want much olive fllavor. Spectrum also sells an Extra virgin olive oil which was described as nutty, slightly bitter, grassy flavor or with a hint of vanilla. In other words, this oil got a wide range descriptions from very positive to
not so good.

During my career as a taste-tester, it has been fascinating to watch 'my victims' test some products and have such completely different opinions about them. This oil was one of these products - you may love it or you may not like it at all.

Last to test was Gaeta Extra Virgin olive oil from Italy iwth an intense olivy taste - it was also described as `bubblegummy'. I will have to test this one again just to get my definition of `bubblegummy' straight!

I think we got this week's fat allowance taken care of in this one evening, but olive oil is 'good fat,' isn't it?

My suggestion for tonight:
Select a good olive oil, a crusty loaf of French bread, maybe garlic, herbs and dried tomatoes. Pour some oil in a beautiful bowl, add a crushed clove of garlic, chopped herbs and a few pieces of chopped sun dried tomatoes for sweetness – dip the bread and enjoy.

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