Olive The Ways To Choose The Perfect Oil

Eataly wants to make your life a little easier and help you find your perfect olive oil match; whether you’re someone who uses olive oil for dipping freshly baked bread, creating flavourful dressings for summer salads or cooking a romantic date night meal, they’ll help find the idyllic bottle for you.

Region

Depending on where the olive tree is in Italy, the flavour profile will likely differ based on a combination of things like climate, soil, and the time of harvest.

In northern Italy, the oil is typically smooth, delicate, and very light with floral notes, such as the Taggiasca Monocultivar Extra Virgin Oil, perfect for light dishes like risotto or for drizzling on bread.
In central Italy, the oil tends to be more herbaceous, often with a grassy, peppery finish like the Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Ranieri. This kind of oil is also perfect for serving with bread, as well as bruschetta, pasta, salads, and steaks.
In southern Italy, the oil usually has more of a strong flavour, with a full-bodied, intense aroma, perfect for dishes that aim to showcase the oil. The Trullo Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the De Carlo family is a high quality extra virgin olive oil from this area and would be excellent in this Pinzimonio recipe.

Harvest

Unlike wine, olive oil does not get better with age so the closer you are to the harvest date, the stronger and more robust the flavours will be.

Cultivar

Like wine, the varieties of olives used to make oil will impact the unique characteristics of aroma, taste, and texture. For example, wines from Southern and Northern Italy will have different tastes, notes, and uses.

Filtration

Olive oil is either filtered, which removes extra particles, or unfiltered, which still contains tiny olive particles and is more cloudy in appearance, often with more intense flavour for the first two months after opening.

Personal Taste

Each oil is unique, so it is encouraged to smell and taste Eataly’s oils to determine which is best for you.