Notes on olive oil & taste
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8 articles
The vivid green color of freshly pressed extra virgin olive oil comes from chlorophyll — a pigment that doubles as a photosensitizer, generating highly reactive singlet oxygen when exposed to light. Understanding this mechanism makes light-blocking storage a matter of chemistry, not convention.
OLEA Editorial
Peroxide value (PV) is the quality figure that appears alongside acidity on premium olive oil labels, measuring how far oxidation has progressed. Read together, PV and free fatty acids tell a fuller story about freshness than either number alone.
OLEA Editorial
The fatty acid table on the back of an olive oil bottle contains far more information than the grade stamp up front. This guide walks through what each percentage means and how to use it when choosing a bottle.
OLEA Editorial
Every bottle on the shelf says 'extra virgin,' yet prices for 500 ml can vary tenfold. Acidity, polyphenols, harvest timing, and certification are the real dividing lines — and they're all readable on the label.
OLEA Editorial
Rancidity in olive oil announces itself through three senses: smell, color, and taste. Knowing the difference between a waxy crayon odor, a dull yellow-brown hue, and a flat, lingering aftertaste — and a genuinely fresh bottle — can save every dish the oil touches.
OLEA Editorial
Three single-cultivar oils from ORO CELESTE — Ojiblanca, Sibarita, and Picual — each clear the EU's 250 mg/kg polyphenol benchmark by a wide margin. Here is what those figures actually mean, and how to use them when choosing an extra virgin olive oil.
OLEA Editorial
Acidity alone does not determine olive oil quality. When an IOC sensory panel detects a defect at tasting, even an oil below 0.8% acidity can be downgraded from extra virgin status.
OLEA Editorial
A deep green hue is widely assumed to signal a superior extra virgin olive oil, but the International Olive Council's official grading system does not include color as an evaluation criterion. Here is why color and quality are not directly linked.
OLEA Editorial