"Extra Virginity"? We're Talking Olive Oil, Folks

I heard this interview, "Losing Virginity": Olive Oil's Scandalous Fraud, last month on my local public radio station, WAMC, in Albany, NY. It was on Fresh Air from WHYY, with Terry Gross interviewing Tom Mueller, the author of Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil.

Interview Highlights

On why 4 out of 10 bottles that say Italian olive oil are not actually Italian olive oil
"A lot of those oils have been packed in Italy or have been transited through Italy just long enough to get the Italian flag on them. That's not, strictly speaking, illegal — but I find it a legal fraud, if you will."

On extra light olive oil
"Extra light is just as caloric as any other oil — 120 calories per tablespoon, but the average person looking at it might say, 'Oh, well, I've heard olive oil is a fat, so I will try extra light olive oil.' ... It's highly, highly refined. It has almost no flavor and no color. And it is, in fact, extra-light in the technical sense of being clear."

On which oil to use while frying or sauteing
"From a health point of view, olive oil is wonderful [for frying]. From a taste point of view, there are times when at really, really high temperatures, an extra-virgin with really bitter flavors and pungency can become a little unbalanced. And the bitterness can become overbearing. And obviously, from an economic point of view, if you're spending a lot of money for an extra-virgin, maybe high-heat cooking in some circumstances really isn't the best thing. But for lower heat, every extra-virgin olive oil is good — it really depends on the dish you're putting together."

On using olive oil as a dressing for ice cream
"Get a bottle of really, really powerful, bitter and pungent oil, and pour it over some really good ice cream. And it is like an injection of liquid sunshine. It's quite a treat."

I enjoyed listening to this interview, as the author is very knowledgeable about many aspects of olive, including the types and grades of olives, where and how they are grown, how growing conditions and time of harvest can affect the taste of the oil, how olive oil is obtained, and even how to suss out fake olive oil, to name only several of the many aspects of olive oil and its production.

I am going to listen to this program again, and I recommend it to you -

"Losing Virginity": Olive Oil's Scandalous Fraud