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TASTING OLIVE OIL.

Mediterranean oils and especially Umbrian one are strong flavored. Newly pressed olive oils have even stronger flavors (pungent and fruity). When the oil makes contact with the back of the throat, the bitterness will force a cough. Bitterness is considered to be a desirable trait.

Olive oil is judged like wine, by its organoleptic properties. These include color, bouquet and taste. All three properties depend on the ripeness of the olives when harvested, how they were kept and how the oil was extracted. Color is tinged green by the chlorophyll of green olives or yellow by mature olives. The amount of carotene determines how yellow the oil may become. As the oil becomes oxidized a red tint will appear. Bouquet is determined by the volatile compounds in the oil: alcohols, hydrocarbons, aldehydes, ketones and esters. Oil processed at high temperatures, improperly stored, chemically extracted or exposed to light will lose these ephemeral compounds.

 Taste involves the bouquet in combination with the four gustatory senses: salty, acid, bitter and sweet. Tasting for trade classification is performed by the International Olive Oil Council's accredited Tasting Panels using a limited number of descriptors or indices, which are used to screen out oils that have been improperly produced. Until November 1996, in official sensory assessment, the tasters first sought just six types of defects. On November 20, 1996 additional types of defects were taken into account.

Tasting Method

Do not smoke for at least 30 minutes before the tasting and avoid contact with any perfume, cosmetics, toothpaste or soaps. Fill a colored glass (blue or green) with 15ml of olive oil warmed to 28 degrees C (+2 ) and after you have covered it with your palm for 30 seconds, inhale briefly to get a first impression.

Inhale deeper to confirm, expand or negate that first impression.

Take a sip, roll it around the mouth cavity and suck air in through your clenched teeth.

Swallow it having noted the initial and middle palates. The after-palate sensation comes later.

To clean the palate between tastings, eat a piece of apple. Never taste more than three or four oils at a time, especially freshly pressed oils, because the peppery sensation has a tendency to become cumulative, thus preventing further accurate judgment.

 

Desirable Flavors

Almond: As fresh almond or dried almond, which is an aftertaste associated with sweet oils of flat smell, and can be confused with rancidity.

Apple. Flavor of the oil that recalls that of the apple.

Artichoke: a flavor that reminds one of a pleasant, fresh raw artichoke.

Astringent: Complex sensation in the mouth by substances such as tannins.

Bitter: Characteristic taste of olive oils obtained from green olives or olives turning color. Very pleasant depending on the intensity of taste.

Fresh: A sensation of freshly squeezed fruit with a significant aroma.

Fruity: Oil is fruity when its flavor and aroma are similar to that of a mature olive. Flavor resulting from picking healthy fresh fruit at the optimum stage of maturity. All oils after pressing seem fruity, but in most cases this characteristic disappears after a few months. Authentically fruity oil maintains this characteristic aroma through time.

Ripe Fruity: Flavor of olive oil obtained from ripe olives, with flat aroma and sweet taste.

Green Fruity: See "Bitter".

Grass: the taste of grass often associated with green olives or more mature olives crushed with leaves and twigs

Green: Said of a young, fresh, fruity and slightly weedy oil often mixed with bitter oil. Spicy-bitter sensation at the back of the throat.

Green leaf: A sensation obtained when in the press a small quantity of fresh olive leaves are added.

Hay: Reminiscent of dried grass

Musky, nutty, woody: Trace characteristics that are very pleasing when not overpowering.

Peppery: A peppery bite in the back of the throat that can force a cough

Suave: Characteristic of very mature olives and pale gold in color. Aftertaste has a very palatable, sweet tendency.

Rotund: Said of oil with a full body to it that fills and satisfies without aromatic character - always from mature olives.

Sweet: Very pleasant and smooth taste but not really sugary. It is the opposite of bitter, stringent or pungent and is found in mellow oils.

Undesirable Flavors

Bitter: A good trait in moderation but undesirable if overpowering. Produced by olives that are unripe and have little meat.

Brine: Salty taste

Cucumber: Flavor of oil kept in sealed bottles or tin cans for a prolonged period.

Dirty: Oils that have absorbed the unpleasant odors and flavors of the vegetable water with which they remained in contact for too long after pressing.

Dreggish: Odor of warm lubricating oil and is caused by the poor execution or omission of the decanting process.

Earthy: This term is used when oil has acquired a musty humid odor because it has been pressed from unwashed, muddy olives.

Esparto Grass: Hemp-like flavor acquired when olive paste has been spread on Esparto mats. Flavors may differ according to whether the mats are green or dried.

Fiscolo: Caused by the use of filtering panels that are not perfectly cleaned, and brings hemp to mind.

Flat: Oils that have lost their characteristic aroma and have no taste.

Frozen: Due to olives that have been exposed to freezing temperatures. When cooked, this oil gives off very unpleasant odors.

Impersonal: a serious defect for virgin oil, because it means it has neither character nor personality. It is a trait common in all manipulated oils.

Lampantino: Oil that should be sent to a refinery. When it does not present awful organoleptic characteristics, it can be edible.

Burnt:  Used when oil tastes of excessive heating during processing.

Metallic: Oils processed or stored with extended contact to metal surfaces.

Moldy (also "old"): From unhealthy or fermented olives due to excessive storage in warehouses.

Olearic Fly (also "worm"): Oil from fruit stricken by this insect: the flavor is both rotten and putrid at the same time.

Phenic acid: Pertaining to poorly kept, very old oils.

Poor conservation: The oil absorbs the odors and flavors of everything surrounding it even if not in direct contact. A very common defect.

Rancid: Old oils that have started oxidizing due to exposure to light or air.

Warm: Due to the fermentation of olives kept too long in bags.

Winey ( also "sour"): High acidic taste

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