Olive Oil: Why fresh is best

Olive oil has long been a staple in Mediterranean cooking, and is often praised for its exceptional health benefits.  There are studies linking olive oil, full of polyphenols and antioxidants, with prevention of everything from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and arthritis, often with those health effects being seen by eating as little as two tablespoons of olive oil per day. However, all olive oil sold on the shelves of your grocery store are not created equally. Like any fruit, olives are better when they are freshest.  Because of its molecular structure, all olive oil starts to oxidize over time. While there are things that help slow down this process, such as protection against extremes in temperature and limiting its exposure to light, olives start to break down from the minute that they are harvested, with the health benefits beginning to decrease about 9 months after that.

How to tell if olive oil is fresh? The most obvious way is to check when the olives were harvested.  Walking through a grocery store in America, it is rare to see a bottle with a harvest date on it.  Because of the amount of time it takes to go through all the channels involved in getting the oil from its bottling to the grocery store shelf, many  producers shy away from advertising the harvest date.  Any producer that puts a harvest date on their label is making a strong commitment to quality.Another way to judge freshness is by smell.  The oil should smell fresh and bright, with hints of nuttiness or freshly cut grass or hay, which are indicators of high polyphenol levels. The taste should be slightly bitter and peppery, which is often a shock to those used to eating olive oil that is not fresh, but it soon grows to be a taste that people crave. Like grapes that go into wine, olives also have their own terroir and are impacted by growing conditions.

At Il Palazzone, we pick our olives very early in the season.  While this produces a lower yield, the olives themselves are much more concentrated and flavorful.  Each and every olive is picked by hand, which prevents bruising and ensures that only the best olives go into the oil. The olives are then rushed to be pressed within hours of being picked, which prevents damage due to changes in temperature or accidental bruising. We package the oil in green bottles, which filters out light (be wary of oil sold in clear bottles!)  It is often hard to find truly fresh olive oil outside its country of production, and this year will be no exception.  With storms early in the year that damaged many olive trees around Tuscany, the yield of olives this year will be lower in years passed.

One way to guarantee a shipment to your home of our olive oil is through Club 100, where you get to adopt an olive tree on the estate.  Along with your name painted on a beautiful plaque designed by a local Montalcino artist and hung on your personal tree, you will receive 3 bottles of olive oil within a month of its having been pressed, the absolute freshest oil you can get without being in Italy.