Olive oil Recommendations

[kdlalib]

Any recommendations for good Olive Oil brands to use when making salad dressings or drizzling on food? Thanks in advance!

[tim irvine]

When buying big (gallon) cans at Central Market I have found their Spanish brand very solid. Right now we are finishing a gallon of World Market's Italian...meh. Neither one is drizzling quality, but for salad dressing they work well paired with home made wine vinegar and a smidge of Maille Dijon. For intense peppery taste, I like Lungarotti. WS usually has it, but it is pricey. More moderately priced, Randall's (Safeway in Texas) carries some store brand EVOOs from California, Italy, and Greece. I have liked them all, especially the California. Unless allowed to spoil, most olive oils from supermarkets work fine in salad dressing, IMO.

[ferret]

Costco's Toscano vintage oil is a great value.

[juliejulez]

Do you have access to Costco? If you do, I really like their Kirkland organic extra virgin olive oil. It's a very reasonable price as well (although I can't remember it off the top of my head, but it's much cheaper than fancier brands you find at other stores).

[tastesgoodwhatisit]

I'll second the Costco brand. It's got a nice distinct olive oil flavour, is very reasonably priced and easy to get, and if I remember correctly, was one of the ones that passed the "is this actually 100% Italian EV olive oil tests".

[Harters]

My "best" olive oil is Zaytoun - a FairTrade oil from Palestine. Delicious.

[cresyd]

Apparently, Zaytoun contracts with Canaan FairTrade who does their exporting. I've never tried Zaytoun - but in general I do prefer olive oil from this region as opposed to Italy or Greece.

Though I'm sure that's because I can buy liters of unfiltered olive oil sold in used Coke bottles quite reasonably.

[Harters]

Yes, indeed. Zaytoun is the "brand name" here in the UK and Canaan is its main supplier in Palestine.

[cresyd]

Canaan also directly ships abroad, but I'm sure that's more of a hassel. Their unfiltered olive oil is really amazing (but only available in November/December).

[caiatransplant]

Hi. I looked high and low for good olive oil and found one called "Omaggio Private Reserve" extra virgin olive oil. I order 3 bottles at a time at $9.00/bottle and have it shipped. Shipping is always $6.00. My son isn't fond of it - too fruity for him, but I love it. If you're interested, go to Google and type in omaggio private reserve extra virgin olive oil and follow the links. It's killer stuff.

[walker]

Give Lucini a try; I love it. I can find it at Whole Foods.

[cresyd]

It really depends on how much money you're interested in paying - but for my money, this is the best commercially packaged olive oil I know of. http://www.canaanfairtrade.com/produc...