Let’s Learn About Olive Oil Tasting

Professional olive oil tasters do their olive oil tasting by sipping the oil straight from little blue glasses that look like votive candleholders from your favorite café or church. Tasting olive oil straight does have the advantage of giving you a completely undisguised taste of the oil—and it will help you learn to recognize characteristics without the complication of other flavors.

Gourmet Olive Oil from Sun Zen Is Made from the Highest Quality Olives

Characteristics of Gourmet Olive Oil

The fruity (“fruity” in olive oil can refer to vegetable notes, i.e. green olive fruit, as well as to ripe fruit notes) aromas of gourmet olive oil are a critical part of its flavor. The best way to appreciate the aroma is to pour a little bit of olive oil (a tablespoon or two) into a small wineglass. Hold it, swirl it, warm it for a minute or two. Then stick your nose into the glass and take a good whiff of the aroma or “nose” of the olive oil. You should notice the smell of fresh-cut grass, cinnamon, tropical fruits, or other aromas of ripe or green olive fruit.

Now take a sip of the oil. Pungency is a peppery sensation, detected in the throat, so swallowing some oil is important. Pungency is a positive characteristic of olive oil. It is a chemical irritation, like the hotness of chilies, and equally appealing once you get used to it. Once you start to get into that spicy kick, it is hard to imagine life without it. Pungency can be very mild—just the tiniest tingle—or it can be intense enough to make you cough. Olive oil aficionados will sometimes refer to a one, two, or look out, a three-cough oil.

The third of the three positive attributes of olive oil, in addition to fruity and pungent sensations, is bitter. Bitterness, like pungency, is also an acquired taste. Since olive oil is made from uncured olives, varying degrees of bitterness can be found; oil made from riper fruit will have little to no bitterness, oil made from greener fruit can be distinctly bitter.

Sun Zen Gourmet Olive Oil Can Be Used in Food for Every Occasion

Have Your Own Olive Oil Tasting

Once you have tasted an olive oil plain, the next step is to taste it in combination with food. This is where olive oil comes to life. Notice how the flavors interact. Is it a harmonious mix? A contrast? Does one flavor overwhelm the other, or do they balance well?

Good choices for pairings are warm boiled potatoes, fresh mozzarella, ripe tomatoes, bread, and seasonal cooked vegetables. Cook things simply, without a lot of added seasonings, but be sure you have some sea salt on hand. This is a fun thing to do with a group of friends: you can taste together and compare impressions. Add a couple of wines—a red and a white—to complete the pairings, and you will have yourself an olive oil tasting rivalingTuscany!