The Special Taste and Flavour of Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil From Greece’s Finest Olive Farms

Greece produces about 15 percent of the world’s supply of olive oil, chosen by gourmets for its strong flavor and aroma. Olive oil, as anyone knows is available in different grades such as virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil also known as EVOO. Then there is the virgin grade and another known as pure olive or refined olive oil. The best of the pack is undoubtedly EVOO or extra virgin oil since it has low acidity (0.21), is produced from selected olives sourced from a single olive farm and cold pressed to preserve the natural taste, aroma and flavor. Pure olive oils, at the bottom of the scale are a mix of different oils from different farms and are refined, lacking the characteristic punch of the delightful and heady extra virgin grade olive oil.

Extra virgin olive oil from different countries has different color, consistency and aroma. Greek extra virgin olive oil stands in a class apart for its characteristic pale green-yellow color and a distinguishing taste. This makes it ideal for salad dressing as it is for use on pasta and a variety of culinary delights. The raw extra virgin oil of olive is best eaten this way since high temperature destroys its typical taste. No other oil can match the way Greek olive oil of the extra virgin grade dresses up salads and meals.

Like wine, manufacturing extra virgin olive oil is a family tradition, with companies carefully guarding their secret as also being extremely strict about selection of olives, time of harvesting, post harvesting methods and oil extraction methods. The best and finest EVOO can be a the product of a painstaking process in which everything is done almost manually. Sticklers for tradition, Oil Millers extract oil using manual presses with age old materials used in the filter. Then the oil is stored in stainless steel tanks, untouched by hand and protected from exposure to air to prevent oxidation that changes color and flavor. Like wine again, the soil, temperature, humidity, cultivation methods and other factors affect quality of olives and the premium oil, each graded after a careful selection process.

Though expensive, these “queens” of olive oils have a bite and a zing characteristically lacking in cheaper grades. A reputed Greek house manufacturing finest extra virgin olive oil typically grades even EVOO into different sub-grades, pricing them accordingly. You could, for instance, buy a bottle for as little as Euro 13 and also pay twice as much for half the quantity, with quality making a major difference to the way the queen of oil of olives is priced. If you want the finest, pick Greek EVOO, one variety of which can be described as having base woody notes and nutty overtones overlaid by piney trebles and smooth as silk middle, combining into a heady bouquet that turns even the simplest Greek salad into a feast fit for the Gods of Olympus.

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