Deliveries to all countries in Europe on our shop online

Deliveries to all countries in Europe on our shop online

How to taste extra virgin olive oil? A consumer’s guide

The Schirinzi Oil Company has been producing extra virgin olive oil since 1963, a 100% Italian oil with unmistakable sensory characteristics. Here’s a brief guide to tasting extra virgin olive oil.

How to taste extra virgin olive oil: olfactory notes

It is possible to taste EVO oil for free before making a purchase at the company. However, we recommend contacting the company in advance to schedule an appointment for the tasting of extra virgin olive oil.

The simplest way to understand the quality and sensory notes of extra virgin olive oil is to buy a bottle from a producer and compare it with a low-cost olive oil from the supermarket.
Pour the equivalent of a tablespoon of both oils into two small cups (you can use plastic coffee cups). Shake the contents of the cups with the palms of your hands to release the volatile aromas; at this point, you can easily identify all the olfactory notes just by bringing your nose close. Through the nose, you can perceive the stronger and weaker flavors of fruitiness and other plant sensations like tomato, apple, etc. For the olfactory analysis, it is essential to inhale with both nostrils and repeat after a certain amount of time, as the sense of smell tends to easily become temporarily accustomed.

Tasting EVO oil: taste notes

The tasting of extra virgin olive oil continues with retro-nasal and gustatory analysis. The taste sensations are highlighted through the taste buds, concentrated on the lateral walls of the tongue’s papillae. Bring a few drops of oil into your mouth after warming it by swirling it in the glass (optimal temperature 28°), gently move it around in your mouth to contact the taste buds, while inhaling several times to evaluate retro-nasal sensations.
While tasting the extra virgin oil, memorize the flavors and odors. If necessary, repeat the tasting, but only after rinsing your mouth with natural water, bread, or green apple. The stronger the flavors of the oil, the longer you should wait before trying to taste extra virgin olive oil again.

The gustatory analysis reveals the positive intensities of bitterness and spiciness in the oils and, if applicable, the most common unacceptable defects.

How to taste extra virgin oil

Tasting Techniques for Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In the past, assessing the quality of olive oil relied on traditional chemical analyses that primarily measured acidity. However, determining only chemical parameters (such as acidity, peroxide value, ultraviolet light absorption, etc.) is insufficient to guarantee that an oil possesses good organoleptic characteristics. Indeed, it can happen that oils with excellent chemical parameters exhibit organoleptic flaws (taste, aroma, fragrance) that can downgrade the product.
Numerous attempts to achieve an objective evaluation of the organoleptic qualities of olive oil through its chemical composition have been made, but the results are still far from solving the problem using instrumental chemical analyses. Therefore, today, sensory analysis conducted while tasting the oil, or any other origin, remains the most effective method for highlighting the organoleptic characteristics of virgin olive oils.
It should be emphasized that several factors interfere when tasting extra virgin olive oil, including the variability of sensory perception thresholds from person to person and the difficulty in conveying our olfactory perceptions, associated with personal prior experiences, which render organoleptic assessment subjective, even when expressed by one or more individuals with extensive experience and keen sensory abilities.

To overcome these mentioned challenges and achieve an objective evaluation, the following must be ensured:
– the human perceptual system should rely solely on the intensity of sensory stimuli;
– the measurement interval should be standardized;
– there should be statistical treatment of the data.
Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) or Panel Test developed by the COI (International Olive Council), as outlined in Regulation EC No. 2568 of 1991, meets all these conditions. The analysis is based on the following premises:
– the issue of variability in perceptual thresholds to stimuli among individuals is addressed by using a group of eight to twelve appropriately selected and trained individuals who can recognize the quality and defect characteristics of food;
– communication difficulties between subjects are resolved through the development of an official vocabulary to which tasters must refer when describing sensory notes;
– the adoption of a continuous unstructured intensity scale, represented by a horizontal line of 10 cm, allows the taster to freely gauge intensity continuously, rather than according to pre-set intensity intervals. The distance from the starting point of the line to the point marked by the expert, indicating the strength of the perceived sensation, represents the measure of the attribute’s intensity. The scores thus recorded will permit statistical data treatment as intended.
The statistical treatment of intensities is based on calculating the median for each attribute, both positive and negative. Oils will be classified based on the median of the fruity attribute and the median of the most intensely perceived negative attribute.

Oils that achieve a fruity attribute median value greater than zero and have negative attribute median values equal to zero are classified as extra virgin; while for the virgin oil category, the fruity attribute median must also be greater than zero, and negative attribute median values must not exceed 2.5.
The reliability of the results from the tasting panel is determined by calculating the robust variation coefficient, which should not exceed 20% for the median of defects and not exceed 10% for the median of the fruity attribute.
At the end of the analysis, the panel leader will prepare the analysis certificate, which will serve as the identity card for the food, along with the chemical analysis certificate.

How to Taste Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Consumer Guide

REGULATION (EC) NO. 640/2008 OF JULY 4TH, 2008

Characteristics of olive oils and methods of organoleptic analysis.

Annex XII of Regulation EC No. 640/2008 establishes the method for the Organoleptic Evaluation of Virgin Olive Oils.
To this end, it establishes a specific vocabulary:

Positive Attributes

Fruity: a combination of olfactory sensations, depending on the variety of olives, characteristic of oil obtained from healthy and fresh fruits, whether green or ripe, perceived directly and/or retronasally.
The fruity oil attribute is defined as green when the olfactory sensations resemble those of green fruits, characteristic of oil obtained from green fruits.
The fruity attribute is termed mature when the olfactory sensations resemble those of ripe fruits, characteristic of oil obtained from both green and ripe fruits.
Bitter: a basic taste characteristic of oil obtained from green or ripe olives, perceived by the taste buds forming the V on the tongue.
Pungent: a sharp tactile sensation characteristic of oils produced at the beginning of the season, mainly from still-green olives, that can be perceived throughout the oral cavity, particularly in the throat.

Negative Attributes

Muddy: a flavor characteristic of oil obtained from olives that have been piled or stored under conditions that have suffered a high degree of anaerobic fermentation, or oil remaining in contact with sediment that has also undergone anaerobic fermentation, in underground and airborne deposits.
Mold-moisture: a flavor characteristic of oil obtained from fruits where abundant fungi and yeasts developed due to being piled for many days in humid environments.
Vinous-acidic / Acid-sour: a flavor characteristic of some oils that resembles that of wine or vinegar. It is essentially due to an aerobic fermentation process of the olives or the remains of olive paste in poorly washed containers, leading to the formation of acetic acid, ethyl acetate, and ethanol.
Metallic: a flavor reminiscent of metal. It is characteristic of oil kept in prolonged contact with metal surfaces during milling, kneading, pressing, or storage.
Rancid: a flavor of oils that have undergone intense oxidative processes.
Cooked or overcooked: a characteristic flavor of oil due to excessive and/or prolonged heating during extraction, especially during heat kneading if occurring under unsuitable thermal conditions.
Hay-wood: a characteristic flavor of some oils obtained from dried olives.
Coarse: a dense and pasty oral/tactile sensation produced by some old oils. Lubricants: a flavor of oil reminiscent of diesel, grease, or mineral oil.
Vegetation water: a flavor acquired by oil due to prolonged contact with vegetation water that has undergone fermentation.
Brine: a flavor of oil extracted from olives preserved in brine.
Straw: a characteristic flavor of oil obtained from olives pressed in new straw containers. It may vary if the container is made from green or dry straw.
Soil: a flavor of oil obtained from olives collected from soil or muddy and unwashed. Worm: a flavor of oil obtained from olives severely affected by the olive fly larvae (Bactrocera Oleae).
Cucumber: a characteristic flavor of oil that has undergone overly prolonged hermetic conditioning, particularly in cans, attributed to the formation of 2-6 nonadienal.
Wet wood: a characteristic flavor of oil extracted from olives that underwent frost while on the tree. 3.3.

Optional Terminology for Labeling Purposes

Upon request, the head panel can certify that the evaluated oils meet the definitions and ranges corresponding to the following expressions and adjectives based on the intensity and perception of attributes:
a) for each of the positive attributes (fruity, potentially defined as green or mature, pungent, and bitter): i) the term “intense” may be used when the median of the relevant attribute is above 6; ii) the term “medium” may be used when the median of the relevant attribute is between 3 and 6; iii) the term “light” may be used when the median of the relevant attribute is below 3; iv) the above attributes can be used without reference to the adjectives in points i), ii), and iii) when the median of the relevant attribute is above or equal to 3;
b) the term “balanced” may be used for an oil that does not exhibit elements of imbalance. Imbalance refers to the olfactory-taste and tactile sensation of oil where the median of the bitter attribute and/or that of the pungent attribute is more than two points higher than that of the fruity attribute;
c) the expression “sweet oil” may be used for an oil where the median of the bitter and that of the pungent attribute are less than or equal to 2.

Here are some tips on why to consume extra virgin olive oil and why to purchase oil directly from the mill!

Why you should buy the olive oil from an oil mill?

Discover our tips on why you should use only extra virgin olive oil and buy the oil directly from the mill!

BASIC OIL TASTING KIT

FREE ORDER

The KIT is a sample pack of 2 bottles of extra virgin olive oil: Fruity and Balanced. You only pay €16.50 for shipping from Italy
Tasting kit of Puglian extra virgin olive oil from Salento, free of charge, complimentary
Tasting kit of Puglian extra virgin olive oil from Salento, free of charge, complimentary
BASIC OIL TASTING KIT

FREE ORDER

The KIT is a sample pack of 2 bottles of extra virgin olive oil: Fruity and Balanced. You only pay €16.50 for shipping from Italy