Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

palaos1995 t1_itqqtq5 wrote

Spain produces more than half of world's olive oil production .

Italian one is crumbling due to a widespread olives' parasite.

152

DaniMA121 t1_itqr3ny wrote

Us here in Spain love our olive oil

31

uppercase-j t1_itrk1d5 wrote

Soy español, ¿a qué quieres que te gane?

8

DaniMA121 t1_itrl185 wrote

Ah no se, dime. Yo estoy aquí para..... Bueno la verdad es que no lo se

3

ItalianDudee t1_its31u4 wrote

XYLELLA FASTIDIOSA

Damn fucking bacteria killed 70% of all olive’s plants in Puglia (Apulia)

21

mongmight t1_itrpcoi wrote

I always wondered what they were doing down there. Other than getting annoyed at brit tourists.

4

Pippin1505 t1_ittw6a2 wrote

So quick question: what’s the risk of said parasite spreading along the Mediterranean to Spain and Greece ?

3

ul2006kevinb t1_itqy5dp wrote

I can't believe Greece isn't up here even once. I thought they were big players in the olive oil market

75

Environmental-Car481 t1_itr363q wrote

I was surprised also. A family friend was looking to invest in an olive farm in Greece. She told me it’s basically currency for many people there.

18

Arganthonios_Silver t1_itr7az2 wrote

Some greek oil is sometimes on the complete lists on that site that includes 30 brands in different international competitions. For example at 2021/2022 Terra Creta Grand Cru and Terra Creta Bio for the organic category made in the list.

If we count all international competitions (not just the "strict" ones as the presented in the combined rankings used by OP) and all awards, not just top ones, greek oils are probably 3rd most awarded in the world after spanish and italian.

12

Javop t1_its431u wrote

Ah good. I have 20L of Terra Creta Bio in my basement. I batch order them every year. At least it's not terrible.

1

ronadian t1_itr70z6 wrote

Exactly ! I’ve had olive oil from all these places and IMO nothing comes close to the best ones from Greece.

10

Fern-ando t1_itrkhbo wrote

Most of the italian oil companies just use spanish oil. It's all marketing.

7

provenzal OP t1_itr7z50 wrote

I guess they don't bother to participate? I'm a bit surprised too. Greece have some superb olive oils.

5

FightingforReason t1_itrstx3 wrote

Same, last time I was drinking olive oil by the bottle. They have some amazing olive oil.

1

welshmanec2 t1_its2jx9 wrote

I've always preferred Greek oil to Spanish or Italian - it seems fresher, greener, less oily - if that isn't an odd thing to say about an oil.

But I'm not a "professional taster", just a guy who glugs it down by the gallon in salad season.

1

bored_lurking t1_itr34sn wrote

WHY did you reversed the order of the years!!

53

Ocksu2 t1_itquswy wrote

I looked at the list of top Olive Oils on the source website and then checked my pantry to see what I had.

"Bertolli" is not listed on that website. Apparently, I need to up my Olive Oil game.

38

AskMrScience t1_itt2s8x wrote

California Olive Ranch makes a good extra virgin olive oil that's widely available in US grocery stores.

https://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-olive-oils-according-to-chefs.html

>Many of our experts mentioned California Olive Ranch as a go-to (it’s also a brand often used in professional test kitchens).
>
>Anna Hezel, senior editor at Epicurious and author of Lasagna: A Baked Pasta Cookbook, calls it a “mellow and mild olive oil that is still pleasant-tasting.” She uses it for frying, baking, and drizzling, noting that she has “never had a bad bottle.” This is because California Olive Ranch is one of the few bigger producers that always note the harvest date.
>
>Nick Coleman, olive-oil expert, educator, and co-founder of the olive-oil subscription service Grove and Vine, says, “It has a light-to-medium body, is a little buttery and viscous in the mouth, and isn’t too assertive.” Plus, he adds, “it’s at a price point you can really cook with.”

3

TheOneCommenter t1_itu7p3v wrote

Yeah I got that one too, it's a mass-produced olive oil, probably taking leftovers from all farmers and just mixing them together or something. It's also one of the cheapest olive oils, after home-brands

1

provenzal OP t1_itqeu42 wrote

Source: https://www.wboo.org/index.html

Methodology: https://www.wboo.org/worlds-leading-olive-oil-competitions.html

22

Gnoom75 t1_itqj1d5 wrote

Is there a reason for the 2020 small number of oils from Spain in the top 10?

28

provenzal OP t1_itqjk8w wrote

Probably a bad harvest.

27

Gnoom75 t1_itql4g5 wrote

I checked Statista, the amount in 2019/2020 is about the same as the years before. Except 2018/2019 where production was 50%(!!) higher. If it was a bad harvest, at least the quantity was not affected.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/771832/production-from-oil-from-olive-in-spain/

9

Wild_Geographer t1_itqmk6j wrote

Sometimes the increase of production affects the quality of the product. If it was a rainy year for example, this increases the quantity but the more water of the olive the less acidity of the flavour.

21

KeaganItReal t1_itqld24 wrote

Probably covid. The supply chain may not have been able to properly distribute the best products into the market to be considered.

10

j1mb t1_itr0cuj wrote

Is it possible to learn the name of the brands? Would love to try those #1s.

5

provenzal OP t1_itr7flw wrote

I don't want to advertise any brand in particular. But you can check the results in the website posted above.

4

Stummi t1_itqverb wrote

2020 was a wild year for Italy

13

geebeem92 t1_itsm8xg wrote

We had covid so we had time to care for our plants while staying at home

3

authorPGAusten t1_itstq1t wrote

kind of bizarre, Spain completely dominates every year, and then boom, 2020 Italy

1

Talzon70 t1_itr2d0h wrote

Does mean that Spain produces the best olive oils or that Spain decides what counts as the best olive oils?

This kind of feels like any other "best" competition, where a group of producers get together and decides that shockingly their version of whatever product is the "best". Obvious examples include alcohols like wine or beer, where the concept of best is highly subjective.

7

provenzal OP t1_itr77yb wrote

This ranking is done by a German non-profit organisation, and is basically an average from the results of the strictest international extra virgin olive oil competitions.

This means that only the competitions that meet the following requirements (taken from the link I posted):

Requirements that have to be met by the competitions in order to be considered for our ranking are as follows: ✓ producers have to sign at least a self-certification of sample authenticity including: name of producing mill, tank/batch number, tank/batch size; the competition reserves the right to cross check the winning olive oils ✓ olive oils presented to a competition need to be from a homogeneous lot of at least 500/2000L (separation of small (<5000L) and larger producers >5000L, total production); small and larger producers need to be evaluated separately by the competition when differentiating between lot sizes ✓ producers need to present a chemical analysis not older than 6 months carried out by a COI/IOC accredited or another official laboratory ✓ producers shall present of a sensorial analysis not older than 6 months carried out by a COI/IOC accredited laboratory/panel (optional) ✓ competition needs to execute an upfront secret coding of the samples received from the producers, preferably samples to be handed into the competition in anonymous bottles ✓ the competitions panel needs to be composed exclusively of internationally recognized and trained olive oil experts (minimum 5 judges per table/group, preferably 8) ✓ application of COI/IOC standards in evaluation of EVOOs (like codified samples, official tasting glasses etc.) ✓ use of COI/IOC(-like) profile sheet in the assessment of EVOOs ✓ competition must not have any intention to generate profits through participation fees ✓ competition organizers understand that WBOO will accept and compute per category ONLY a first, second, third prize winner plus max. 7 finalists in order, NOT large numbers of Gold, Silver, Bronze Medals (or similar) In addition to that, WBOO awards another 10 + 10 points for complying with the two most important requisites based on / derived from the rules of the “Mario Solinas Quality Award”, which are as follows: ✓ collection of samples and documentation of the process by a notary/equivalent legal representative (+ 10 points) or ✓ notarial lot confirmation and notary guided competition process after sample reception (+ 10 points) ✓ acceptance of ONLY ONE sample per producer/group of companies per category (i.e. ripe / light green / medium green / intense green or conventional / organic or national / foreign or monovarietal / blend) (+ 10 points) In total a maximum of 40 points can be achieved per EVOO in a single competition. The detailed table how each international olive oil competition is being considered in the WBOO ranking can be found in Annex 1 of this document. The ranking of World’s Best Olive Oil mills is being determined by considering the mills which have produced the olive oil lots corresponding to the brands that have been entered into the competitions, in case the brand owner is different from the producing olive oil mill. Brand owners generally have to declare production sites. Points are being computed under the name of the registering company / entity and are not being consolidated under names of groups of companies in order to avoid registration of samples by large groups of companies under multiple entity names.

28

jawfish2 t1_itr52k0 wrote

Those of you in the US- imported olive oils are usually not made from olives, or have filler ingredients. California olive oils, by law, are 100% CA olives. They may not taste as good as real European oils, IDK.

7

Fern-ando t1_itrkc9p wrote

Very mediterranean and then you have Uruguay on the other side of the planet.

6

authorPGAusten t1_itstzlc wrote

Uruguay and Argentina both placed in 2020, 2020 was a weird year at the olive oil competition I guess.

But Uruguay and Argentina both have similar Mediterranean climates to Spain/Italy, which is why they, Chile, and California all produce olive oil.

6

Gman1111110 t1_itqtozi wrote

Every Palestinian I know says theirs is the best.

5

hgravesc t1_itqvfqu wrote

I still won't be able to tell a difference between any of them.

2

ul2006kevinb t1_itqxxxp wrote

Yes you would. It's pretty hard to tell the difference between different store quality olive oils but if you tried 2 of these super fancy oils you would definitely tell the difference.

10

hgravesc t1_itqyius wrote

You're giving my salt-burned taste buds way too much credit.

3

SolaceinIron t1_itrd57o wrote

I’ve heard Greece gas hood olive oil. I guess I was wrong.

1

authorPGAusten t1_itsu7re wrote

Just because your brand isn't ranked in the top 10 in the world doesn't mean it isn't good

3

Chris-1235 t1_itreg20 wrote

The shame of Greece, Turkey and Morocco cam't be put to words.

1

redsterXVI t1_its026h wrote

So 2021/2022's #1 is from Cordoba...where I happen to spend the next 20h. Coincidence? Maybe. Going to try and find some olive oil tomorrow? Maybe.

1

MoreMoshie t1_itse3k5 wrote

Spain caught lacking in 2020

1

drumsonfire t1_ittb5ut wrote

Spains’ ham production is also of the chizzle

1

xavia91 t1_itu31pv wrote

interesting I never knew spain was so big in olive oil, all we have here is greek and italian branded. I am actually surprised greek isnt even on the list.

1

luniz420 t1_itu9w67 wrote

Hojiblanco is the way to go, sadly underutilized

1

SnooLobsters8922 t1_ituc114 wrote

2020 was that year that nobody remember exactly what they did, nor why they did it, and it’s no different for the World’s Best Olive Oils judges

1

[deleted] t1_itrgdzv wrote

[deleted]

0

provenzal OP t1_itrigax wrote

>Yes, well, I have a wild guess, if you had asked a Mario Rossi instead of a Mario Solinas the Italian oils would have fared better. And if you had asked a Konstantinos Papadopoulos, the Greek ones wouldn't be missing from the chart…

Mario Solinas was Italian...

1

Helt_Jetski t1_ittya8w wrote

I would assume a great deal of olives are imported from other countries. Does anyone know?

0

taboo9002 t1_ituiaw4 wrote

least propaganda post on reddit

0

RoastedRhino t1_itvocei wrote

Spain must be shipping the bad one abroad. Jokes aside, they are huge producers, so they also produce cheap one. If I don’t know the brand, I stay away from Spanish oil at the supermarket because it could be potentially really bad. For some reason the Italian one is more consistent.

Clearly this has little to do with what country produces the best one, I am talking about supermarket oil.

0

provenzal OP t1_itvvrlu wrote

>For some reason the Italian one is more consistent.

Lol, because it's basically Spanish. Italy doesn't produce enough olive oil and buys tons of it from Spain.

2

RoastedRhino t1_itvvyrg wrote

Then it would be equally bad sometimes right? I don’t see how that explains my observation.

0

provenzal OP t1_itvwtj5 wrote

You are saying that you always avoid the Spanish olive oil in the supermarket and go instead for the Italian one, which is more consistent.

And I pointed out that the 'Italian' olive oil you buy in the supermarket is mostly a blend with Spanish one, if not entirely Spanish.

So you seem to like Spanish olive oil but simply don't know it ;-)

3

onelittleworld t1_itr3308 wrote

I used a LOT of olive oil. But I'm no connoisseur of fine oils, so I just get a decent-quality one that doesn't cost a lot and is good for cooking. Trader Joe's Kalamata Extra Virgin is my usual go-to.

−1

As-sebtawi t1_its8vgz wrote

The best Olive oil is Ouazzania from Northern Morocco

−1

Impossible-Inside-50 t1_itspllj wrote

I am Spanish and Tunisia. And I don’t care about this best olive oil is Tunisian.

−1

wildwomn t1_ittydwb wrote

Tunisian olive oil is really good, and a lot of olive oil “from” Italy is actually from Tunisia

1

Retrowave86 t1_itswakp wrote

But Spanish government accepted the import of Moroccan olive oil without labeling as so. Spanish olive oil is in danger from now on…

−1

AbsorbingElement t1_ittv1es wrote

Just like wine tasting, olive oil tasting is essentially a scam. Good for them if it helps them sell more I guess.

−1

magnusbanes t1_itrjgfu wrote

not scientific but unbelievable Palestine and Syria aren't on there. Maybe they don't compete in the global market but you cannot deny their olive oil is the best

−5

xfreesx t1_itrowrm wrote

Yes i can, Greek olive oil is the best

3

welshmanec2 t1_its3eur wrote

I've not knowingly had Palestinian or Syrian oil, I'm sure they're lovely, but I've always thought Greek is the best

(edit: wrong country)

1

[deleted] t1_itr6cfi wrote

[deleted]

−6

provenzal OP t1_itr8h7y wrote

As I said earlier, this is not a competition. This is a ranking based on the average results from the most strict competitions.

9