Indeed, for this long-time olive oil lover, it’s hard not to turn green over Mueller’s many visits to the “presses” in Italy, France, Greece and, yes, California, where those genuinely great oils are made. That said, Mueller does an impressive job reporting both extremes on the olive oil arc - the passionate artisanal producers who live and breathe for their beautiful oils, and those businessmen (some possibly honorable and others certainly not) who are merely selling another cooking fat at the lowest possible price and the greatest possible profit. That’s a complicated question that Mueller addresses only fleetingly - little wonder, it’s probably a topic more fit for a philosophy course than anything else. Which raises the question - if the customers don’t know the difference, what’s the harm (barring, of course, those oils that have been adulterated with dangerous chemicals)? If you insist on buying cheap “light” olive oil because you prefer its milder flavor, does it really matter that it’s half cottonseed oil? And they might not like it if they did - great oils have very distinctive flavors some are so peppery that they can induce a coughing attack.

You can see why what Mueller describes as “the fraudsters” might be interested.Įven more, it’s a pretty safe bet that the majority of the people who insist on cooking with “extra-virgin” olive oil have probably never tasted the great stuff in the first place, there’s so little of it around. On the other, you’ve got a bland supermarket staple (even average grocery stores sell a half-dozen types these days) that can sell for as little as $3 to $5. On the one hand you’ve got a wondrous, distinctive product made in very small amounts and sold for $35 to $40 a bottle and even more. Of course, there’s a lot of not-so-great olive oil around too that is very definitely a mere ingredient olive oil is one of the most widely used cooking fats in the world. Like great wine, it seems to have a life of its own. Great olive oil is beyond mere ingredient. That is a typical reaction from those who have been fortunate enough to have been exposed to the real thing. Mueller, a New Yorker writer who lives among olive groves in Liguria, is clearly besotted with great oil.

If you’re curious about just how slippery, Tom Mueller’s “Extra Virginity” offers a smart, well-written crash course.

That was my introduction to the olive oil business - the temptation to describe it as “slippery” is almost irresistible and certainly justifiable.

Extra virginity by tom mueller