How do you recognise good olive oil?
You recognise good olive oil by three things in the glass and two on the label: it smells fresh and green, tastes bitter and catches in your throat when you swallow. On the label there is a harvest year and a specific origin.
Many people take the bitterness and the catch in the throat for a fault. They are in fact the most reliable signs that the oil is fresh and still carries what makes it valuable.
What does good olive oil smell like?
The smell tells you most, and all you need is your nose. Pour a little oil into a glass, warm it with the palm of your hand and smell it.
Fresh olive oil smells green: of freshly cut grass, green almonds, artichoke, sometimes of unripe tomato or tomato leaf. These notes come from the olive itself and fade over time.
If it smells of nothing, the oil is old. If it smells musty, rancid, of damp cardboard or vinegar, it has gone off. An oil without smell is past its best, even if the best-before date still allows it months.
What does good olive oil taste like?
Take a small sip, spread it around your mouth and draw in air at the same time. It feels silly and it brings the aromas out clearly.
You are looking for three things:
Fruitiness. The green impression from the smell, now on the tongue.
Bitterness. It sits in the middle of the tongue and it belongs there. It comes from the polyphenols, the olive's own protective compounds.
Pungency. A catch at the back of the throat as you swallow, lasting a second or two. Italians call it pizzica. The clearer it is, the more polyphenols the oil holds.
An oil that tastes only mild and round is not necessarily bad. It was either pressed from very ripe olives or it is no longer fresh.
Does the colour tell you anything?
No. This is the most common misunderstanding about olive oil.
Colour depends on the variety and on ripeness, not on quality. A deep green oil can be rancid, a golden one excellent. Professional tasters use blue glasses for exactly this reason, so that colour does not influence their judgement.
The bottle tells you nothing about quality either, but it does tell you about protection. Dark glass keeps out the light that ages olive oil. A clear bottle on a bright shelf is worth a second thought.
What belongs on a good label?
This part is straightforward, because good producers volunteer more than they have to.
A harvest year. Not just a best-before date. Olive oil is a vintage product like wine. A producer who leaves the harvest year out usually has a reason.
A specific origin. A place or a farm, not "oils from countries of the European Union". That phrase means oils from several countries were blended.
The variety. A single olive variety on the label speaks for care. More on that in What does monocultivar mean?
Extra virgin. The highest legal grade. Among other things it requires an acidity of no more than 0.8 per cent and a sensory assessment without faults. That is a minimum requirement, though, not a verdict on quality. Many oils meet it barely.
If you want to know precisely, ask for the polyphenol content. That figure is rarely on the label because it is not required. Good producers will give it on request.
How do you find good oil without tasting it first?
Three questions help, online as well.
When was it harvested? The closer to the current vintage, the better.
How long did the olives sit between tree and press? With good producers it is hours, not days. The longer it takes, the more off-flavours develop.
Who stands behind it? A farm with a name and a face can be held to what it says. A bottler without an origin cannot.
How we do it at HEVOlogica
Our oil is a monocultivar of the old Sicilian Moresca variety, grown in the olive grove of Azienda agricola Bonfanti in Noto.
We harvest by hand and early, while the olives are still green. That costs yield, because green olives give less oil. It delivers exactly the characteristics described above: the grassy smell, the bitterness and the catch in the throat.
Only a few hours pass between harvest and press. Bottling happens on site.
The 2025 harvest was tested by an accredited laboratory in Sicily: 274 mg/kg of polyphenols. For comparison, many supermarket oils are below 100 mg/kg. All legal limits for the extra virgin grade are met.
We publish the figure because it documents what you would otherwise only taste.
Frequently asked questions
Does good olive oil have to be bitter?
Yes, a clear bitterness belongs there. It comes from the polyphenols. A completely mild oil was either pressed from overripe olives or is no longer fresh.
Is expensive olive oil automatically better?
No, but very cheap oil is almost never good. Early hand-harvesting, fast pressing and small quantities cost money. Below roughly 15 euros per litre the sums do not add up.
How long does olive oil keep?
Unopened and stored in the dark, around 18 months from harvest, with quality declining. Once opened you should use it within a few months. More on that in Storing olive oil properly.
How do I know my olive oil has gone off?
By the smell. Rancid, musty, like old cardboard or crayons: then it has gone. It is not harmful, it simply no longer tastes of anything.