Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil

I read the reviews on this book & when the book-on-CD came available through my inter-library loan program, I ordered it. All (most) of the negative reviews in this review section are correct. It is repetitious, long-winded, disjointed, and occasionally confusing. That said, the reviewers missed the main parts that I believe are the core of the book. It is as much a travelog as it is an expose. Both are fun to listen to while driving (especially when stuck in city traffic waiting for some idiot to make a left turn in a no-left turn zone). The expose is the most telling. It explains some of the complex economics of the business. It also explains how little we actually know about the contents of a bottle of (purported) olive oil and its source. And how much money is available to those who cheat.After listening to the book, I purchased this copy as a reference. I am reviewing my purchases & have decided on the following:1) I don't know enough to trust any of the imported olive oils (many are true to their source, but I just don't have the expertise to discern the differences).2) I no longer trust the term "extra virgin" on the label (It looks kind of like the USDA term Organic, misused in the extreme.)3) I specifically look at the contents on the label for a) origin & b) type of oil in the bottle (Origin for Italian Olive Oil should not say Spain, Tunis, & etc. It should only say Italy & name the region of the source olives! Type should not be anything blended. No canola, walnut, & etc. oils. No matter how fancy the label.)I have decided to re-evaluate my purchases & plan on the following as a starting guide:1) Select only California Olive Oils (no international surprises)2) Select ones mentioned in the book as a start & purchase a bottle locally3) Use them in small and selected cooking environments with as little other spice style ingredients as possible4) Make a personal log of my experiences with each sample that I findHere's what I have found in the stores (Minneapolis area):1) Warehouse stores (Sam's Club): 2 kinds in large containers (one name brand & one private label) - all mixed country sources2) General Grocery Store (Cub): 8 ~ 12 different brands & some private labels - mixed sources & also olive & other source oil blends3) High-end Grocery Store (Kowalski's): 8 ~ 12 different brands - some of which come from medium to small growers & cooperatives4) Exclusive Wine Store (Surdyk's): 20 ~ 30 different brands - most from Europe with many different countries as sources5) //Added Oct 2013: Supercenter (Walmart): 7 ~ 9 brands as well as really good priced bottles of "California Olive Ranch" E.V Olive Oil. //See the notes on this grower in the book.//I purchased one bottle from Kowalski's & one from Surdyk's. Both are from California (my requirement). I'm trying them out now & comparing them to the Sam's Club name brand version. I'm on the hunt for more now & purchased the book to identify other suppliers from California to review.Why not the Italian ones? Simple: Unlike the appellations of French Wine (which I know), I have zero experience withe Italian sources & regions for olive oils. (The book made me skeptical of anything except for the works of small growers.) I plan on starting simply with USA products where I can actually go on vacation & tour the areas where they are grown. This gives me a chance to both enjoy the experiment & plan a vacation trip some years from now.PS. A note on French Wines (& cheeses): These items are strictly controlled & any deviation that is found is dealt with harshly by the French government. There is an extremely strong control. For example: Sauterne comes from Sauterne & Chateau d'yQuem comes from that Chateau's fields, period. It may be a bad year, it may be a good year, but the source is controlled, or else! And, Yes! I know, some California wineries make a Sauterne style wine that rivals Chateau d'yQuem, but cannot use that name. Along with the bottle of California olive oil that I purchased today, I picked up a 1/2 pound slice of Roquefort (and I know that this stuff is the real Roquefort because of those controls). And, yes, I know about the American Blue Cheeses, many of whom can compete with Roquefort for both taste & cost. They are very good, however, they don't lie. They claim that they are what they are, and that is not Roquefort.PPS. An American whiskey example: I recently purchased a bottle of whiskey from a local store that was liquidating that brand. The label was quite fancy, but upon reading the fine print, I found the following "80% grain neutral spirits". That's ethanol! No wonder it was so cheap!PPPS. And, if you want to be really scared, just read the ingredients label on a loaf of white bread in your local grocery store.

I like to know what I am eating for better or for worse. This book was informative about olive oils.

This is a wonderful canter through the history of olive oil, a love letter to one of the most remarkable, versatile and delicious of substances.Consider that the Greeks used it "as food, fuel, skin lotion, contraceptive, detergent, preservative, pesticide, perfume, and adornment, as well as a cure for heart ailments, stomach aches, hair loss, flatulence, and excessive perspiration."Those images of wrestlers oiled up for combat: that was olive oil they were using.The Greeks continue to be obsessed by olive oil. Tom Mueller visits the village of Kritsa, in Crete, where residents consume around 50 litres per person per year.Mueller, who was living in Italy at the time of writing the book, visits olive producers all over the world. It is in his adopted country that the trail becomes murky, and the dealings dodgy."In 2007, an EU (European Community) investigation determined that 95% of detected misappropriations of European agricultural subsidies, a large proportion of which had occured in the olive oil sector, had taken place in Italy."If you've got a bottle of olive oil in your kitchen (where incidentally, it should be kept at 16C to conserve its properties) it will most likely have an Italian flag on it.But, as Mueller reveals, since the years of Franco, Spain is the biggest producer, with much of their production shipped to Italy for packaging and sold, apparrently legally, as Italian oil: which the consumer craves.There is also a huge racket in producing "extra virgin olive oil" which is anything but: it's gone through an unpleasant deodorising process stripping it of all goodness it may have had.Mueller's advice: olive oil should be peppery, sharp, slightly bitter and pungent. Definitely not sweet or buttery.It should be fresh and consumed quickly: unlike wine, it only deteriorates with age.Look for a best before date at least two years away, and ideally the name of an individual producer or farm: and use the web to do your background research so you’re not being ripped off. If it’s cheap, it’s probably cheap mass-produced rubbish. Buy local wherever you can.(I have one small gripe: there is an excellent section on Choosing Good Oil which is impossible to read in the Kindle edition as the page doesn't format properly.)

An enjoyable read. The book is a bit formulaic in the current popular style of American writers (open with an anecdote about you during the research of the book; explain how the journey started; go through the history of the topic; begin the actual story) which I tend to find a bit grating. That shoudl also tell you that the book is really about the author's experience in finding about olive oil, and therefore don't expect a textbook on the subject. THis is more of a memoir. As such, there is a lot of superfluous information which is not strictly about the scandalous world of olive oil, and the book would have benefited from proper editing. Furthermore, the author perhaps paints things a little more enthusiatically than they are - for example he is always mentioning how producers are establishing oleotecas to provide straight to buyer. But try searching for oleotecas in Italy and the picture is pretty scant.Nevertheless it's a really interesting subject and there is a lot of knowledge in the book. I have learned a lot about selecting an an olive oil from the book and really enjoyed the process of learning.

Having started to incorporate a lot more olive oil into my diet to capitalise on the much touted health benefits I was dismayed to be told of the poor standards within the olive oil industry. This book was recommended by a friend and has been a real eye opener. Nothing is as it seems when it comes to extra virgin olive oil and to ensure that you reap the benefits you need to be very clear what you are buying and consuming. This book provides a compelling case for the use of olive oil but also the pitfalls you will encounter trying to purchase oil of sufficient quality. It also provides links and information at the end of the book which is a useful starting point once you have absorbed the information in the book.

I had the pleasure of travelling around Europe and experiencing for myself some of the charms of the unknown world of olive oil.Tom Mueller has the exceptional ability to convey thoughts with musical beauty. This book not only takes you through a journey through virgin sensory experiences, sometimes delightful and other times infuriating, it also succinctly narrates with an emotional appeal what a man on a personal crusade was able to uncover.A must read for anyone even mildly interested in Food, Business and Health. A word of warning: after reading this book, you are likely to never buy an ordinary bottle of olive oil ever again.

Excellent book, very thought-provoking. Unfortunately, it leaves one feeling a bit helpless in the face of the widespread fraud, feeling that it's impossible to find a decent oil amid all the brands and varieties that continue to tell us just how "authentic" their products are. Brilliantly researched, well told and fair too. For anyone who values their food quality, I'd heartily recommend it.

A good read and it is dangerous in that it takes whatever small interest you had in olive oil and magnifies it into a passion. One of the few books I have strongly recommended to others. Never mind the bit were I start quizzing traders about the provenance and taste of their oil.