This guest post is from Niki Tsourounakis, one of the reader of this blog who is also an olive oil lover and expert. Their company, Amphora, is a leading company which produces, imports & supplies high quality specialty foods.

I am very happy to host on my blog some good information on how to select the right extra virgin olive oil given that, as you know from my previous posts, not all the olive oil you buy is what you think it is!
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Educate Yourself!
You have probably heard that olive oil is extremely good for you, and not only great-tasting, but rich with nutrients. Do you REALLY know why or which ones? And do you know how to distinguish the good from the bad?
True Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the only kind of olive oil you should be consuming. That is, if you care about your health! Olive oil ranges from ‘extra virgin’ all the way down to ‘pomace’ oil, which is overly refined olive oil with minimal, if any nutritional qualities. It should really only be used in your oil lamp! Virgin Olive oil is also somewhat refined too, and is not as nutritious as extra virgin olive oil.
So now, we are somewhere. We have narrowed it down to extra virgin olive oil. There is so much fraud in the olive oil industry that it is hard to be certain when reading product labels to know if you are actually reading the truth. Most of the time, the “extra virgin olive oil” you are ingesting is actually a lower grade of olive oil, or a mix of olive oil blended with another type of oil. There have been numerous cases of fraud by adding sunflower oil and/or hazelnut oil to olive oil. Up to an astonishing 30% is undetectable to the palate! It has also been reported that a certain company was caught coloring their oil with banana peels to emulate the greenish look of olive oil and selling it as such. Unfortunately, companies such as these only get a minimal fine and a slap on the wrist. Shortly after, they are at it again. In the end, it is very difficult to track a product that is produced in one country and sold in another. This increases the odds of tampering with the finished product.
It is a fact that extra virgin olive oil accounts for less than 10% of oil in many producing countries….so it doesn’t take a genius to know that most of what you are buying at the grocery store is not really extra virgin! These days, anyone can print a label that says anything on it.
Online articles can educate us in an instant, but the internet is also notorious for posting un-truths with no responsibility or traceability to the author. So here it is: I am the author. Niki Tsourounakis. Hold me accountable if you like. I am responsible for Vlatos Premium Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I can guarantee you this olive oil is everything that the label states. Know what goes into your mouth!

www.vlatos.com

In this post I am not going to talk about the benefits of olive oil as in most of the other posts so far and I am going to start instead a new chapter on this blog, that is, the review of various

Greeks harvesting olives

types of olive oils. My aim is to provide my numerous readers (thanks again for all the support emails!) verified information to be more informed on which olive oil they should buy to enjoy the best health benefits of olive oil.

I am going to start this chapter with Greek olive oil, and discuss some of the varieties of such a great producer. One question many of the readers have asked me is: can you get good Greek olive oil online? The answer is yes. One thing that I have pointed out in one of my previous posts on Italian vs. Spanish vs. Greek olive oil is that much of the Italian and other olive oil you consume is already partially or entirely from Greece – look for the telltale “GR” under “Country of Origin”.  However,  you know that not all the olive oils you buy at the supermarket would ever make my kitchen so keep reading for more details!

Tassos Greek Olive Oil

Tassos olive oil  comes from Crete and is one of the best oils from outside of Greece. This is a greenish-tinged oil which is rich but has a smooth flavor.  For a long time, it was only available on line in a massive three-liter container. It can be used for dipping, salads, cooking, and baking. More recently it is also available in smaller quantities -as well as olives, honeys, spreads and even as feta stuffed marinated red peppers – directly from the manufacturer’s website, Tassos.com.

Liohori Olive Oil

Another great Cretan olive oils. It is available at a good price in three-liter tin

Cretan olive oils

Taste of Crete Olive Oil

This extra-virgin olive oil comes from the area of Sitia in the northeastern part of Crete, rich in Minoan ruins and kept cool by breezes -and sometimes winds- blowing across the Aegean sea. Made from Koroneki olives, this is a milder, reasonably-priced oil.

Aegean Kalamata Olive Oil

Though Kalamata olives are known for their unique, strong flavor, the olive oils themselves are not as spicy. A large three-liter metal can supplies you with extra-virgin olive oil for a few meals at least.

Kalamata Olive Oils

If the average consumer knows one word of Greek in conjunction with olives, it is probably “Kalamata”, the term for the strong, pointy, purple-colored olives often served at Greek restaurants worldwide. However, Kalamata olive oil is not purple, as a bottle of any of these olive oils will prove.

With this traditional olive oil I conclude on my first post trying to explore the different types of olive oils available on the net. For each olive oil I am going to talk about, I will have talked with the producer and often tasted my self the oil to make sure that all the olive oil benefits I have talked about are embodied in the various oils. Every now and then, I will also talk about olives and other olive products to make sure you can have more olive benefits and taste in your kitchen and life in general!