What are the advantages/disadvantages of buying olive oil in cans or bottles? Does it keep better in one or the other? I'm thinking of ordering some from Italy, so I know shipping cost will probably be lower with cans, but are there any other considerations I should be thinking about?

Oil is always best preserved in glass, which grants the retention of the full flavor. if you are buying the new oil, though, you may consider having it shipped in the cans and pout it all in good and clean glass bottles, making sure that the bottles are full (with as little air as possible), perfectly sealed and preserved in a dark, cool but not cold place (the oil should not congeal).

I'm considering buying some of the new oil through someone in the US who imports from a particular Italian grower. Is there some advantage to buying it directly from Italy?

M

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Originally posted by Alice Twain:
making sure that the bottles are full (with as little air as possible), perfectly sealed...

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Thanks, Alice, that's the kind of info I'm looking for! By perfectly sealed, do you mean something that would require special equipment, or would a bottle with a cork applied by hand or screw-on top work?

Marian, I don't know for sure. I bought oil from Mauro Colonna of Le Case Gialle (discussed here and in some other threads) two years ago and it was the best oil I've ever tasted in my life. Last year he didn't have a crop, but this year he does so I plan to order from him again. His prices are very good, but a lot of that is offset by high shipping costs.

You must make sure that no air enters the cork. Proably applying the cork and sealing it with some wax should work.

Chris, that's who (whom? ) I'm planning to order from. Saw the reference in Livinwell's post. Now that you've said it's the best oil you ever had, I've really got to make sure I get some.
(Later) Now I'm not sure whether it is Casa Gialle. Could you give me the ordering link please, Chris?

M

Chris, Last year, when the production was so low and Casa Gialle was not taking orders, I bought a 5 ltr tin of unfiltered Frantoio Olivestri through the US importer, Howard Case http://www.casesf.com. (EVO is his ST member name) As it happens he is right there in your neck of the woods in SF.
I won't claim to be an expert on olive oil, but I have to offer my own direct experimentation as an alternative to Alice's advice.
No matter how carefully you bottle and seal your oil, it will NOT retain it's fresh pressed taste beyond 3-4 months. It will still be very good, but it won't have that wonderful bite.
To try to make the bite last longer, I froze dozens of small containers (about 3oz each) of the oil to keep the fresh taste for the entire year. It was a total success!
As I need them, I take the little containers from the freezer and put them in the butter compartment of the refrigerator. From a frozen state, they stay opaque but are soft. Like soft spread margarine. Then I can use them to spread on bread, or I can scoop a bit out for a recipe. (Just today for lunch, I scooped a teaspoon out to melt in my bowl of bean soup)
If I want to use the oil in its liquid state, I just let it thaw at room temperature. It returns to that beautiful bright green color. It acts and tastes like it just came from the press. I can drizzle it on a caprese or roasted veggies. Once it melts, I use it all, I don't try to refreeze.
This year, I already have my order in with Howard, and I'm hoping to get a tin from Mauro as well.

The reason why the frozen olive oil kept the nice "bite" is that by freezing it oyu preserved the E vitamin in the oil. The amounts of E vitamin is very high in freshly pressed oil but it slowly degrades with the time. Same for other aromatic compounds. For this reason the arrival of new oil is always a feast for us as we know how fantastic it is at the beginning of the season. Most olive growers here keep the oil in stainless steel tanks and only bottle it when need it. Here it is possible to buy tanks that are as small as 5 liters. If you cannot keep the oil in stainless steel, then the best is to bottle the oil as Alice described, but please do not use corks! Dark glass and screw on top in a dark cool cabinet is vital.
Letizia

Marian, All I have is an email address: lecasegialle-at-tiscalinet.it. Replace the -at- with the @ sign. If there's a source to buy his oil in this country, I'd be interested in that as well.

I remember reading about your freezing experiments, Deborah, and I do intend to try that, within the limits of my freezer and all the other stuff that needs to be in there. But the oil is still better than most even when that fresh flavor has faded.

Thanks, Chris. I was planning to order from EVO, I now realize.
M

Chris, thanks for posting Mauro's e-mail address. I was searching around for it in my old e-mail and couldn't find it.
I've e-mailed him.

I've also e-mailed him.

Thanks/M

The culprit in oil losing its flavor is oxygen. As the oil oxidizes, some compounds that make up smell and flavor are lost. Also, the oxidation process results in rancidity increasing. While in tiny amounts, rancidity is just another flavor note, in large amounts it is a flaw in the oil. What is tragic is that some who only know commercial oils think of rancidity as the aroma of olive oil!

For a sealed from the producer product, a tin or a bottle should have no effect on the oil one way or another, at least in theory. The tin itself should be food grade and neutral in flavor. Most are but some are not. And the canning process will allow more or less air than the bottling process depending on the quality of the respective equipment. So which is better? It depends. I wold rather buy a tin of oil that has been sealed using the most modern of equipment than a bottle bottled by hand. On the other hand, tins have too much for me to use in a short time so I tend to have bottles. Last, I like different oils for different purposes. SIne I will have 4 or 5 types open at once, I go with bottles.

Having said that, the issue with bottles is light damage. UV radiation can affect the oil itself. You should never buy a bottle of olive oil or any oil for that matter that is in direct sunlight. That is also why you should store the bottle in the dark. You should also store the bottle in a cool spot to slow down the oxidative process.

If you buy oil in a tin, then you will need to put it in smaller containers for use. It is the transfer process itself that will add the oxygen to the product. Using cork or a screw cap should not have much effect on the oil as long as the bottle is filled right to the top and there is no head space between the oil and the closure. Sealing wax should not be needed, a cork that is tight in a bottle is virtually impervious to wine. If it were not, wine would not age. Studies have shown that a tight cork will only allow the transfer of a trivial amount of oxygen. Of course, corked olive oil coule be just as much a possibility as corked wine. I do not know if the corkiness molecule will transfer to the oil.

I have read Antinori's experimental results and Livinwell's own results on freezing. Freezing should work to slow down oxidation and in a dark freezer will also block UV. But there is something aesthetic about it which has stopped me from experimenting till this year.

With a bumper crop of basil this year, we made pesto base (pine nuts, garlic, basil and olive oil). Not needing more than 2 quarts of it fresh (and who needs even that much?) we froze another quart. We will be harvesting antoher batch of basil this weekend and get another 2 quarts or more of pesto base so into the freezer it will go. I will be interested in how it does.

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Originally posted by dean:
[...] Studies have shown that a tight cork will only allow the transfer of a trivial amount of oxygen.

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The point is that to get a corck that tight you would have to use a corking machine. Just placing an exact sized cork in the opening of the bottle will still allow air in and out: the cork needs to be larger than the mouth of the bottle, and be squeezed before being poushed in, so that it expands and seals the bottle. So if you have a corking machine you can skip further sealing, if you don't, I would feel safer with some wax or other seling substance on the cork and bottle's opening.

Dean, I made pesto and froze small batches this year.
With the fresh frozen pesto, I've found that you really do need to use it all as soon as the container is opened and the protective layer of olive oil is gone. My goal was one time use batches. Once I thawed them, I wanted to use them fast to avoid the ugly brown oxidation, which seems to be almost instantaneous.

I'm not sure what you mean by "something aesthetic"? The only aesthetic downside I can think of to the frozen oil is that you are using the thawed oil out of a small plastic container instead of a commercially labeled bottle.

I just got a replay from Mauro. Here is what he had to say about the harvest.

"Weather permitting, my harvest will be in october 25th to november 4th. This year the season is 20 days later ( quite cold spring). After, I have to wait for the official organic certification and I think that the ship cuold happen around november 20th, more or less. I will inform you."

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I do not know if the corkiness molecule will transfer to the oil

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Oil is a solvent of oil based substances. So if teh cork contains oil-like flavours, those will be transferred into the oil. I am not sure if and how this has been studied in the last few years, but corks have disappeared from oil containers. When I was a kid everybody who had relatively large amounts of oil kept oil in big glass jars (damigiane) with large corks. Then they used damigiane with plastic tops. Now they use stainless-steel. It is certainly a fact that oil extracts bad flavours from plastic, so it should not be kept in plastic containers for long, at least at room temperature.
Letizia

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Originally posted by Alice Twain:

The point is that to get a corck that tight you would have to use a corking machine. Just placing an exact sized cork in the opening of the bottle will still allow air in and out

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All you neede to do is use a slightly larger cork and use a twisting motion as you insert it. Cork has a marvelous elasticity and hand corking makes for an airtight seal. This issue has beed studied to an extreme in the wine business. If you need to use pressure to get the cork in you have a good enough seal for these purposes. After all you are not corking olive oil for a 20-30 year aging process as in a wine cellar.

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Originally posted by Livinwell:
I'm not sure what you mean by "something aesthetic"?

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I guess what I am reacting to is my own dislike of eating foods out of season. I do not freeze fresh veggies, preferring to change what I eat as the seasons roll by. But as I said, I did some batches of pesto. If you look in my freezer, all you will find is batches of cooked foods (for coming home late at night after work) and some few meat items. I almost always cook fresh but hten I work in a super market so shopping is relatively easy.

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Originally posted by Madonna del Piatto:
Oil is a solvent of oil based substances. So if teh cork contains oil-like flavours, those will be transferred into the oil.

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Corkiness is a specific mold or bacteria that froms naturally in cork. It creates a wet dog odor in wine. I am not sure of the exact chemistry. It may need alcohol present or it may not. I do not know. But if it is oil soluable or it can combine with the miscroscopic amounts of water found in oil it may be a probelm. But it is rare, infecting 1-3% of all corks. But other than that, a clean cork should pose no problems with oil.

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Originally posted by dean:
I guess what I am reacting to is my own dislike of eating foods out of season. I do not freeze fresh veggies, preferring to change what I eat as the seasons roll by.

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So what you are really saying, Dean, is that your are a die-hard 'food romantic'?
I'm with you on the veggies, and fruit too. But, there is nothing like enjoying an insalata caprese with big vine ripe tomatoes, fresh mozerella, just picked basil leaves, AND thawed new oil -- in August!

Die hard romantic?!? Me?!?!?!?!?

I still prefer records to CD's. To those of you younger than I, records are those funny black things with holes in the center. They make music appear magically. CDs make bits of information appear.