Olive oil professional tasting
How
to taste Extra Virgin Olive
Oil
as an
"Oil Somelier"
To properly taste
olive oil, one should use a small glass cup, preferably made of blue
glass and bell-shaped.
The visual aspect of the oil plays a minor role in determining the quality
and should not influence your final judgment. For this reason, olive
oil is often tasted in blue glass cups.
Take a small cup of oil, cover it with one hand and warm it up in the palm
of your hand of your other hand.
Remove your hand covering the cup and bring the cup to the base of your nose.
Inhale 3 separate times, with pauses in between to keep olfactory sensory
neurons alert. Try to memorize the aromas you experienced during the quick
inhalations.
Put a small amount of oil (8 to 10 drops) in your mouth and let them warm
up for a minute or two, so that the volatile compounds evaporate.
Begin inhaling or “sipping” air in quick, decisive gasps, being
careful not to swallow the oil. This technique helps to oxygenize the olive
oil and intensify the aromas.
Roll the olive oil around in your mouth until it has covered all of your taste
buds. Thanks to the simultaneous heating, oxygenation and rotating, the good
and bad qualities of the olive oil are revealed.
By this point, the olive
oil should be distributed throughout your oral cavity and in particular
across your tongue, from the tip, to the sides, to the back.
It is important to remember the flavors you experience and in which order.
Be sure to consider the tactile characteristics that describe the fluidity,
the consistency and the greasiness, and the flavor elements, which can be
described as sensations of sweet, bitter, and spicy.
After
you have done this, you can spit out the olive oil.
TASTE
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL WITH...
So simple yet
so tasty, a bruschetta with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
is a unique gastronomical delight for both young and old.
Toast a slice of italian bread, rub a clove of garlic on the surface
of bread (if you
like it),pour the Extra Virgin Olive Oil and add salt to taste.
You
can also prepare the toasted slice of bread with some raw diced tomatoes,
Extra Virgin Olive Oil and salt to taste. That's Roman "Panzanella".
Extra
Virgin Olive oil with Italian Bruschetta
