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Extra virgin vs the blend · 3 min
Olive oil, if it is still olives
A tin of extra virgin is a fruit juice. A bottle of ‘light olive oil’ or a seed-oil blend with an olive leaf on the label is a different cupboard.
Shop the Condiments aisleThe keep
Extra virgin, a harvest date, a dark bottle. Bitter and peppery is a good sign. It is still a fat — the score is not a licence to drink it — but it is food.
The blend
‘Olive oil’ without extra virgin is often refined. Vegetable oil with 15% olive for the photograph is a seed oil. Scan cooking sprays too — propellant and lecithin are a different object.
How to shop it
One decent extra virgin for finishing, a cheaper honest one for heat if you want. Ignore the leaf on a blend. The list is three words or it is a story.
