What's the difference between Greek, Spanish, and Italian olive oil?

I saw these three types in a supermarket, and I'm not sure what's the difference between the themWhat's the difference between Greek, Spanish, and Italian olive oil?
They all taste slightly different.


A good Tuscan olive oil is very peppery... it has a real bite to it. Spanish tends to be fruitier. I haven't drizzled good greek olive oil, only cooked with oit so not sure where it fits in on the scale of things.


Chances are however that the supermarkets won't have the really good stuff simply due to the quantities they are made in, but if I can source good spanish and italian oils from independant manufacturers here in Scotland I am sure you will be able to as well. Try some specialist deli's and go for it.What's the difference between Greek, Spanish, and Italian olive oil?
Over 750 million olive trees are cultivated worldwide, with about 95 percent in the Mediterranean region. About 93 percent of global olive oil production comes from European Union and European Union candidate states; of the European production, 93% comes from Spain, Italy, Turkey, and Greece; Spain alone accounts for more than 30% of world production, which was 2.6 million metric tons in 2002. In 2006 Turkey acounted for over 25% of world production.
They're all slightly different in taste and texture.
three types of different olives
To begin with and assuming that we are referring to extra virgin olive oil, there are slight differences in taste among olive oil from different regions. Such differences may derive from the different varieties of olive trees grown, time of picking (ie. degree of ripeness) of the olives, freedom or not of insect infestation etc. In non-EU countries, there may be additional differences due to the type of processing used for the extraction of the olive oil especially with respect to the highest temperature permissible.





To reiterate, all such differences are probably much more characteristic of the specific region rather than country of origin. That is to say, all Italian olive oils are not of the exact same nature and therefore taste, and the same can be said for Greek, Spanish, etc. olive oils. Efforts to create impressions to the opposite are the result of marketing tactics.





To summarize, there is no concrete difference based on country of origin of a given extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). However, there may be differences in the taste of EVOO produced in identifiable regions of any country and even in this case, the taste may vary considerably from year to year depending on some of the factors mentioned earlier.





Other grades of olive oil are subjected to significant chemical processing. There are even olive oils that are flavoured with spices through mixing of substances. Due to the extra chemical processing and/or artificial flavouring, such olive oils may end up having tastes that are characteristic of neither the country nor the region of origin.





Note: We are growers of olives and producers of olive oil.

web proxy server