Is Your Extra Virgin Olive Oil Fake? It probably Is.

Did you know that 70% of “Extra Virgin Olive Oil” EVOO, is fake. Most of the olive oil that is available to the American public is rotten, rancid or adulterated. The best real olive oil has numerous healthy benefits, including anti-inflammatory, and disease fighting properties, but not the fake oil.

Adulterated olive oil can be a mixture of inferior oils like soybean oil, sunflower oil, palm oil, or canola oil. Olive oil can also go rancid when the olives have been crushed with dirt and mud. Old or rancid olive oils (often characterized by a wax crayon-like taste) are the result of inadequate storage and exposure to damaging light, heat, or air. A grubby or dirty-tasting olive oil is likely contaminated by larvae. When olive flies lay eggs in developing olives, the larvae feed on the pulp — and end up getting processed into the oil. Yuk.

Number one, taste the oil. If it tastes fresh, green, and has a peppery finish at the back of your throat, it’s likely the real deal (extra virgin olive oil). This is not fool proof, however. Taste testings by experts have had embarrassingly wrong results.

When you swallow a little of real EVOO, it should make you cough. It should have a little tang. In fact, there is a designation, one cough, two coughs, three coughs, that is supposed to indicate quality.