Oil’s well that ends well: how to buy, store and use olive oil

While it’s easy to find a variety of olive oils in your local supermarket these days, differentiating between the good and the bad is more difficult

The real joy of olive oils is their diversity of flavour and ability to transform other ingredients

Just a few decades ago, olive oil was still sold by Irish chemists for cleaning out ears or treating dry hair. Today even basic supermarkets stock extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), which is the regulated labelling term for the highest-grade quality, while specialty food stores’ shelves heave with single estate or single variety choices.

Today’s challenge is not where to find olive oil, but how to differentiate between the good, the bad and those representing ...