Tasting > Components and Characteristics > Vocabulary for Olive Oil
A thorough knowledge of the vocabulary for olive oil and the ability to define merits (sweet, fruity, almond, artichoke) and demerits (metallic, rancid, mould, heat) is the first duty of any taster. To encourage familiarity with the terminology of tasters one has to get a lot of practice and be patient enough to repeat a tasting in order to memorize that sensation and match it with the correct description.
From vegetation water to worm there are over 30 descriptors used for olive oils; some of these are in current usage in practical tasting sessions, beyond the official terms; in particular: paste, round, lively, drooping, frozen, tired, gentle.
In general the merits and demerits of oil can be determined by various factors such as:
- Type of variety of olive cultivated (cultivar)
- Geographic area of cultivation
- Climactic conditions
- Degree of ripeness of the olives
- Harvesting technologies
- Times and places of storage
- Extraction technologies
- Techniques of oil preservation
- General hygiene and cleanliness
- Time and temperature of scutching
- Treatments to the plants and soil
First of all we must learn the difference between fruity and sweet oil, the two large oil categories, determined mainly by the type of cultivar and geographic production area. A typical fruity oil comes from Andria in Puglia, while a typical example of sweet delicate oil is from Western Liguria. Having learnt the difference between these two groups we will be able to go on to consider their merits and demerits on the basis of the cause of that particular flavour.
One important element in oil evaluation is its paste or rotundity. By “paste” we mean that sensation of consistency and fullness in the mouth – an oil with “good paste” is recognizable by shaking the bottle. An oil is defined round when it does not have any particularly noticeable aromatic notes, that is when from the beginning to the end of tasting its taste remains constant. The rotundity of an oil is given by very high proportions of oleic and linoleic acid on palmitic and stearic, thus guaranteeing greater fluidity and smoothness.
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