There are two methods of flavoring olive oil:
- Agrumato Style (also called Fused) – where whole fresh fruit, herbs or vegetables are crushed along with olives during the milling process.
- Infused – where flavoring or all-natural oil (natural essence) is blended into extra virgin olive oil
Both methods produce great flavored oils, and both have their own unique attributes, which should be considered when deciding to purchase.
Agrumato Style
- It’s milled the exact same way extra virgin olive oil would be. When the fresh fruit, herbs or vegetables are crushed with the olives, their natural oil essences are released and mix with the olive oil naturally, flavoring the olive oil during the milling process. Therefore, whatever you add to crush with your olives, needs to have oil essences in it. For example, apples or carrots would not work (although that would be very cool!), as they do not have natural oil essence in them…or if they do, they are not near enough to flavor the olive oil. Foods that have natural oil essence in them: all citrus, chilis like jalapeno and habanero, garlic, rosemary, basil, etc.
- Crushed oils can only be made one time of year during the olive harvest season.
- It costs more to make crushed flavored olive oil, because you also have to purchase the ingredients you are milling with your olives and organize the delivery of those, just in time for milling.
- Timing is critical, because to achieve best results, very mature olives are used to make crushed flavored olive oil because the flavor of the olive oil is more mild and buttery, which you want so that the fruit or plant flavor and aroma can stand out over that of the olive oil. This requires waiting, and allowing the olives to ripen on the tree, which growers don’t like of course, as the entire crop could be lost in a bad winter storm. If you are milling citrus, you’ll also have to wait for the citrus to ripen.
- Flavor can change year to year, however, it’s a naturally produced product, and in farming (like wine), every year is going to be different.
Infused Style
- Infused Olive oil can be made any time of year, which is extremely beneficial for olive oil producers, especially for smaller producers who can’t invest in all their oil during the harvest season and need to stretch their costs over the entire year. It’s also beneficial for them in saving space, they can order the product to make infused oils when they need them. So if they have a big order come in, unexpectedly, they’d be able to fulfill it most likely, where crushed oils, once they are out, they are out. They can only produce it one time of year.
- Customers grow to expect consistency, so this process allows for the highest level of consistency. Once the formula is figured out, the same flavor profile can be achieved every single time (or very similar, as the olive oil profile may slightly change year to year).
Culinary Uses: Both crushed and infused are fantastic in all culinary applications. From baking to salad dressings, to drizzling over ice cream, both crushed and infused can be used interchangeably. Choosing one over the other really comes down to personal preference, with two things always being the determining factors: flavor and cost.
Using the term “Extra Virgin” on your flavored olive oil label: Once a product other than extra virgin olive oil is added to extra virgin olive oil, it’s no longer extra virgin olive oil. Therefore, on the flavored olive oil labels, “Extra Virgin” should not be used in the copy because it’s misleading and technically not true. Of course, it would be appropriate in the ingredients section to say “Extra Virgin Olive Oil infused with flavoring” for infused olive oils. This is a commonly made mistake, due to the advantages and marketability of using the phrase “Extra Virgin,” however IOC (International Olive Council) and COOC (California Olive Oil Council) is starting to monitor this more rigorously in order to protect the “extra virgin” designation.
Source: Olive Fantastic
