Olive oil

Kirkland brand (Costco's house label) Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Works fine for me. So I'm no connoisseur.

#18 -- Nutrax will know about this, but I think that once it's heated the qualities that distinguish EVOO from virgin etc are destroyed. If that's right, then no one could tell the difference in cooking. Use in a salad dressing or a tapénade might be a different matter, but in, e.g,. a tapénade or a mayonnaise ravigote the other flavors will be so strong that I'm not sure anyone could detect a difference even in a head-to-head blind tasting.

"Can you actually taste whether an oil is extra virgin or just virgin? Whether it's from a first, second or third pressing? I think it's bullshit "

Not at all-you've obviously never been to a well conducted Olive Oil tasting.

I've used all sorts of different olive oils in cooking. The first pressing extra virgins do keep some of their flavor when cooked. Not necessarily the full flavor but enough to influence home made brushetta sauce. Supposedly it looses some of it's nutritional/beneficial value but, when making sauce to go on pasta and be served on the side with Chicken Parmesan, I can't be bothered to worry about that.

That study found that sensory analysis was a very good predictor of whether or not an oil truly is extra virgin, but you have to back it up with chemistry.

While re-reading that study, I found another called "consumer olive oil preferences." They found that "A majority of Northern California consumers tend to dislike bitter and pungent extra virgin olive oils, with many consumers liking defective attributes such as rancidity. These preferences contrast with those of expert tasters, who prefer defect-free oils that are noticeably bitter and pungent." and "44 percent of the consumers also liked sensory defects like rancidity, fustiness, mustiness and winey flavor. The authors indicate this may be due to the large amount of defective olive oil labeled as extra virgin available to consumers."

Details here

Note-I rarely cook with my EVOO preferring to use it as a condiment/salad dressing.

The lower gradeOlive Oil is fine for cooking but not my fave.

The problem is that I can't get anything but extra virgin, first press. Of course I use it, because marketing has made using anything else a sin.

I wonder whether the people in the less wealthy Mediterranean countries cause EVOO too.

I'm not a well conducted olive oil tasting is much different from a well conducted beer or wine tasting. In the end the person selling you whatever has you lapping out of his hand anyway.

Anybody ever done a blind tasting?

I do not believe in beer or wine tasting, especially when the results end up raising the price of such. The same goes for olive oil. My tast bud is the ultimate decision maker. An expert rated beer, wine or olive oil goes bad it would be just as bad.