Best Supermarket Olive Oil

When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by the idea of the Coke-Pepsi challenge. Perhaps you remember: It was a blind tasting of the two leading colas that allowed consumers to compare flavors side by side sans any marketing influence. Now that I’m an adult, the challenge concept is regular part of my life via My Wine Tribe wine tastings. But I want more. There are lots of other things I want to test in a blind setting, with olive oil being highest on the list.

So when we were away on a recent vacation, various members of my family and I organized a two-part tasting of four different olive oils. Part 1 was a taste test using each as a dipping oil for breads. Part 2 was the kids’ favorite: we got to taste four different cakes, one made with butter and three others made by substituting in olive oil for butter. (Why not use all four oils? I’ll get to that.)

Which Supermarket Olive Oil is Best?

I don’t know about you, but I use olive oil a lot—to cook my eggs, to stir fry veggies, to lightly top fish, etc. So I don’t want to get too fancy with my olive oils, I just want to know what’s the best of the supermarket fare. With that in mind, here were the contenders:

• Newman’s Own Organics Organic Olive Oil ($23 for 25 oz.). The label plays up the “organic” and “first cold press” bit. Not sure what that means, but apparently I should.
• California Olive Ranch Olive Oil ($14 for 17 oz.): This too is “first cold press” and the label notes that it is California grown.
• Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil ($7.49 for 25.5 oz): The label on this one tells me that it is extracted by first pressing (was it cold?) and filtered to maintain its full flavor.
• DaVinci Extra Virgin Olive Oil ($6.30 for 17 oz): This one is imported from Italy, which sounds good, right?

It was such an interesting tasting! We had Big Red, who is in the Complex Tribe; yours truly in the Developed Tribe; my mom in the Balanced Tribe and the two kids, who aren’t in a wine tribe but if they were I’m guessing that one would be in the Accessible Tribe and the other would be in the Complex Tribe. Not sure what tribe you are in? Take this easy quiz and get customized wine (and now olive oil) recommendations.

The Savory Winners

When tasting the oils on bread, people in the Developed and Complex tribes preferred No. 1, the Newman’s Own. Tasters appreciated its bold flavor of green olives and fruit with a light hint of nutty bitterness.

Everyone liked No. 2, the California Olive Ranch, but it wasn’t anyone’s fave. It was lighter than the Newman’s Own and had a fresh, green flavor with an aftertaste of black pepper.

The Accessible and Balanced folks loved No. 3, the Bertolli. My mom thought it was the most flavorful and the kid who liked it called it her “bae,” which apparently is a common expression used by 12-year-old girls to mean “beyond anything else.”

We all had strong opinions (and none of them were good) about No. 4, the DaVinci. This one was really bitter and left a bad aftertaste. I noted that it tasted like gasoline and the 12-year-old said, “Ewww.” In its defense, this one was the closest to its expiration date but it was being sold in the store, so presumably it was OK. Regardless, next time you are in the store, remember “don’t” for DaVinci.”

Best for Baking

Then it was time for cake baking. I know that olive oil is better for me than butter, but I don’t like things that try to masquerade as something else. “Tofurky” anyone? Absolutely not. “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter?” I can believe it. So, I was biased against the notion of baking with olive oil, but in the spirit of experimentation I gave it a try.

I made one cake with butter. Then I made three other cakes using the exact same recipe, except I subbed in the oil for butter. (I chose to give the DaVinci a rest.) Check this out for substitution measurements when using olive oil instead of butter.

Adventures in Baking

Let me first say that I am not a huge baker, so I was happily surprised at how easy it was to bake with the olive oils. Take, for example, the first step of my cake recipe, “cream together the butter and sugar.” No one said that the butter needed to be soft first. When I tried to combine my still-solid butter with the sugar using a mixer, both butter and sugar flew out the bowl. Wasn’t pretty. The olive oil, on the other hand, was easy peasy to mix with the sugar. Score one for the olives.

The cows, however, picked up their own points. Everyone could tell which was the butter cake: It was the prettiest. Pure white with golden edges, it looked pristine. If you aren’t frosting your cake and are going for aesthetics, keep this in mind. The olive oil cakes looked fine too, just a bit more dark and rustic.

Winner in the Cake Division

So which one tasted the best? All were good, but specific results varied by tribe. Our Accessible representative loved the California Ranch cake because of its moistness. My mom, the Balanced Tribe member, who likes her cake a little dry (no joke), picked the Newman’s Own. Me? I preferred the Bertolli because it was moist and the vanilla taste really came through. And our two Complex Tribe members preferred the butter cake for its silky mouthfeel and buttery taste.

If I was baking for a crowd I would go with the Bertolli. Easy, better for you and yummy. What’s not to love?

If You Buy Only One Bottle

Bottom line is that if you can only have one type of olive oil in your pantry, go with the Bertolli. If you can have two, go with the Bertolli for cooking and baking and the Newman’s Own for dipping (and, if you are like my mom, for making dry cakes).

Please drop a comment with your favorite supermarket olive oil. Cheers!