Extra-virgin indicates the highest grade of olive oil. Hence, the oil is naturally extracted without heat, i.e. cold pressed or with chemicals. This helps the olives retain their purity of flavour and nutrients.
Stay away from light bottles
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Exposure to light is the major damage to its quality and it causes rancidity in olive oil. Buy your extra-virgin olive oil in a can, dark, or coated glass bottle.
Check the harvest date
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The harvest date is a key indicator of transparency and quality. Olive oil is best used within a year to 18 months of its harvest date.
Don’t buy if it’s too cheap
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Producing olive oil costs up to 8 to 14 Euros in Italy which is nearly Rs 725 to Rs 1200. Then there are shipping and import charges. Therefore, if you are buying very cheap olive oil, it is probably not of the best quality.
Single country of origin
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Similar to other products like coffee or wine, a blend is considered to be of lower quality than a single-origin product. If the labels read “Product of Italy”, it probably means that they were packaged there and not grown or pressed there.