Olive Oil Brands and Links

What's the best way to use olive oil?

Olive oil can be eaten by itself as a dip for crusty bread or drizzled on everything from salads to vegetables to seafood. Just as with wine, however, olive oil should be used judiciously; when drizzled as-is, its strong taste may mask certain delicate flavors, so you don't want to drench your bluefin tuna or wild-caught salmon with too much of it.

Olive oil can also be used for cooking. However, because it smokes quickly at high temperatures, experienced cooks recommend using olive oil for slower cooking methods such as low-to-medium-heat sauteing rather than high-temperature frying. According to several cooking sites, this doesn't deter some restaurant chefs from preferring olive oil for all types of frying, but their secret is to use olive oils designated pure or pomace, because these cheaper oils are more durable to heat than either extra-virgin or virgin varieties and won't smoke at high temperatures.

Saad Fayed, About.com's Middle Eastern food guide, has a helpful post about different types of oils. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)

Wikipedia has a good olive-oil page that includes information about international regulations and purity standards.

Health benefits of olive oil are widely recognized, and this article in Science Daily extols olive oil's ability to fight cancer.

An article at MSNBC by registered dietician Karen Collins explains health advantages of olive oil. 

GlobalGourmet.com has a comprehensive history of olive oil.

The website for retailer Trader Joe's has an interesting page on olive oil, including tips for storing and usage.

The website of the California Olive Oil Council includes information about California's olive-growing regions and small producers.

The consumer blog WalletPop.com has a link to a University of California study that detected diluting and blending in some oils labeled extra virgin. Included is a link to the study, as well as a list of some surprising brand names that failed to make the cut for purity.

Consumerist.com, a popular consumer information blog that's part of Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, has a good article written by Chris Morran in 2010 about the problems regulating olive-oil standards in the U.S.

OliveOilTimes.com has a 2010 update on the issue of grading and purity standards in extra-virgin olive oil.

National Public Radio also has a 2010 story about olive-oil standards, and how some of them are allegedly being violated.

Mark Sisson has written an informative look at the different types of olive oil, "Is All Olive Oil Created Equal?", which includes tips on how to use it and the best ways to store it.

In "An Overview of Some Worldly Oils," New York Times food writer Florence Fabricant gives an insightful look into the qualities you can expect to find in the different nationalities of olive oils.

Olive oil brands

Goya

California Olive Ranch

Whole Foods 365

Trader Joe's

Bariani

Ravida

Lucini