Every year, in many Italian homes, the same scene repeats itself: there's still a bottle of last year's extra virgin olive oil in the pantry, and someone says: "Let's use it for cooking, we'll save the new one for salads."
It's advice you hear often. But is it really the best choice?
Where does this myth come from?
The idea is simple: cooking heat "ruins" extra virgin olive oil, so it would be a waste to use a fresh, high-quality product.
In part, it's understandable. Nobody wants to waste a valuable food. However, this belief often leads to doing the opposite of what truly enhances a great extra virgin olive oil.
The custom of consuming the previous year's olive oil...
In many families, there is still the habit of storing newly produced olive oil and using the oil from the previous harvest for cooking, thinking of preserving the new one for special occasions.
It's a tradition passed down through the years, but from a quality perspective, it's not the best choice.
An extra virgin olive oil is meant to be enjoyed when it expresses its characteristics to the fullest: intense aromas, herbaceous notes, fruitiness, freshness, and the precious wealth of polyphenols. Over time, even if perfectly stored, these qualities gradually tend to diminish.
Therefore, storing a great extra virgin oil for too long means sacrificing some of its excellence.
The advantages of a less fresh olive oil
It's important to be objective. An extra virgin olive oil that is a few months older, if stored correctly, can still be suitable for many preparations.
Over time, it tends to have a more delicate taste, with less pronounced bitter and spicy notes. For some recipes, this can be pleasant.
But there's a fundamental aspect.
What does extra virgin olive oil lose over time?
Extra virgin olive oil is a living food.
Over time, even if perfectly stored, the following progressively decrease:
- the freshest aromas;
- herbaceous and fruity scents;
- some of the polyphenols, precious natural antioxidants;
- the sensory complexity that makes a great extra virgin olive oil special.
It doesn't mean the oil suddenly goes bad. It simply means it no longer expresses its full potential.
And in the kitchen?
Here's the most important point.
Many people think that using excellent extra virgin olive oil for cooking is a waste. In reality, a high-quality product continues to offer benefits even during cooking.
Its initial quality matters. An oil rich in polyphenols and obtained from healthy olives maintains better characteristics than a mediocre oil, also contributing to the final flavor of the dish.
Naturally, heat modifies some of the aromatic compounds, but this does not mean that all differences between an excellent oil and a mediocre one disappear.
The real question
Why buy an extraordinary extra virgin olive oil if you then use it when it has already lost some of its best characteristics?
It's a bit like buying a Ferrari and always leaving it in the garage, only using it when it can no longer offer all the thrills it was built for.
A great extra virgin olive oil is meant to be enjoyed every day, not to wait months or years in the pantry.
How to truly enhance extra virgin olive oil
- Store it away from light, heat, and air.
- Consume it when it's at its freshest.
- Use it both raw.
- Choose the right pairing for each dish, just as you would with a great wine.
Quality must be lived, not preserved
A great extra virgin olive oil is not a collector's item.
It is the result of the land, olive trees, harvest, and oil mill. It is a food that reaches its maximum value when enjoyed at the right time.
Quality should not be put aside "for special occasions."
Every time you cook, that is already a special occasion.
Because an excellent extra virgin olive oil is made to transform a simple dish into a unique and special experience.
