There’s a seventy-three percent chance the olive oil in your kitchen right now isn’t actually extra virgin—let that sink in for a second. The University of California Davis tested the top-selling brands you see at every grocery store, and nearly three-quarters failed basic quality standards, with oils so defective they were classified as “not fit for human consumption.” The real kicker is you’ve probably been cooking with rancid, fermented oil for years and didn’t even know it because that’s what Americans have been conditioned to think olive oil tastes like—bland, smooth, and lifeless instead of peppery and bitter. Some brands settled seven-million-dollar lawsuits for slapping “Imported from Italy” on bottles filled with Tunisian and Spanish olives, while others sold oils that professional tasters said were more suitable for furniture polish than food. The seventy-three percent failure rate isn’t a bug, it’s the business model—Italian labels mean nothing, smooth tastes mean degraded oil, and if it doesn’t make you cough a little, it’s probably fake. Today we’re ranking eight olive oil brands from absolute garbage to actually worth your money, because life’s too short to drizzle rancid lamp fuel on your salad.
0:00 Intro
0:47 #8 – Amazon Fresh Grocery Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2:11 #7 – Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3:55 #6 – Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil
5:31 #5 – Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil
7:04 #4 – Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil
8:43 #3 – California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil
10:22 #2 – Kirkland Signature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
12:03 #1 – Kirkland Signature California Extra Virgin Olive Oil
22 Comments
The supermarkets, hypermarkets have the commitment to sell genuine olive oil or goods to their customers. Selling counterfeit goods is to betray the trust of their customers.
What's up with the long pauses between some of the words? Who are these people that think not using an actual person is better? It lacks authenticity. I value an America's Test Kitchen taste test because the report comes from a real person not some automated method.
I've used several of the brands mentioned. I generally use the Kirkland brand where the label on the back says either product of Italy or product of Spain. The other Kirkland EVOO is sourced from different places in Europe.
Kirkland did a great job with this commerc…I mean video. Oh, it cost only $11.99.
While in southern Spain, in and during an archeological excavation from 2000 years ago, during roman times, we found three caraffes in clay, and when analyzed, the oil was in a perfect state….coming back to North America i have found that most is completely insane
This was incredibly eye-opening and practical. I love how you explained what actually matters—harvest dates, bottle type, and taste—in a way anyone can understand. Super helpful for everyday shoppers. Thanks for sharing this! 👍
California olive ranch is not 100% from California olives the last time I checked a bottle. most olive oils have a code on the bottle that tells you where the olives came from. Is this vid sketchy?
This is really old, outdated information. America's Test Kitchen tests olive oils almost yearly, and the results can vary greatly from year to year. The highly rated oil one year may be the next year's failure. Ditch this video and go to America's Test Kitchen on YouTube and check out the latest taste tests for olive oil.
California olive oil is pretty good. Extra virgin just means it's among the first pressing of olives and it costs more. So yeah, most of us buy the less expensive type, not the extra virgin. It's okay, it's like buying Barefoot wine instead of more pricy wine. It's good. It's only more affordable.
ΜΑΛΑΚΑ ΡΕ ΜΑΛΑΚΑ…. horseshit at its stinkiest
Have you tested dr Gundry olive oil. Id be very interested in tnat test! Al o s t 40 bucks a bottle.
We're not taste experts out here. . . . you are telling us to read the labels? can we believe the labels? is there a chenical test to check if it's real or not? ….. come up with a test kit we can buy and test the oil . .
Sorry, I use Amazon Italian and everything they said is not true. It has a great smell and doesn't smell rancid. The color is not pale yellow and it is peppery so there is a high amount of polyphenols. Oh…and the olives are sourced only from Italy, not various countries
My guy is lowkey trashing Spanish olive oil and Tunisian olive oil, while propping up Italian olive oil, as if Italy is the benchmark, yeah sure, in America maybe, when everything is about branding.
I use Sky organics extra virgin greek olive oil
if you want the best olive oil available buy Greek extra virgin olive oil its the best by far its not even close Italian oil has always bee fraud they buy the cheapest oil from many countries and use chemicals and filtering to then label it extra virgin , know what your buying
In USA one is most likely get shot by some crazy gun man then consuming some fake olive oil 😊
Isn't Kirkland olive oil sold in a green PLASTIC bottle
I just checked Costco and didn't see their Signature California oil.
I use California Olive Oil and it is so delicious!
Bertolli in Canada seems to fit your criteria for a good olive oil having a good bite and smell
I buy only from Portugal. A bit pricey but worth it!
When I hear it's not really olive oil I expect lab tests to that effect, not that taste tests by "experts" disagree with average users. If it is olive oil, but it does not meet the expectations of food snobs, it remains olive oil. As for calling it rancid, that is a serious charge. Is that true is it simply an opinion.