Which brand of olive oil tastes the best...I need it for salads and stir fry dishes.?

Well I am an ';Olive Oil Snob'; as Jeremy stated( but I gave him a thumbs of anyway).


For stir fry, olive oil is useless.


It breaks down at a very low heat ( grape seed can take the highest heat of any oil).


You can use canola( rapeseed oil) or a 25/75% mix ( olive 25% veggie75%0


Or just a veggie oil.





Salads is different.


The word ';Extra Virgin'; DOES NOT MEAN that they're all the same.


To get the denomination to be called ';extra virgin'; the oil must have an acidity level of under .8%.





So many factors decide the price of any given oil.


A few examples.


Three ways of obtaining the olives.





1) for cheaper oils, they simply just pick up the ripe olives that fell to the ground. These olives are ripe. Ripe olives have a very subltle flat flavor, hence and flat buttery tasting oil. They also give more oil( ripe olives give more oil and less water( unripe olives( the best for olive oil) give less oil and more water. That why such a huge difference in price





2) shaking the tree( more expensive).


The olives that fall into the nets are somewhere in the middle of the road in ripness. Fairly good.





3) The best olive oil.


Every olive is handpicked and only the greenest, most unrippened olives are picked.


Deep rich flavor with a huge grip ( that peppery after taste that's so desirable).





But to begin with I would go with a Luccan oil ie Bertolli or Berio.


Then you can experiment with the ultimate oils.Which brand of olive oil tastes the best...I need it for salads and stir fry dishes.?
I agree with the first answer - I only buy extra virgin olive oil and use it for everything. It has more flavor, but I really love it and it's so healthy! It is always best not to heat it (it chemically changes the healthy benefits some) - but to drizzle foods with it when eating raw veggies or once cooked.





Important - it should always be ';Cold Pressed'; too!Which brand of olive oil tastes the best...I need it for salads and stir fry dishes.?
EVOO is not the way to go for frying. But, its all a matter of personal taste. I like the heavy green oils and my wife likes the lighter oils. I get alot of my oils online at zingermans.com. They have experts that you can speak with that will guide you through the selection process. Enjoy!
Olive oil is not the best for stir fry because of its relatively low smoke point. Use peanut instead. For other uses I buy Wholefoods ';365'; (i.e. relatively cheap) extra virgin olive oil. Oil snobs may well prefer other, more exotic brands.
I have found that the brand really isn't important...just make sure the label says EXTRA VIRGIN olive oil. That is the best stuff! :)
It's not the brand;-{ it's the type. Get Extra Virgin for salads.
You should use vegetable or canola oil for stir fry dishes. Just get any EVOO, they're all good.
Anything light and healthy.
Extra Virgin Olives in a red can