Trader Joe's Worst Olive Oil Is As Unimpressive As It Gets

You don't have to be an olive oil purist to appreciate a good, quality bottle. As one of the essential Mediterranean ingredients, olive oil is often the elevating factor for many dishes that simply wouldn't taste the same without it. The oil carries many health benefits, which is why many opt to use it in their daily meals, but purely from a culinary perspective, it's the strong flavor that sets it apart from the rest. Ranging from sharply pungent to mildly sweet, olive oil comes with a wide range of flavor notes. We tested nine olive oils from Trader Joe's to find which ones are worthy of the name and which fall flat. Unfortunately, Trader Giotto's Imported Olive Oil was the biggest disappointment.

Good olive oil is thick and viscous, with strong green pigmentation. Trader Giotto's Imported Olive Oil is the exact opposite — it's thin and colorless, so pale that it's barely visible against the white plate in the picture below. You could rightfully expect that from, say, sunflower oil, but in olive oil, it's a sign of overprocessing, which removes pretty much everything we usually love in olive oil. The clear color alone can clue you in on the fact that Trader Giotto's Imported Olive Oil lacks any depth or dimension of flavor. Some unhappy customers were pretty confused by the translucency and empty taste, noting that it doesn't feel like olive oil at all.

It appears that Trader Joe's wanted to have its cake and eat it too while coming up with this particular oil. First, the oil is a blend of extra virgin and refined olive oil. Second, it's made of olives sourced from many different regions, specifically Spain, Greece, and Italy. Seeing multiple countries on an olive oil label is a red flag, and it's especially interesting that Trader Joe's advertises on the very front of the label, in big capital letters, that the oil is "packed in Italy." Some consumers might misunderstand that and presume the oil is purely of Italian origin, even though it's not.

The store is well aware of the oil's paleness and flavorlessness, but apparently that's intentional. It is promoted as mild, light, and neutral, intended to take the place of vegetable oil in recipes where augmenting the flavor would be undesirable or when you need an oil with a higher smoke point. But in that case, you'd probably be much better off using a quality vegetable oil instead, not least because it's normally cheaper than the $10 you'd be spending for 33 ounces of this imposter.