Is There A Difference Between Greek And Italian Olive Oil?
When you grab a bottle of olive oil off the shelf, you probably don't know whether it's Greek, Italian, or where it comes from at all. Long loved in the Mediterranean, olive oil has become wildly popular in the U.S. over the years, but it still doesn't get the kind of reverential treatment that people expect of other regional products like wine or cheese. We love the buttery taste and trust it as a healthy cooking fat. We know to look for real extra virgin olive oil. And then, unless you are a professional or a true devotee, that's usually about it.
Like wine, olive oil can produce a wide array of unique flavors and experiences based on the type of olives used and, especially, where those olives were grown. This is known, both with wine and olive oil, as terroir. It's how the weather, soil, and other factors influence the final taste and texture of your oil. And it makes Greek and Italian olive products with meaningful differences.
The first thing to know is that even within Italy and Greece, olive oils vary. Even a smaller country like Greece has enough differences in climate in separate parts of the country to affect the taste of olive oil. From there, the big differences from country to country start with the olives themselves. While both nations produce a range of olives, Greek olive oil is more likely to come from one variety, the koroneiki olive.
Greek and Italian olive oil start from different olives
Greece has been cultivating olives for olive oil for thousands of years and, for most of that time, the koroneiki olive has been part of that process. Koroneiki olives are small but have a very high oil content, which makes them extremely productive, and this style of olive is grown in many places around the world. However, in Greece, koroneiki are totally dominant, single-handedly making up between 50% and 60% of all olive oil production. Koroneiki olives are very high in polyphenols, which is one of the chemicals that makes olive oil healthy. It also gives the Greek olive oil made with them a very robust flavor with pronounced bitterness.
Italian olive oil, on the other hand, features more variety. Italy boasts over 400 different types of olives, and dozens of them are made into olive oil. Some of the most popular that you'll find include Frantoio, Coratina, and Taggiasca. Each one is popular in different regions of Italy, with Taggiasca grown on the coasts of Liguria in Northern Italy, Frantoio in Tuscany, and Coratina in the south. So Italian olive oil's terroir can change considerably because both the olives used and the climate and soil are different in each region. You can often find the specific region that olive oil is produced in listed on the label. However, be careful, as some Italian brands are just "packaged in Italy" but not actually grown there — that olive oil may be sourced from multiple different countries at once, which is a red flag.
Greek olive oil is pungent and peppery, while Italian olive oil can be more smooth
Both Greek and Italian olive oils will vary in taste depending on where they were produced, but Greek olive oils are usually described as having a more bold and pungent flavor. The aroma of Greek oils is often grassy and fruity, and the taste itself is usually peppery compared to other olive oils, with a pleasant, mild bitterness. The flavors in Greek olive oil are generally bright and can also be herbal or have hints of green apple.
Italian olive oil (including Lidia Bastianich's favorites) will deliver a wide range of flavors, although they tend to be more mild than the Greek standard. The intensity of the olive oil flavor will usually increase as you move towards warmer climates in the South of Italy, like Sicily. Olive oils from Northern Italy will be heavier on the fruity and nutty notes and may even have a mild sweetness to them. Central regions like Tuscany produce a more peppery oil but with more delicate flavors than similar Greek oils. In the Southern regions, you'll find oils that are spicy, herbal, and vegetal, with a full-bodied olive flavor.
While there are some noticeable differences between Italian and Greek olive oil, the variety of oils available means the regional influences from each country are going to be just as important. Both countries produce high-quality oil with incredible depth and complexity, and it will be up to you to find which bottles suit your taste.