The Real Reason You Shouldn't Keep Olive Oil Next To The Stove

Last year, Americans chowed down on 406,000 metric tons of olive oil (per Statista). And if you look hard at the ingredients that make up your favorite recipes, you'll quickly realize how the U.S. was able to consume such an intimidating amount of what could be described as a wonder ingredient. From being the tried-and-true way to pan grill meat to acting as a classic salad dressing flavor, olive oil is on par with the likes of salt and flour as one of the most essential cooking ingredients to have on hand. This is why, despite being on the more expensive side, most people who love to cook always make sure to have a bottle of it on hand.

But when you're not working on a homemade meal, you, like many people, may store your olive oil next to the stovetop. However, keeping your olive oil at your stove's side, though convenient, can completely ruin one of your most frequently used ingredients.

If you always store your olive oil near the stove, you need to reorganize your kitchen. According to Good Housekeeping, olive oil should stay far away from heated places filled with light. These two factors will cause olive oil's taste to turn bad. More specifically, its flavor can begin to resemble vinegar.

So while the stovetop isn't the best place to keep your olive oil, vice president of technical services at California Olive Ranch, May Mori, told Real Simple that keeping the bottle in a cool, dark place is best. But before you run off to put your olive oil in the fridge (which can be effective depending on the quality of your brand but will cause your olive oil to fog up), Mori noted that one of the ideal places to keep your bottle is in a mild-temperature cupboard. And for the sake of your future roasted butter squash salad's taste, we suggest you follow her advice.