To Find Truly Authentic Italian Olive Oil, Look For This On The Label

Olive oil is a kitchen staple that can be used in so many dishes. It's the main ingredient in a vinaigrette, the perfect base for a flavorful marinade, and great for roasting or sauteing vegetables, such as onions and garlic. With so many options on the market (if you need an olive oil guide, we have you covered), you might seek out Italian olive oil because it's a country known for its olive production. But how do you know if an Italian olive oil was truly imported from Italy? Look at the label, and know your supplier.

"When looking at the bottle, you want Italian EVOO cold pressed," Louie Mele, partner of Bicyclette Cookshop in Naples, Florida, tells Chowhound. The term "cold-pressed" means the olives were pressed without extreme heat; too much heat can alter the oil's quality. However, cold-pressed isn't the only indicator of quality oil. "You want it to be as far from the expiry date as possible. The best would be to find a producer that uses a production date and an expiry date," Mele says. "[Buying oil] closer to the production date is best." He also advises opting for olive oil made by small producers versus larger, mass-producing olive oil companies.

Restaurants are specific about choosing olive oils, and Louie Mele's spot is no exception. Besides checking the label for production dates and terms such as cold-pressed, it's always best to understand exactly where your oil was produced. "Knowing your supplier is really the only way to ensure that your EVOO is 100% Italian grown, picked, harvested, pressed, and bottled," Mele says. He lives by that rule — the olive oil for Bicyclette Cookshop comes from olives picked from his own property and a neighboring property in Umbria, Italy.

While it isn't always possible to know the supplier of grocery store olive oils, you do have two options. The first is to do your research on store brands to learn exactly where in Italy their oils come from, then choose the best fit based on that research. The second option is to purchase the oil from a small Italian market rather than a supermarket, so you can ask the owner about where the olive oils for sale are sourced from; they likely have stronger knowledge about where their products come from.