If you only changed one thing in your kitchen this year, let it be your olive oil. Not because olive oil has become fashionable, but because it has been nourishing the longest lived people on Earth for thousands of years.
What to buy
Look for extra virgin, single origin, in a dark green bottle, with a harvest date rather than only a best before date on the label. The fresher the oil, the higher the polyphenols, and the more it tastes like the country it came from.
Good olive oil should taste a little like the sea, a little like fresh grass, a little like pepper at the back of the throat.
How to use it
Generously. On finished pasta. Over warm bread. Drizzled into soups at the table. Whisked into a quick dressing with lemon and salt. Olive oil isn't a garnish, it's an ingredient in its own right, and one of the most studied foods in nutrition science.
With love, Serena
