Great post, photos and explanation! Olive oil was used for cooking, cosmetics, medicine, and in lamps. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. I did NOT use the olive oil in blender or mixer – but only pour it directly from the bottle on the salad. These suspended polyphenols can ruin an otherwise delicious recipe. is it a lost cause? So a bitter olive oil is a positive thing. I tried a few different things, like using clear vodka—alcohol is often a wonderful solvent for extracting substances from oil (and other non-polar liquids)—but in my experiments at home, the mayonnaise made from alcohol-treated olive oil still tasted bitter. If the oils you say should be avoided, what are good substitutes? Those are the hallmarks of a good quality olive oil. Depending on the variety of olives used and how the oil was extracted, one can expect different levels of these free fatty acids in oil. So it’s not surprising that I’ve tried to squeeze a mayonnaise recipe into both of my cookbooks. While olive oil by itself isn’t bitter to taste, when present in emulsions like mayonnaise and aioli it can make them taste bitter. There is no way the oil gets hot enough to go rancid after a few seconds in a blender. I always wondered why that happened! As far as the olive oil, good info, I’ll have to keep this in mind. Hi, Learn more on our Terms of Use page. After all, you're only going to use this debittered oil to make an emulsion like mayonnaise or aioli; use the regular untreated stuff for the rest of your daily cooking. I like to eat French fries with a little bit of mayo on the side and, in summer, when tomatoes are at their peak, you can’t keep me away from juicy tomato slices piled high on white bread painted liberally with mayonnaise. WhatsApp. Under standard conditions, the fatty acids in the oil prevent polyphenols from dispersing in an aqueous environment. When I started to work on my second book, The Flavor Equation, it only felt right to revisit the bitterness problem and figure out a way to fix it; after all, this book is about the science of flavor. I’ve never noticed the bitterness per se, but have always been surprised by how much salt I needed to add to make it taste okay. However, depending on your taste you may want to find an olive oil that has a balance of fruity and bitter that you can tolerate. Thanks!—–@ScottLOL, you know how I feel about superfoods.—–@Travis Me too! Any ideas?? We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy. Thanks for the tip! The recipe was perfect except for the strong bitterness. If you don’t want it IN your hummus, drizzle it on top after you’ve made it… even better. I didn’t use a blender, just whipped it up by hand with a wooden spoon. When developing the recipe for the mayonnaise in my cookbook, I also attempted to use mustard oil as an alternate option, but that, too, yielded a very bitter-tasting mayonnaise, which led me to conclude there was some quality these two oils shared that produced the same effect. Because of the versitility, tastiness, and health benefits I declare that Olive Oil is a superfood. One possibility is the presence of free fatty acids in olive oil, which, depending on the type of fatty acid, can taste bitter and even pungent. All I want to do is disguise the taste, Bitterness is a characteristic of fresh olive oil. http://forms.aweber.com/form/30/split_210533730.htm. Bad olive oil, also termed as rancid, is affected by a variety of factors. I’m big on Sicilian oils, but after my recent move to Berkeley, I’d really like to find a quality local one. I did the same. The reason is because extra-virgin olive oil contains a high percentage of molecular compounds called polyphenols (thought to be cancer-fighters), which are normally coated in fatty acids. I know, that’s a lot to swallow, but basically, the studies conducted demonstrate olive oil’s ability to slow or stop the spread of bacteria. Bitter is the word to describe it. a good low temperature pressed olive oil, when young , is naturally a little bitter and even a littley spicy on the tongue. – and I like usually to use some oil and balsamic vinegar on my salad made of: onion, red peppers, tomatoes, ‘feta’ crumb cheese. Can I do anything to fix it? No i’ve never noticed a problem but I trust Cook’s. I’ve read somewhere that yellow color on olive oil shows that oil is old, was not properly stored before being sold in store. The simple emulsion of oil and water would eventually fall apart if left undisturbed, and I would be able to easily separate the oil from the water phase as it would float above the water. Telling the difference between normally bitter oil and rancid oil isn’t easy for most of us. Perfect chimichurri.. Amazing! Of course, we can’t talk about the benefits of making your own olive oil without mentioning the money factor. I haven’t noticed that it gets bitter, but I have noticed that when you put it in the food processor it loses some of it’s flavor. | Created by. I recently had a very disappointing homemade aioli experience because of this reason. canola), then hand whisking your extra-virgin olive oil in at the end. As soon as I saw the caption of Foodgawker, I knew I had to hop over here to find an explanation for one of my problems! Lipid Res. I’ve just bought this bottle of ‘Badia’ Extra Virgin Olive Oil First Cold Press 500 ml.-17 fl.oz. Other sites point out the polyphenol/bitterness connection but yours is the first post I’ve seen to bring in emulsion and dispersal, so I’m not worried anymore. This is something I could easily do in my kitchen! I have just made mayonnaise for the first time, and it looks great, but tastes terrible! Have you ever had problems blending extra-virgin olive oil? The only logical and (mostly) scientific explanation I found for the bitter olive oil phenomenon was from Cook’s Illustrated. I’m very concerned about rancid oils and I can smell them a mile away. olive oil spicy; Is a bitter, spicy extra virgin olive oil a poor quality product? Want a picture next to your comment? My current olive oil is deeply green, cold pressed extra virgin. Paprika directly into the hummus can impart bitter flavor without understanding, but it was the little bit onion! Just what I was looking for it an get too bitter your life bad to mess.! 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