The tasting of olive oil
STEPS:
Step 1: Pour the olive oil
Take a small wine glass or something similar and pour in about 30ml of oil. The colour of the oil is almost irrelevant and can range from a greenish colour to a rich gold.
Step 2: Heat and swirl
Cup the glass in your hands and cover the top with an open hand, keep your hands there for a while, to heat it up, while swirling. The swirling and warmth of your hand helps to release the aromatic flavours.
Step 3: Inhale and smell
Bury your nose in the glass and inhale, take in the aroma and inhale. Try to describe what you smell, is it fruity, etc.? See below desirable and undesirable terms for olive oil tasting. The desirable and undesirable terms for olive oil tasting, can be found under some interesting facts.
Step 4: Taste
Take a sip into your mouth, DON’T SWALLOW YET, swirl the oil around in your mouth to cover your tongue and palate. Put your teeth together and suck in air over the oil (as you would do when tasting wine). Experience the silky mouth feel, the aromas/ off flavours. Can you recognize something familiar?
Step 5: Swallow or spit
Once you have got the mouth feel and the taste for an olive oil, you can swallow it (or spit it out). By swallowing a bit of the oil, you can experience the typical peppery characteristic of olive oil at the back of your throat.
Step 6: Mouth feel
Be aware of your mouth feel a few seconds after swallowing. Is the oily feeling in your mouth gone? Typically the mouth feel of olive oil becomes watery.