Olive Oil Aromas

List of aromas of olive oil and off flavours follows:

Desirable Flavours:

• Apple
• Bitter-Good in moderation, but not good if overpowering (when unripe olives with little flesh as well as olives that have suffered water stress, are used). A typical characteristic of olive oils (from green olives turning colour).
• Almond-nutty
• Artichoke
• Astringent- A puckering sensation in the mouth (tannins)
• Banana – just ripe
• Fresh-good aroma, fruity, not oxidiced
• Fruity- flavour and aroma are similar to that of a mature olive. Many oils initially seem fruity, but this characteristic may disappear in a few months. A truly fruity oil maintains this characteristic aroma through time.
• Hay-wood- dried olive taste
• Grass- often in green olives, or those crushed with leaves and twigs
• Green- a young fresh, fruity oil, often mixed with bitter. Spicy-bitter, cough sensation at the back of the throat
• Green leave- obtained when a small quantity of fresh olive leaves are added in the press. (a trick to enhance the genuine green taste of green olives)
• Musky, nutty, woody- very pleasing when not overpowering
• Peppery – A peppery bite in the back of the throat, which can force a cough
• Pungent- a rough burning or biting sensation in the throat- peppery

Undesirable flavours:

• Bitter- not good when overpowering (when unripe olives with little flesh as well as olives that have suffered water stress, are used
• Burned-prolonged heating during process
• Dirty- oils that have absorbed unpleasant odours and flavours of vegetable water, after pressing (contact for too long).
• Dreggish- odour of warm lubricating oil ( caused by poor or lacking execution of the decanting process)
• Banana –over ripe
• Flat- lost characteristic aroma and no taste
• Fusty- due to olives fermenting in piles, while in storage, waiting for pressing
• Buttery
• Greasy- a diesel or bearing greasy flavour
• Grubby- flavour imparted by olive fly grubs
• Heated-burned taste from prolonged heating
• Muddy sediment
• Musty- mouldy flavour from being stored too long before pressing
• Metallic-oils, processed or stored with extended contact to metal surfaces
• Moldy- from unhealthy or fermented olives, due to excessive storage in warehouses
• Rancid- old oils, which have started oxidizing due to exposure to light or air
• Rough- pasty, thick greasy mouth feel
• Winey- high acidic taste