What Olive Oil Should Taste Like, The Scary Truth About Olive Oil, Can You Cook With Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Much More!

On this episode of the Ben Greenfield.

Fitness Podcast, I've been kept from this. You know, I'm a chef, I'm a foodie. I know a lot about food and wine. I've traveled the world, I've eaten in great restaurants, and I had no idea that this existed. God's given delivery system of, you know, everything flowing right into your system using this fat as a conduit. Tj, is it a one cough oil, a two cough oil, or a three cough oil that's a hallmark of really fresh, high quality oil.

What's an olive oil mafia?

Health, performance, nutrition, longevity, ancestral living, biohacking, and much more. My name is Ben Greenfield.

Welcome to the show. Well, welcome to the show. I hope you like Mediterranean things, specifically olive oil, because you're going to be feeding olive oil through the fire hose today. We're even doing an olive oil tasting, getting into bioactive compounds in olive oil. The fat profile of olive oil. Myths about olive oil. Should you cook with it? Shouldn't you? What's the difference between extra virgin and regular? What kind of certifications to look for? How do you store it? You're gonna learn a lot. I'm personally a huge fan of olive oil. I use it every day.

And yeah, I really, really think you'll.

You'Ll dig this podcast if you want to get on the olive oil bandwagon.

And become a true olive oil ninja.

Everything that I mention in today's show.

You can find@BenGreenfieldFitness.com Olive Oil podcast.

That's BenGreenfieldFitness.com Olive oil podcast. My guest on today's show who I'll be chatting with after I actually fill you in on a lot more about.

Olive oil and the science of olive oil.

His name is T.J. robinson, and the.

Dude travels all over the world visiting olive oil farms, farms and making customized.

Olive oil blends and literally just like.

Lives and breathes olive oil. I actually get a shipment from him every quarter with different olive oil bottles.

From, you know, Australia and Chile and Italy and France.

And he has this awesome, like, brochure that comes with the olive oil that.

Walks you through all of his visits.

With farmers and his adventures around the globe.

I get jealous of this guy. He literally just, like, travels around the world visiting olive oil farm and tasting.

And experiencing not only amazing olive oil.

But amazing recipes that the olive oil is used in.

So plenty more about him, his little.

Special olive oil club, and more on olive oil coming up. But in the meantime, you can go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com Olive Oil podcast to learn more.

All right, so when it comes to olive oil, before I interview TJ on today's show, I'd like to get into some of the science because it actually is fascinating. And I think a lot of people are confused about the actual composition of olive oil and what the compounds in it are that tend to make it such a standout when we look at some of the systematic literature reviews or what are called meta analyses on olive oil, particularly as part of the Mediterranean diet. Because if you actually look at systematic literature reviews of olive oil, and I'm going to link to a bunch of them in the show notes, we find a fascinating host of information. So, for example, one of the biggest meta analysis showed that olive oil actually leads to a distinct drop in blood pressure with no change in cholesterol or triglycerides. And at the same time, olive oil consumption will decrease triglyceride count and also increase HDL count. That's something known as the atherogenic index. So what that means is that a bigger predictor of cardiovascular disease is the HDL to triglyceride ratio over and above something like total ldl. And it turns out that one of the best ways, in addition to fish oil, to improve your HDL to triglyceride ratio is the consumption of extra virgin olive oil. So that was another big meta analysis that was in the Food and Science Nutrition Journal. We also have seen research on depression and mental health, specifically a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, cause a direct decrease in symptoms of depression and an improvement in mental health. Type 2 diabetes. We know that high olive oil intake is associated with decreased risk of type 2 diabetes. And also kind of like Ceylon cinnamon and apple cider vinegar and bitter herbs and spices, you actually see better stabilization of blood glucose during the day when little bits of extra virgin olive oil are used on meals throughout the day. I almost consider many of my meals to be almost like delivery portals for.

Extra virgin olive oil.

And occasionally it will also be something like an avocado oil, which can have some similar benefits. But the stabilization of glycemic variability is also very, very profound. With olive oil, we know that it will decrease markers of inflammation and improve endothelial function. So if you're including things like tumorosaccharides or curcumin or fish oil or things like this in your diet to help manage CRP and other markers of inflammation, extra virgin olive oil falls right into that category as well. Rheumatoid arthritis, very interesting study showed a decrease in the progression of rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis via some of the fats that are in extra virgin olive oil. And then finally, we know the Mediterranean diet is associated with improvements in telomere length, anti aging, longevity, et cetera. Now, that being said, I will readily admit that a huge part of that is not the modern bastardized version of a Mediterranean diet, which involves whatever, you know, copious amounts of goat cheese and guzzling olive oil and massive amounts of fish like we see in a traditional Mediterranean diet. Periods of time where there's fast, certain days where there's less intake of oils and proteins and some of these heavier foods. But ultimately, if you are engaged in things like intermittent fasting, maybe less protein on days where you're not working out, less overall calorie intake from things like olives and extra virgin olive oil on days where you have lower activity levels. A properly comprised Mediterranean diet with things like compressed feeding windows and some things that improve autophagy like exercise or sauna or cold or sunlight, it's actually one of the best diets. I think a properly comprised, relatively low carb, extra virgin olive oil rich Mediterranean diets is one of the best diets you can consume. I get some pushback on the fiber that you see in some Mediterranean diets, everything from whole grains to leafy greens, because of this whole paleo and carnivore movement that kind of decry a lot of these built in plant defense mechanisms. But I think two things about that. A, if you're fermenting, soaking, sprouting, using a lot of these tactics from, for example, Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Tradition, you can deactivate a lot of those plant defense mechanisms. And furthermore, yeah, if you have diverticulitis or a leaky gut, compromised gut villi, et cetera, you might have to go through a period of time where you're eating something like a paleo autoimmune diet or a fiber restrictive plant restrictive carnivore diet to get rid of some of that inflammation and heal the gut. But that would be a short term diet. And once you're done with that, I think you could begin to eat more plants and vegetables and properly prepared grains and legumes, along with lots of Mediterranean fats and extra virgin olive oil, because frankly, your goal should not be to place yourself on a restrictive diet for life, but use those type of restrictive diets for healing. Now, that all being said, what is it about the profile of olive oil that is causing all of these benefits? Well, the primary fatty acid that we find in extra virgin olive oil is called oleic acid. And in chemistry, it's known as C18.1, meaning it's a monounsaturated fatty acid. One unsaturated bond, only one double bond in the chemical structure. When there's only one double bond in the chemical Structure of a fat versus a polyunsaturated fat which has multiple double bonds, the one double bond makes that fat far less susceptible to oxidation, which contributes to the high stability of extra virgin olive oil. Even under heat. Even under heat. And that's something TJ and I will talk about is cooking with olive oil. But a little preview of this is it's okay to cook even at higher temperatures with extra virgin olive oil, not only because of its stability, but also because of some of these phenolic compounds have to protect that fatty acid from oxidation. So it's the oleic acid that's the primary component that's really the big one of all in olive oil. And I tell people, for the brain, there's really two fatty acids that are the most important for neural tissue, for the nerve, myelin, cheese, and for the brain. And it's that C18.1 oleic acid. And then also the dose of hexaenoic acid you would get from fish and fish oil. Man, if you have good Mediterranean fish, you're eating a smash diet. Sardine, mackerel, anchovies, salmon and herring. Smash diet. And you're combining that with high intake of extra virgin olive oil. It's one of the best things you can do for your cardiovascular health. Now, there are other bioactive compounds in olive oil that go beyond that oleic acid. So some of the most important ones that you should know about, especially if you like to geek out on this stuff. One are the. The biophenols. The biophenols. So these are phenols that you find in the olive fruit that can specifically impact your cardiovascular health and help to scavenge as antioxidants free radical species. With some of the biggies being things like caffeic acid and phenolic alcohols and tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol. These are all examples of biphenols that are in olive oil. And the cool thing is, if you heard my podcast with Dr. William Lee, the author of the book Eat to Beat Disease, he gets into the concept of anti angiogenic foods, foods that can specifically inhibit cell growth and vascular growth to cancer. And it turns out that one of the biphenols in olive oil called oleopurin or oleurpin is an oleacein to a certain extent. These are both biphenols that can do just that. They're anti angiogenic for cancer. We also know about another biphenol called oleocanth and that actually has direct anti inflammatory activity through the same pathway as ibuprofen. So it inhibits COX1 and COX2 enzymes, very similar to a non steroidal anti inflammatory drug but without all the gastric side effects. So it can be used as an anti inflammatory as well. And then finally there are flavones. These also fall into the category of biophenols. You may have heard of flavones, but there's a lot of research now ongoing on flavones like apigenin, one of the primary ones in olive oil, that these things can act as cancer chemoxy, chemoprotective agents and also anti inflammatory agents and may play a role in reversing some cognitive disorders as well, things like dementia and Alzheimer's. So that's what the biophenols in olive oil are. Then we also have what are called phytosterols, phytosterols. And these are things like B sitosterol and camposterol. And what phytosterols do is they reduce levels of plasma cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. And I in no way think that your goal in life should be to get your cholesterol levels as low as possible. But when it comes to the actual LDL particle size and particle count, this is where these phytosterols can step in. And they also have been shown to have some anti tumor activity just like those biophenols. Now we also have squalenes in olive oil. These are triterpene acids. Olive oil is actually an especially extra virgin olive oil. It's one of the only foods that has extremely high levels of this squalene. It's almost 1% squalene. That's an antioxidant that has a very chemo protective effect, specifically against skin cancer.

Right.

So if you spend a lot of time in the sun, if it's the summer, etc. One of the best things you can do is consume extra virgin olive oil to protect the skin. You know, it's kind of similar to another compound that I really like for that called astaxanthin, which you'll actually find in a lot of DHA rich fish oils. But if you have things like astaxanthin and extra virgin olive oil in your diet, it's wonderful for your skin I'll even use extra virgin olive oil as a skin moisturizer. Sometimes just smear some on my face as I'm making a salad. And so it's amazing for skin glow and skin health as well. There are two other chemical components of olive oil you should know about. One is alpha tocopherols. Alpha tocopherols, those are also known as vitamin E. But the blend of tocopherols specifically in olive oil is a blend that limits lipid oxidation damage to your cell membranes. And these specific tocopherols actually scavenge free radicals in a manner that directly protects your cell membranes. And then finally, there are hydroxy terpenex acids in olive oil. These are things like oleanoic acid and meslinic acid. And these things have direct pharmacological effects to lower inflammation, to reduce risk of cancer, to reduce cardiovascular pathology. They cause a direct increase in nitric oxide, causing vasorelaxation, which decreases blood pressure and almost acts like Viagra for your entire body. So these bioactive compounds in olive oil, the biophenols, the phytosterols, the squalene, the tocopherols, and the hydroxy terpenic acids, when you combine these with the that fat profile rich in that oleic monounsaturated fatty acid, you almost have this cocktail that's absolutely amazing for your health. And again, especially what I'm talking about is extra virgin olive oil, which is the highest grade of olive oil. It's the fresh juice of the olive, natural olive oil with free acidity, free oleic acid. They tend to have very high oleic acid content, higher levels of those natural antioxidants, higher levels of vitamin E, higher levels of phytosterol. So listen closely as I interview TJ because we'll get into the different grades of olive oil and the different certifications to look for on olive oil. But man, extra virgin olive oil is top of the totem pole for a lot of these effects that I talk about, especially if it's been packaged properly, if it's been stored properly, if it's been produced properly. And that's what TJ and I are going to get into as well. So we're going to dig into a lot more. But what I'll do is, is I'll link to some of this research that I just discussed over@BenGreenfieldFitness.com Olive Oil Podcast. And if as you hear TJ and I talking, you want to get a complimentary full size bottle of his extra virgin olive oil, you just go to getfresh32.com getfresh32.com it's gonna automatically get you into his olive oil Club. You pay $1,1 buck, and he ships a full size bottle of his finest extra virgin olive oil straight to your house. I've been a member of his club for seven years. For seven years, I've gotten three bottles from a different area of the world delivered to my house every quarter. And it's like Christmas when these things arrive. My boys and I gather around, we do olive oil tasting, and we read the brochure from TJ and we have these wonderful mild, moderate, and bold olive oil flavors, because usually there's three different flavors to choose from that we can use for everything from fish to salads to marinades for me and beyond. So check out getfresh32.com if you want to be part of the same olive oil club that I'm a member of. So, that being said, let's go talk to T.J. all right, folks.

Well, now that you've got just a little glimpse of the science behind olive oil and why I freaking love it so much and drink oodles of it every month, it's time for me to step aside, so to speak, and introduce you to my guest. His name is TJ Robinson, but he's also known as the Olive Oil Hunter, which is a pretty badass name. Not, not probably not as good as the Crocodile Hunter, but it's still up there. The Olive Oil Hunter and TJ who have had the pleasure to meet multiple times at conferences. Now, after reading his. His lovely newsletters for years, I finally had a chance to meet him. He's one of the world's most respected authorities on all matters olive oil. But what I like about him is he's not coming at this from like a white lab coat guy in a university setting studying lipids. No, he's traveling all over the world, all these farms, coming back and bringing olive oil to us in a very special way. He's got this platinum palate. He judges in these prestigious Italian olive oil tasting competitions. He imports soup, super rare, fresh pressed olive oil. He's got something called the fresh pressed Olive Oil Club, and I'll link to that in the show notes if you go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com Olive Oilpodcast. That's the club I've been a member of now for, I think, going on eight years. Three bottles from around the world every quarter delivered to my house, all independently lab tested, certified for 100% purity and probably most important, wonderful on fish, chicken stock, steak salad, you name it. So TJ has a fascinating life and I'm super stoked to talk to him today. And tj, I guess my big burning question for you is, what the heck, dude? How did you actually get into traveling around the world being an olive oil guy?

Wow, that was quite an intro. Thank you, Ben. It's really just such a pleasure having the opportunity to be on, on your podcast and help get the word out about this mission, about bringing the world fresh pressed olive oil and educating palates and consumers. It's people like you that are helping get the word out. I definitely appreciate it. I have my own epiphany. I'm a southern boy. I grew up in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina. I was first a chef. I went to culinary school and hospitality school and made a great connection with a chef who was on the Food Network. So my first job out of school was a job with the Food Network. And it was amazing. It was a great opportunity. I spent about eight years in New York working with a wine, food and travel writer. And on one of my expeditions, I was sent to Sicily. And when in Sicily, I got invited to a harvest party by a gentleman named Matteo. And Matteo, I'd never actually. I was a complete idiot, really. Now that I look back, when it comes to olive oil, growing up in the South, I didn't grow up around olive trees. I had no idea what a really high quality olive oil was or should taste like. You know, I had been to interrupt you.

I grew up on. I grew up on the big plastic bottle of Costco olive oil. Like that was. That was pretty much my understanding of olive oil.

Yeah, well, about the same for me. I mean, really. I mean, I remember it more going to church, honestly, and used more in like, you know, ceremonies at church than for anointing than I did in the kitchen as a kid. But, you know, as Americans, we grow up tasting fresh apples. We know what great fresh apple cider tastes like, understand orange juice, for example, fresh squeezed versus tetra packed and cooked. So we understand those kind of things. But I never really knew that there was this thing in Italian culture and in Spain and in Greece where there was a whole celebration around the harvest of olive fruits, because it's very important to remember that olives are fruit and there's. It's very deep in the culture. And at harvest time, Hippocrates called olive oil the great therapeutic. The Italian families have just been using this for generations. And for me, I was invited to this party And I was like, yeah, there's no way I'm missing it. So I go to this party, and we spent the day gathering olives with the family, a beautiful seaside farm grove. Just. Yeah, just incredible. Spent the day, and then in the evening, we took the fruit that we had picked that day, this beautiful green fruit. And I didn't. You know, we'll get into this. Why green fruit is important. But we took this green fruit to the mill and this community mill, and all these Italian families were standing around and, you know, they were all tasting and talking about. About their harvest and comparing their fruit to the other farmer's fruit and which varieties they started to harvest. And basically, when it was time for our turn, we all stepped up to the decanter there with our tasting cups in hand. And this green. This really vibrant, green, lively olive juice just poured out into my cat cup, and I stuck it to my nose. And I knew at that moment my life was changed. Like, I'd never. Like, I was like, whoa, I've been kept from this. You know, I'm a chef. I'm a foodie. I'm. I know a lot about food and wine. I've traveled the world. I've eaten in great restaurants, and, you know, had no idea that this existed. I didn't know that there was an olive oil mafia. An agromafia. I didn't know. I mean, this was back in 2004.

I got to interrupt you. I don't want to derail you, and I want you to get back to the story, but what the hell? What's an olive oil mafia?

So in Italy, there's the agromafia, and really, there's this whole. There was a great article in the New Yorker, I think it was, titled the Slippery Business of Olive Oil, written by a great writer named Tom Mueller. And as a follow up to that article in the New Yorker, he wrote a book called Extra Extra Virginity. And Extra Virginity follows kind of the scandalous world of olive oil from the Roman times. Essentially, there's a lot of fraud. Olive oil was always highly valued. It was a very precious tree, and people were using it for the health benefits. And it was one of those things that was highly sought after. Well, they learned even back then, and more recently, you could cut olive oil with cheaper oils to produce and not actually go to prison for it.

When you say cheaper oils, what would.

Be an example, like a seed oil, or in one case in Turkey, a nut oil, which could really be an issue.

Canola oil would fall into that category.

Exactly. Because that's much cheaper to produce, but you could sell it for olive oil prices anyway. Again, when I tasted this oil for the first time, it was hyper fresh, it was bitter, it was spicy. And then from then on, I've basically been on a mission. There was this problem in the us There was a lot of low quality oil. Around about a decade ago, UC Davis did a study. They actually went out on the store shelves in California, three different locations. I think they purchased around 30 oils. They sent them to an independent lab in Australia. And what they got back is a lot of these oils did not live up to their labeling. So there's been a lot of fraud in olive oil and we can definitely talk more about that and how that's been kind of covered up.

Was that the one that they reported on in the New Yorker magazine?

Yes, New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, New York Times. They actually did an Expo about two years ago, I believe on 60 Minutes and actually had a meeting, member of the Agromafia come in and show on video how they actually blend the oils with colorant and those sort of things. Now this is, we're talking about bulk quality, low quality bulk oil here. That's a commodity and that's very different from the olive oil that I sell and procure. And it's very artisanal. But bulk oil is mostly what's in, in supermarkets in the us so if you look at a bottle, you see all the countries of origin on there. And we can go into shopping tips and how to learn how to educate your palate and all that on this podcast.

I definitely want to ask you about that. But basically that New Yorker investigation, they basically decided that it was the most adulterated agricultural product in the entire EU at the time. And I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, because I read this somewhere else and I'd love to hear your take on this. Apparently even in like fine restaurants in Napa Valley, that same problem with oil being labeled as extra virgin olive oil or advertised on a menu as extra virgin olive oil, much of it is adulterated with sunflower seed oil or soy oil or canola oil. Is that true?

Well, I know they're working hard to clean up their act. They're doing a much better job as an industry as a whole. They're doing a much better job than they were, say back in 2004, 2005. The problem is there's not really anybody watching this. The FDA has definitely gotten better and there's some independent groups who are doing, but they're Most focused on getting people that are producing meat, people that are producing, bringing in shellfish. Those. Those are things that will really kill you. Maybe having an olive oil that's blended with canola oil in most cases isn't a high priority for them. I know they're working on it and we can go into some of the things they've done to help. But yes, it's been an ongoing problem. Unfortunately, it's a very big business. Yeah, it's a little scary as a consumer. So there's people like you and me that are out there trying to educate because we've been sold these health benefits. Right. I know you talked all about that in the beginning, but if you want these health benefits, you really have to go for the high quality stuff.

Meaning that unless you're doing that, you're not getting, basically you're getting lubrication in a lipid one might be able to cook in, albeit a less heat stable lipid and potentially a more inflammatory lipid combined with other adults. But you're missing out on the actual health benefits. The polyphenols, the flavanols, you know, many of the other things that I talked about earlier, you're simply not getting that.

Absolutely. And we'll dig into why that. Why that's, you know, happening. So essentially, I'm part olive oil sommelier and I'm part olive oil concierge. So what I do, I travel around the world, as you've already mentioned, and I actually follow two global harvests. There's the Northern hemisphere harvest, which happens in our fall in the US So that's Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, that region. And then in our summer, in May, there is a harvest that starts in the Southern hemisphere. Chile, Argentina and Australia. There are actually immigrants who took cuttings of olive trees and stitched them in their ties because this was very important. When they left their country of origin to, say, move to Australia or from Spain to Chile, they had heard about the climate there and they actually had tested some olive trees and had other family members who had taken cuttings from trees and stitched them in their clothes and taken them to those countries and actually started to grow these olive trees so they could have a little piece of their homeland with them in the New World. So it's really fun for me and the olive oil club for my members. They get four shipments a year, each of them direct from the harvest flown in by jet. So that flown in by JET is very important for control and also time.

You mean just to get it here more quickly?

Yes, absolutely. Because those polyphenols and antioxidants that you waxed poetically about, those deplete by about 50% in the first six months of production. So, I mean, just thinking about American distribution system, and olive trees themselves are alternate year bearers. So essentially one year you have very high fruit load, the next year less. A lot of times there's big stockpiles of olive oil one year that are just kept in tanks for subsequent years. The problem is, and most of the time, how things are dated. And we can talk about that when we talk in shopping tips. But how things are dated, dated. It's dated not with the harvest date, but with an expiration date. And you don't know when that oil was pressed. So anyway, that was part of the problem. I had never really tasted fresh oil. I knew I had to do something about this. I brought some back to my friends and family. They freaked out about it. They ran out and they were like, tj, I want some more of this. And then I started to do some research and learned about these plantations happening in the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere. And I'm like, we can have fresh, amazing, alive olive oil four times a year. Let's do this thing. So, yeah, I started the club in about 2005 with roughly about 1,000 members. And I've been growing the club ever since. And now we're up to around 17,000 members. Members who. It's just amazing that people have latched onto this concept. And honestly, I become kind of like your olive oil dealer because you get very spoiled and you can't go back to just the store bought stuff.

You can. It tastes like water. It's nuts compared to the herbaceous character notes that I get on every single bottle I get from you. And. And I have so many questions, and I might jump around a little bit here. But first of all, one of the things that kind of perked up my ears when you were talking about the shipping and the shelf stability and what to look for on the date. Two questions on that. What do you look for on the date? And then B, when olive oil gets to your house or when you get it from the store, how should we be storing it to ensure that it's gonna stay fresh as long as possible? And I know that the refrigerator might not be the best option because that seems to just turn it into this annoying solid that doesn't come out of the bottle.

Yes, yes. Well, we'll break that in a few parts. So the first question is related to shopping. And number one thing, to look for on a bottle is harvest date. So you want to find the harvest date of the oil, not just an expiration date. You want to look definitely for dark glass bottles or dark, dark bottles. It's one of the improvements that even bulk olive oil producers have made. They've gone from clear bottles to glass to dark plastic or glass bottles because light destroys olive oil. So light destroys olive oil, time destroys olive oil, and temperature destroys olive oil, especially if it starts out as low quality bulk olive oil. So harvest dates very important. Definitely looking for a store that has high turnover. I personally like a store where I can taste it before I buy it. So we can. We're go. We're going to actually do a tasting together so we can all train our palates on what to look for very clearly. When you're tasting olive oil for freshness and health qualities, which is, you know, I think the real takeaway of this podcast is, is education.

Okay, so storage would come down to what then? When we get into our homes, so.

You have high quality oil, you have it in your home. You never want to store it above the stove. Like, never store it in a spot where it's warm, which is where I've.

Seen it in many kitchens, like in the shelving that's above the stove or on the counter. Like for me right now, it's bottom shelf of the pantry in the dark.

That's perfect. Now that's very important in the light. You don't want it near the window where it's getting light. So definitely in a pantry is good. Cool is good. Especially if it's bottles you're not using at the moment. Definitely keep them in a cool spot. Bottom of the pantry, like you said, once you're using it, of course you can have it closer by in your cabinet. We actually have a rule in my house. We are kind of Italian in this way. When we set the table at our house, when we put the salt and the pepper and the napkins and all that on the table, we take our olive oil out of the pantry and we put that on the table as well. Because a super high quality olive oil, like the ones that we have are a sauce that mother nature has made for you. So you find all kinds of creative.

Same thing at my house. When you have dinner at our house, there's three things on the table. I have a really, really good salt. A, it's a Colima salt from the Mexican coast. That or Celtic salt are my two favorite salt. So I've always got a little porcelain bowl of Salt out on the table. We always have a few selections of the Mark Sisson's primal kitchen dressings, like his Thousand island or a little bit of his mayonnaise. And then, you know, I'm not saying my wife's not a great cook and my kids can turn out some pretty good recipes too, but we're into our sauces and spices as well to kick things up enough notch. And then there's always a bottle from your shipment that we set out. And I'm always looking at because you send out these tasting notes, what you call, I think a pressing report with each quarter. So I'll look over your pressing report and see whether it's a mild or a medium or a bold, and then choose accordingly based on what kind of dish that we're eating. But I hear you. It's the same way at our house. Like there's not just food on the table, there's different kinds of sauces and spices. And the olive oil is right in there.

Awesome. And you know, the thing is when you're using a high quality olive oil with a very high poly, high polyphenol count, those polyphenols are having an antioxidant property that actually keeps the oil from oxidizing. So you can like these oils have a built in protection just because of the polyphenol counts. We can get specific. I have the lab reports in front of me with all the lab with the polyphenol counts for the three oils. But those with the oils of super high quality oil, they will be like most of my club members. They use about a bottle a month. If they cook at home and have a small family, they use the three larger bottles. If they're just a couple who eats out frequently, they go for more the small set. Because I have three different sizes, or, sorry, two different club sizes of the three oils. And you know, a lot of people actually take them to restaurants with them these days.

So I travel with my fanny pack. People always like, what's in your fanny pack, man? So I've got a Ziploc bag with the salt that I was talking about. And then now I have the 4 ounce TSA. Friendly travel. And granted, all I have is the, the little BPA free plastic container that I shove into my fanny pack, which is dark nonetheless. And I'll bring the olive oil to the restaurant now and use that. Especially if I don't know the sauce or the dressing that they're using. I'll just have them bring out a dish without the sauce on the Dressing. Once I toss the olive oil and the salt on there, it kicks it up a notch, and it's amazing. So, yeah, I'm traveling with it now as well.

Fantastic. Because, you know, the problem with these restaurant, you know, dressings and those sort of, they're all filled with, like, GMO soybean oils that are really crappy. I'm like, can you bring me extra lemons to go with my water? They have no idea. I'm b y o e v o o out of my pocket. Because I have a feeling that it kind of combats some of the bad oil that I'm ingesting in restaurants just vicariously or whatever it does a little bit.

I mean, some of the antioxidants will help with the lipid oxidation and some of the free radical damage from the oxidized oils. Although admittedly, and I actually talk about this in my book, how to Kind of Undo the Damage. If you have had a hefty dose of canola oil or you've decided to eat at the Whole Foods Hot salad bar or something like that, and the top two things that you can take to protect you from that, number one are spirulina, and number two is glycine, both of which are readily available as supplements. But if you have those as kind of like a backup first aid kit for canola oil in yourin your bag or in your pantry, I love it. Dr. Spirulina and glycine are the two things that seem to protect the cell membrane the most from oxidized oils. Oxidized seed oils.

Oh, thatthat's super cool. And a great tip. You know, extra virgin olive oiland I don't think you mentioned this as part of your science, but I'm sure you know this, but olive oil is a very similar fat maker up to human breast milk. It's actually. Yeah, it's the same ratio. It's the same ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 and also has the same percentage of linoleic acid. So in Italian families, when a child is six months old or whenever they start to give them some food, they typically or puree food, they typically put in a little bit of olive oil, about a teaspoon of olive oil or tablespoon. As they get a little older in the puree, and that becomes like this delivery system for the food you're eating to actually get more nutrients out. And it works for us too. It's not only for babies. I mean, basically, this fat is made in harmony with our bodies. It's very God giving.

It's amazing. I mean, especially when you look at the rate of myelination of nerve fibers in brain development and the fact that the linoleic acid, you know, the oleic acid, it's also called, is crucial for that. You know, that and dha. Yeah. I mean, feed your babies when they're getting off of breast milk and transitioning into regular food, some extra virgin olive oil and some smash diet, right? Sardines, mackerel, anchovies, herring and salmon and you'll have a smart baby with good nerves.

Absolutely. And it's great for like, I know in Italy when I, you know, I hang out with Italian families, I'm always, you know, quizzing them like what they're like, it helps with colic and you know, digestion issues and like they're, they're, you know, Italians. They're, you know, I don't know if you saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding with like the Windex. Well, they're kind of that way with olive oil. So they use it, you know, for everything. But no, it's pretty cool. You mentioned the pressing report before and I did want to dig into that a little bit.

And the pressing report is this, this printed multi page report with like the recipes and the history of the different oils that, that are arriving for that quarter.

Absolutely. So the pressing report for me is a way for me to share these relationships. Relationships. Because getting access to the best fruit is key to my success. So these farmers who know how to manage their grove, who know just the perfect time to harvest the fruit when it's super green and know how to handle it so that it doesn't break down in this process. They have great milling equipment. So in the pressing report I share pictures of me with the families, like their challenges of the season, why I selected these oils and the hunt. Basically because for me, I land in a country of origin and then Mother nature, she owns 51% of the company. Basically I'm at the will of Mother Nature. But I find the best farmers. I find the best fruit, I find the best, the best mills. And they know how to use those mills to attain the best fresh breast olives possible.

When you say mill, what do you mean a mill?

Today I'll explain it Kind of like I'll use kitchen equipment analogies. The olives are picked immediately from the tree. Sometimes they shake them, sometimes they use rakes and combs. And when an olive fruit is very, very green, it typically has about 10% of oil inside. So they lay these nets down under the tree. They shake, they rake, whatever and they fall to the net. From the net they go directly into these small bins and then moved into the shade. And then as the day goes on, they get sent over to most of the farmers I work with over their own mills, on their own farms. So I work with single estate farmers, which gives them complete control and lets them expedite the process from tree into the mill. So the olive, the bin of olives gets taken to the mill. It is de leafed, de stemmed and washed. The next step is a crush and this crusher. Imagine the crusher as a food processor. So it essentially chops the olive fruit into a paste. It kind of looks like pesto seeds and all pits and all. So that, that's step one of the process. Step two, it goes into something called a malaxer. So this paste gets pumped into this kind of like I would imagine it as a kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook in there. And what it's doing, there's an enzymatic activity that's happening in this paste that's all natural. There's nothing added in this process. But as it spins for about half an hour, if you're going for super quality olive oil at a very low temperature during this process, this just sitting in there spinning. And what happens is, is this paste starts to break into different parts. There's solids, there's water and there's oil. So this paste after 30 minutes goes through a centrifuge, is pumped through a centrifuge. So it's literally dividing those things we talked about into three different parts. Water, solids and organizations. Oil. And then there's a final separator that takes that oil and spins it again. It's a centrifuge, it's all gravity. And then that's when the oil comes out into the tasting cup. But it sounds quite simple, but I have to tell you that there are a gazillion things that can happen between the tree and the final product that can, can destroy it. So as a professional taster, that's what we're trained, the final product, always the story it tells what maturity rate the fruit was when it was picked, whether they were left in the sun, whether they had to wait at the mill, whether the mill was dirty, whether it was malaxed at a high temperature and cooked. So you can't really taste much. So there's of a lot, lot of tricks that you can use in this process if you're going for more bulk quality oil to achieve more oil.

So TJ what do they do with the solids? Are those used for something, the olive solids?

Yes, they're working on different scientific studies to make biomass, like energy creation. But typically it's dry out. They put it in a large. Like cement, not cement, but like a large pond, or they take it back. Typically what happens is it goes back onto the grove because it's good nitrogen. So they use it as organic fertilizer in the grove, so it's spread and then it's just worked back in the earth. So that's typically what happens to any type of waste from. From the olive mill.

So when you're visiting an olive farm or you're visiting a production facility, obviously you're paying attention to this type of mixing and the process via which they're milling and extracting the oil. But of course, if you look at the wine industry, I know that folks are looking at the terrar and where the grapes are actually grown, in some cases the actual geographical environment, the amount of hydration in the soil, et cetera. So when you're walking through one of these farms, you know, I'd love to. I'd love you to kind of walk us through the process of what you're doing when you're out there, you know, wandering through the olive trees or however you're doing it.

Yeah, that's one of the most fun parts of my job. So I've been following this guide called FLOS Ole F L O S O L E I. It's an Italian guide. It comes out every year. Flo Soleil ranks the top 500 olive oil producers in the world. When I start out on a hunt, I always check my current edition to see what new farms and I look at competition. It starts before I get to the farm. I basically start doing my research. And then step two is I. I have boots on the ground that actually go and gather samples from farms. So they'll go and gather samples from me. And I may have up to 100 olive oil samples from 15 different farms. And I do what I call a big grand tasting. So if I'm in Italy, I'm normally in Rome, or if I'm in Spain, I'll be in Madrid. So everything usually starts with a grand tasting. And that kind of gives me an idea of what's going on so far in the quarter. And usually this process of collecting samples takes several weeks because in Italy there are 550 olive varieties alone and they don't all ripen at the same time. And depending on which region they're in, if they're further south in Sicily, the harvest will start earlier than it does up in Tuscany. So first of all, I do this large brand tasting and then I identify the fruit, the microclimate and the potential individual fruits. Because typically I ask my suppliers, my producers to keep everything individual. So I like an individual tank of one olive variety and another, so then I can go in later and create a blend in. So I assess the quality, I narrow it down. I normally narrow it down to about six farms that I want to visit personally based on my grand tasting. And then after that, I visit these farms, I go out and I go into the fields. I actually look at the fruit, I see if they have any fly damage. I look at the maturity index, I look at what the rainfall was like this year. Like you were talking about the humidity in the soil. Actually, olive trees that are a little stressed pre harvest, so there's not as much water inside the fruit will give you a more aromatic oil. Of course, it's a balancing act, right? But it'll typically give you higher polyphenols because polyphenols aren't getting washed away in the milling process because inside the actual sexual fruit, there's higher levels of polyphenols. So I basically inspect the tree and look at the quality of fruit and then I check out the mill and I see, okay, they can do. Look how clean it is. Look at whether the malaxer mixing phase, we talked about whether those are covered. If they're covered, no oxygen can get inside while this malaxing is going on to deteriorate the quality, the aromas, the texture of the oil. So that is important and just really just being there and continuing that relationship with them because they may not be having the best year this year. And I may say, guys, this year we're not at the Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Club, TJ Standard and don't have the ripe fruit or. I'm not a fan of that olive variety. But I'll be back next year. So I've been knocking on doors for over a decade now. So I've developed these relationships with these FLO Soleil winners and they are just super excited to be in the club and they work really hard for us.

Now when they're producing these olive oils because this is something I don't quite understand. I kind of have my head wrapped around this now with wine grades. But as far as olive oil, when you're looking at a bottle or you're looking for a certain certification or something like that, are there different grades of olive oil or even when it comes to extra virgin olive oil, which is different obviously than other forms of olive oil, are there even different grades or certificates of that?

That's a big problem actually in our industry because you have these single estate artisanal producers who are producing the quality of level of oils you're used to consuming. From our club, they're able to label their product extra virgin olive oil, the same as someone who sells it on the shelf at Costco, for example, who may have a third party certification that it is extra virgin. Extra virgin as a term is a very wide playing field. So it, it's definitely an issue for people that are like these real passionate, you know, family companies.

Soso, when you look at like oleic acid content or phytosterol content or anything like that, like there's not an actual certifying body that says, okay, well here's the oleic acid content, here's the phytosterol or the vitamin E or the natural antioxidant content and then put their stuff stamp of approval on it as being true extra virgin.

Well, it would be impossible for them to certify every olive oil produced at every farm. So there is the International Olive Council and they do set standards. Most of these are created as lab, they're lab test for really. Let's talk about what really happens. What really happens for an oil to be considered extra virgin is it should meet two qualifications. One, it has to meet a chemistry panel that says this was grapefruit and it wasn't deteriorated and it meets these quality parameters. So a B an extra virgin olive oil is supposed to go through an organoleptic process. So it has to be placed in front of a panel of tasters who score the oil, who look for defects and defects such as whiny, briny, musty, fusty, all these. As a professional taster, you learn anything that happened in that process of production shows itself in the final product. So for an oil to be labeled extra virgin, it should have zero defects and should have some level of what we call fruitiness. And we can talk more about fruitiness. But so the problem is in the US most oil does not go through the tasting panel. Some California has a certification that it's gone through the tasting panel for California produced oils. And so you'll have oils on the supermarket shelf labeled as extra virgin. They will have maybe been there for a year. We don't know how long they've been on a shelf. But if they were, if the FDA were to pick that up and show that to that producer, the producer could show a lab test from back, from back then when they sold the product and say, look back then, the numbers show that it was extra virgin. So it's a game.

So it could even be extra virgin, which produced by the time it gets to you, has been stored improperly. Maybe he did maybe had too long a shelf time or shipment time. It might not be extra virgin anymore, even though it might have been in the first place.

Absolutely. And there's no way to prove it. And as I said, the bulk industry is getting better. They're using the darker containers. They're trying to speed up by getting the shipping containers and boats coming faster. And I think just because of the public outcry and the coverage in major media, they've had to have upped their game, otherwise they were really going to get slapped. I mean, people, especially if it was blended with a nut oil in Turkey and you have a nut allergy and you bought this cheap olive oil that you thought was extra virgin olive oil, and then it turns out that it's not, you can make people really sick.

But what's important to me, I think, think, is we can almost train our palates. Obviously there's things to look for, things that you should be tasting, things that you should be smelling. And I do have a few other questions that I wanted to ask you about cooking with extra virgin olive oil and maybe a few other outside the box uses of it. But I also have three bottles here in front of me that you sent me in anticipation of this podcast. It like, looks. Looks like all three, I believe, are Italian. I've got a Colia, a Trucci Early Harvest Emphysa, and a Friendo Herme. And I thought maybe it'd be fun for you to walk me through what I should be looking for as far as tasting notes, flavor, aroma, et cetera. And maybe kind of of teach people how to. How to assess their own olive oils. And not just assess, but more importantly, enjoy.

Yeah, well, where I can taste them and evaluate them. So this is really just getting back to the education. And honestly, because I'm into olive oil for health, I'm not interested in virgin olive oil, light olive oil, which has been refined with hexane gas and stripped of any aroma or flavor. It's the clear one that's labeled light light in the store. I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in virgin. I'm only interested in extra virgin category. And then I want the very best of extra virgin. My goal, if I'm seeking Health high polyphenol. Fresh olive oil. Yes. So you've got your three oils. Actually the first one we would taste would be the. No, annual. It's actually from Greece. It's a varietal. It's a single varietal olive oil from a variety called Amphisa.

And when you say single varietal, that means it's just got one olive fruit. Amphisa being the actual olive fruit versus it being a blend.

Exactly. So and blend can have a tricky. It can be tricky because like some, like restaurant or some bottles you may look at in the. Super would say like olive oil. But if you look really lower on the label, you'll see it's actually a blend of other oils. So you really have to be a good label reader. Blend can have bad connotations or good. In this case, this is a single varietal olive oil that was actually harvested super green. When an oil is very green, it's got very low yield and maximum flake. This was produced over about a week. So over that week the olive did mature a little bit. So it's given it a little bit more complexity. And this is from several farms on the Pilon peninsula. It's actually from a small family co op. I think There are maybe 10 farmers involved in this single varietal organization oil. I was there and met Costas and his family and it's just an amazing product. But this oil is a mix of those different days of harvest. So where you have it going from a little more spicy and robust to a little more buttery and that sort of thing. This variety itself is typically made into table fruit. So most olives are divided into two camps. So table fruit would be like brined olives or cured olives and then oil producing olives. And most olives that are used for table fruit typically have even lower oil inside the actual fruit, which is why they don't usually make olive oil out of them. Amphisa happens to be one of these dual use olives that grows on the pile. Julian. I have a small tasting cup and as a professional taster, I would typically taste in a blue glass. And why blue glass? Because it disguises the color. Because color of olive oil is not necessarily an indicator of quality. If an oil is quite green, you could potentially see that it's from very green fruit. And most of my oils do tend chlorophyll in them, so they are more on the green side. But it's not necessarily a color. Color is not necessarily an indicator of quality. So I have A small cup. And before we actually taste it, the first step is actually smelling the oil. So what I've done, I've got a little 3 ounce white solo cup. And in the bottom, I have about a tablespoon of oil. And as you pour it in, it already starts like olive oil perfuming. You pour this into my cup here. Pour it into your cup. So as a professional taster, it does. It smells really good.

It smells almost like minty.

Yes, actually, yes. It's one of my descriptors on this one great note. So what we're looking for here, first thing we do is we set this small cup in the palm of our hand and we swirl the cup. And when we swirl the cup, it's warming the oil. And when you warm the oil, that releases all the aromas. So what we're looking for here is an oil's fruitiness. We want to make sure it's fruity and fresh. And by fruity, I mean grassy green banana, herbaceous fresh and clean. Like, I'm looking for defects, because then I can see if anything happened in the process of making this oil. And this oil is beautiful and clean. But so we're taking a sniff of this and like you said, grassy, minty, a little bit of, like, pressed or rubbed oregano. Like, it smells Greek to me in a way. Even though it's just olives, there's nothing in there. This. And people oftentimes, you know, when they read my tasting notes, they'll be like, what is all this stuff? I was like, is that in there? And they're like, no, that's just the aroma, the tasting notes. So step one is aroma, identifying defects and taking in its fruitiness. So that's step one. Man, that's really beautiful.

I woke up a little bit congested this morning, as our listeners might be able to tell, but I can still get a lot of notes out of this. It's very herbaceous. It's got some of that mint going for it.

Yes.

Maybe a little. Almost like a basil.

Absolutely, absolutely. A little pesto note. So the next step we're gonna do is we're gonna take about a teaspoon of this tablespoon of oil we have in our cup. We're gonna take about a teaspoon and put on our palate and just get kind of chew it a little bit. You could suck a little air through it if you want, but that's a little hard on a podcast, so maybe just chew it a little bit. And what we're looking for and These are the hallmarks of high quality olive oil. So here are your takeaways. One, the fruitiness. Two, the bitterness. You want an olive oil to be bitter. It tells you it's from green fruit that are high in polyphenols. Three, we're looking at, for spiciness, you want a little pinch or a tickle in the back of the throat. So that's what I want you to look for, Ben. Bitterness and spiciness and flavorfulness.

Yeah, it's not super spicy. It's definitely got a little bit of a bitterness to it. And I know this is, from what I understand, one of the milder of the oils that you sent me. So I. I'm probably not even mentally primed to anticipate a whole bunch of spiciness compared to some of the bolder flavors that I've tasted.

That's right.

But it's very mild. You earlier used the word buttery, and I would say that it's got a little bit more, to me, like a minty, herbaceous, buttery type of flavor.

Yes, absolutely. So this is the mild oil in the trio, because every club member gets a mild, medium, and bold every quarter. Fresh from the harvest, flown in by jet, this oil pairs nicely with mild foods. So definitely lighter foods, like drizzled over yogurt, like Greek yogurt over fresh cheeses, grilled halloumi, chickpeas, eggplants, potatoes, rice, if you're into those carbs. If not, delicate fish, chicken, veal, mild pork dishes. But definitely lighter pasta. Lighter salads that you would use citrus on, like an orange type of salad. Those are the kind of foods that I would pair with this oil. It did give me a little cough. And on one of my first tastings there in Sicily and later in Tuscany, we were tasting right out of the mill there, right out of the press, and I actually coughed. It was really spicy. The Tuscan guy said to me, oh, T.J. is it a one cough oil, a two cough oil, or three cough oil? I'm like, what do you mean? I've never heard this, but that's a hallmark of really fresh, high quality oil. This spicy pinch in the back of the throat and potentially even a cough. As you'll see, we may cough later as we move to a higher polyphenol count. The polyphenol count in the no. N is almost 300, which is still considered pretty high. Polyphenol olive oil, I would say most commercial olive oil is probably bulk, low quality, I don't know, 150ish, maybe. So those polyphenols give it a lot more structure in the mouth and give it a flavor boost. The bitterness that we talked about is kind of like the sensation of over steeped tea, green tea, for example. That would be like if you're trying to find bitterness in olive oil or walnut skin or radicchio or bitter greens. And the spiciness we're talking about would be kind of akin, not for this oil, but for some oils would be more like arugula or black peppercorns or almost like a ginger, like spiciness. So those are a couple of the things to kind of be thinking about. So the next one we have to taste is from just north of Rome. This Koliatruski oil. This is an area where the Etruscans were first. They actually predate the Romans. It was an area, beautiful area north of Rome.

And is this one also a single varietal?

It is, it is. It's kind of rare that has happened. We actually mentioned earlier I talked about this guide called Flo Soleil and Flow Soleil every year ranks out of the 500 producers that it ranks per year, they actually have a flo Soleil top 20. And these 20 producers have the top score and are elected an award. They all fly to Rome. It's kind of like the Oscars of the olive oil world. They're very proud of what they've produced and their heritage and their family and their product and how great it is. But each year 20 are selected and no Ann, the first oil we tasted has been top 20 Flo Soleil with winner Coley Itruski has also been top 20 producer in Flo Soleil. So these are really from the best farms in the world, you know, hand curated, flown in by jet, you know. So anyway, it was a great year for this variety. Canonese, you'll notice right away, I know you don't have blue cups. I. I actually have these white solo cups. So I can see how green this oil is. It's beautifully green in color. It smells much darker, more like a dark leafy green. It's definitely more intense. Was the medium oil of the quarter. Let me see if I made some actual notes on the nose on this one. So, yeah, dark green in color, very complex and vegetal on the nose. Microgreens juiced wheat grass, some floral notes and a sweetness of vanilla bean and green apple.

Yeah, I totally get like a little bit of that vanilla appley type of scent from it. That's amazing.

So it's straddling the savory and the sweet. And it's got a little fennel green, banana, green almond and a touch of white pepper. I said in my notes, it's bright and voluptuous on the palate. My tasters and I detected shaved raw artichokes, Swiss chard, rubbed sage, apple peel and hazelnuts. Slightly bitter, reminiscent of walnut skins. Belgian endive and cocoa nibs. Expect a long, white, peppery finish. Awesome. I love cocoa nibs. I'm going to have a little sip of it myself. Wow. Really? It's so good.

This is going on. I'm making salmon cakes tonight for dinner. This is going on. The salmon cakes for sure. Oh.

Oh, my gosh. Yes, yes, yes. It's the perfect sauce that mother nature just prepared for you. So it's. It's perfect. Exactly. I was saying in my tasting notes. I thought it was perfect with mackerel, tuna, salmon, sardines, kale, carrot top, pesto.

This might not even make it to dinner. This might be coming out with my sardines at lunch.

Well, you know, it's funny, olive oil has this very high level of satiety and people are actually using it for weight loss and to help them extend their fasting window. I mean, it is a fat. So I guess you are breaking your fast. But technically you can speak more to this. But have you ever leveraged olive oil in that way? Way to like help you stay fuller longer and kind of extend your, your eating or non eating window?

Only when I'm at a restaurant or I have people over and I know there's not going to be enough food to go around. I use olive oil as like the extra calorie punch. Just, just like, you know, if my wife makes some fantastic dish and we wind up having like 10 people over for dinner, I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna get like a four ounce piece. That trout, I'll just drown it in olive oil.

I love it. I love it. Well, I'm sure it's a very happy trout to be swimming in fresh, fresh olive oil. It's pretty awesome. So the third one, I'm gonna grab a little water. Professional tasters would typically have a little slice of green apple because that bitterness is on our palates now and that little pinch of spiciness is still in the back of my throat. So I'm gonna take a little, a little water. Polyphenol count on the kolea truski was 319. And this last oil, it goes up to 451 polyphenol count the Hermes. Yes. Yep.

And this one's also Italian. Is it a blend or a single?

It is a blend, actually. This one, this producer produced, it's mostly a variety called Drita, rhymes with Rita. It's very, it's part of the, we think it's part of the Frantoio family, which is a very prolific olive oil or olive that's grown in Italy. And it was kind of made famous by the Tuscans. And the Tuscans were actually producing very. Because of the weather and how quickly the weather changed in Tuscany. Being north in Italy, the Tuscans actually got to be known as producing the best olive oil in the world. And the reason why is because they were picking very green, very early harvest. The fruit actually didn't ripen very well up in Tuscany or doesn't ripen very well. Global warming has kind of helped with that. So that's how Tuscany, when people are like, oh, you want the best olive oil? Go get the oil from Tuscany. Well, it was really just a style they created of an early, early harvest olive oil. So this is done in a Tuscan style. It's mostly Drita. So I'm going to take a whiff of this one while we. So this was the bold. This is from an amazing producer. Slow Food Italy, I think, ranked him the number one producer in Italy last year. He had the top score. It's so clean and fresh and herbaceous.

I almost eat it through my nasal cavities. I can get so much flavor out of it just through the scent. Oh, my gosh.

I know. Well, it's like a great brandy. You really want to enjoy the nose as much as you do the palate. But we caught the aromas of, I said in my pressing report, we caught the aromas of chopped baby greens, fresh cut grass, kale, snipped culinary herbs such as thyme, oregano and mint, along with celery, Asian pear and tomato leaf, a hint of cinnamon and black pepper. This oil is sophisticated, verdant and exciting on the palate, with hints of rosemary, lime zest, Tuscan kale, radicchio, hazelnuts. Oh, my God, we're really long winded. Dark chocolate and black pepper on the finish. Anticipate the bitterness and spiciness of arugula and, and the hallmark sign of abundant polyphenols, a mouth watering, tingling sensation that lingers.

Dude, I love this. I, I, I already beat you to the punch and I tasted it. It's like, it's spicy. It's spicy. Oh, my gosh in a good way, but it like hits the back of your throat. It's amazing.

Oh, your wife's sourdough bread would be.

That's, that's gonna happen. That's gonna.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. God.

Like sourdough bread with a pinch of salt drizzled with olive oil. Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, that's gonna be so good.

She just made, she just made a cannonball loaf last night.

Oh, my God. What perfect timing. Well, see, a super high quality oil will be very calibrated. You can't just pick your fruit green, run it through the mill and get amazing olive oil. You're never gonna win these competitions. These are competition level olive oils you. You're tasting. These are mostly kept in country. These are not exported typically. So these oils are very low yield. So the greener the fruit, the less oil inside. So as a farmer, you know what.

I'm doing right now, I do this a lot. I'm smearing the excess from the cup under my skin and under my hair. I use olive oil a lot as a facial moisturizer. I put it in my hair for, for a little bit of shine and it feels so good going into my skin right now.

Yeah. Well, the antioxidants and polyphenols in there are probably great sun protection too. I mean, I don't know its SPF qualities, but, you know, it's one of those.

Yeah. I don't think it's as high as coconut oil, but as a skin healer, it's amazing. The antioxidants in it.

Yes. So I know that they extract olive oil polyphenols for skin care products.

Products.

So there, there, there's, there's definitely. For some of these byproducts they're creating, like olive leaf extracts and tea.

We have some, some very similar extracts in our, our Kion anti aging serum.

And awesome.

When you, when you put it on you, you get oregano and these scents of like rosemary and thyme. It almost feels like you're smearing olive oil on your skin.

Wow. Awesome. Awesome.

I should probably discontinue that product though, and just tell people to drink your olive oil and smear the leftover on their face.

Oh, I love it. I love it. Well, you asked me about out of the box uses, and that's definitely an out of the box use. In my home, I'm much more conventional, I guess. I love olive oil and we don't do this very often, but when we make baked goods. So any type of quick bread or chocolate cake or mousse or any kind of baked good uses olive oil. We never use canola, soybean, anything like that. It's an automatic substitution of fresh pressed olive oil.

My wife uses it to clean the tile and the stone portions of our house. She'll use olive oil as a cleaner.

Gosh, man, that's going to be a nice smelling kitchen. If it's fresh pressed, we definitely use it for baking also. So, like for a quick dinner party, if you have, if you're eating dairy, you can pull a little ice cream out of the fridge. Vanilla ice cream. And drizzle over a little fresh crystal.

I had forgotten about that. Like olive oil on dark chocolate gelato or ice cream.

That's a good one too.

It's so good. It's like right up there with the affogato, putting the espresso on the ice cream. I've never tried an affogato with olive oil. That might be next level, but yeah. Glad you brought up the ice cream part. It's amazing on ice cream.

Yes. In the morning for people who eat Greek yogurt and granola. Fresh olive oil on that just takes it to a whole new level. And like I said, kind of gives you this God's given delivery system of wonderful. Everything flowing right into your system, using this fat as a conduit. It's pretty spectacular in that way.

Yeah. Shoe polish, aftershave, you name it. So this pressing report is wonderful because what we do is when the bottles come from you, I sit down with the boys with my. I do this with wine. So I get wine from dry farm wines. And then I get the olive oils from you. And I really am trying with my kids to do a good job training their palates and helping them to appreciate fine foods. And so every time your shipment arrives or the dry farm shipment arrives, I actually sit down with them and go through all the tasting notes. And we get out little shot glasses and cups and try out these wines and these oils. And it's a ton of fun as a family. So we can do this during dinner and we can take the extra, the leftovers and put it over our food. And so it's amazing for kids too, if you're trying to give your kids a good palate. And what I like is I can go through and read this paper. I love paper because I hate burning out my eyeballs staring at a screen and just having this paper that's always stained with oil marks by the time we finish with it. And then you have all the recipes you've got like five pages of recipes. Like in this one from this latest varietal, there's a Greek eggplant spread and a white bean bruschetta, pork with a green sauce, a turkey roulade, monkfish with olive oil and tomato, a shaved fennel salad. I mean, just the recipes alone that you can use with these oils is also amazing. And that actually leads me to another question I wanted to ask you because I get this one a lot. I think I already know the answer, but I'm going to ask you anyways. And people still out there say, why, Ben, are you cooking with extra virgin olive oil? It's going to oxidize, it's not heat stable, you're gonna destroy the oil, it's gonna be rancid. Can you help me out here? Because from what I understand, it's just fine. Because assuming you're using a good quality oil of the high polyphenol content which protects it from oxidation. Dr.

Absolutely. No, youyou hit the nail right on the head. It' sit's all about the quality of the olive oil. When it starts right. If you cook with a stick subpar product, you're going to get a subpar result. But there is I'll send you a study that happened in Australia, an independent study by Leandro Rovetti and Modern Olives. They actually tested the stability of olive oil against other oils. Commercially available soybean canola olive oil won the test as being because of these polyphenols that actually protect the oil. So I'll send you you that study to put in the show notes because it's totally fascinating and you can absolutely cook with it. In the Mediterranean household, they only cook with olive oil and you have these 90, 100 year old women in the kitchen who are cooking with this their entire lives. They do everything in it. When I have fritters, for example, fried fritters at Hermes house, they would have fried those in fresh olive oil.

Yeah. And by the way, and I and I've been doing this more because you note which one's the mild, the moderate and the bold. I tend to use the bold just to play it safe because I've got what was the polyphenol content on that last one we tasted, which was the boldest?

451 which is really high.

So theoretically you'd want to use that if you wanted the most stable compound for cooking be the highest polyphenol content.

Absolutely. And in my house, I typically try to stay like medium high. I love eggs, farm fresh Eggs. So I always fry my eggs or make olive oil scrambled eggs. I always use fresh olive oil and the oil that I fry my eggs in when it gets on my plate. Megan, my wife, is a great home cook and she makes my eggs usually in the morning, but when she gets it, when I get it on my plate and I taste the oil, it's still vibrant, green, fresh. The flavor is still so like nothing happened to it really. Like it's just so stable. So yeah, I can actually tell, I would be able to tell if it somehow had gone defective by the time it was in the bottle till it was on my plate after it touched the heat. And no, it tastes totally clean and totally, you know, I've had the same experience you have. So I'll definitely send you this study and you can absolutely cook with it in every way that you please. I mean, it's an expensive product, right? So, you know, it is, you know, something you want to invest in like you would a supplement. I would say that, you know, it's just the right amount for most families that, where they, you know, use it up each quarter when they get their three bottles fresh from the harvest. So it's kind of timed with usage in mind because you really, when you have a fresh oil, you want to use it up within six months. Ideally, you don't want it lingering around. These oils because of their polyphenols, the dark glass and how loved they are because there's a lot of love in every bottle of the family and myself and our team, they're way more stable than most oils. So I've even had one buried in the back of the pantry that I didn't know was there and tasted a year later. I only date my oils out one year from the moment they're harvested, but it was still fantastic and better than anything I could go out and buy locally, hands down. Still was better than most. But ideally, use them up quickly. Don't buy big jugs and put it in the cabinet and, and let all that air in there for weeks or months or a year. I was talking to Dr. Pompa recently and he was saying, Pompa? Yeah, he's amazing. He was saying that this habit change of incorporating olive oil in your everyday life, this high quality, high polyphenol, extra virgin olive oil is such a simple, simple change and it can become the backbone of your healthy cooking that everything else just flows through. And I was like, you're right. It's not like I have to go to the gym for an extra. I know you would love that. But I don't have to go to the gym for an extra hour. You know, I just get to enjoy this amazing product that also just happens to have all these crazy health benefits, you know. So it's, it's pretty unique in that way from my perspective.

Yeah, it's amazing. And I'll link to that study if you send it over in the show notes@bengreenfieldfitness.com Olive Oil podcast, which is where I'll also give you guys a link if you want to be a part of this fresh pressed olive oil club. Or you can get, we have a special URL you can use to get a bottle for a buck. You can try a bottle of this for a buck. It's just get fresh 32 like the number 32 get fresh 32 dot com. That's our special link link. That is an affiliate link meaning that if you click on that it's going to help to support the show. And I'm hoping that you're, that you're willing to do that to get your hands on good extra virgin olive oil. I don't mind too if you just go straight to TJ's website and order that way. But if you use my link in the show notes helps to support the show. So it's getfresh32.com and what I would love to hear from you if you're, if you're game to spill the beans and open the kimono a little bit. Tj. Jay, if people were to join when they hear this podcast, it means they'd kind of be getting in on whatever the next quarter is going to contain. Do you have any idea what your guys next shipment is going to be?

Yes. So every quarter. So what we just tasted was the December selection. So mid December this went out, people had it for the holidays. This was Italian and Greece, my trio from there. And so right now I typically purchase extra cases of oil that I use as samples in this quarter. So right now if people where to join the club over and get their $1 sample bottle because again my mission, I want to educate your palate and I want you to share it with your friends so they then can go out and recognize in the world what super high quality extra virgin olive oil is. People join for a dollar they would get this Italian oil, most likely the coli Etrusce because it's the one we have in stock that I produced, that I got got extra of and produced extra of to use as samples. And in March, mid March they would automatically get a three bottle set from Spain and Portugal. So I've just returned from Spain and Portugal and I selected three amazing oils from incredible producers. Flo Soleil top 20 winners as well, included in the trio. But the one from northern Portugal is super cool because it's from the Douro Valley. And in this Douro Valley, which is where port wine comes from, there are these really old Portuguese varietals that are not suited for. If you were planting a grove today, you would not plant these because they're difficult, they're finicky trees. But I love this family and what they're doing and how they're preserving these trees. And there are three varietals in this blend, this Portuguese blend. It's actually my mild oil for the trio. But it is incredible. You're going to love it. It's like olive oil perfume. It's green and fruity and it's got like dried fruit, it's kind of sweet, it's got a little banana note to it. But then it's very fresh and like you said, kind of minty. So that will be the mild selection for the upcoming quarter that ships in early March. And the medium selection is a paqual from the south of Spain that I've identified. I've actually worked on the blend for this oil with the producer using multiple harvest dates of paqual. Paqual is a very big Spanish production. It's one of those varieties that when he picks it super green for my oil, it has about 10% yield. If you were to leave that same fruit on the tree to go from green to black and let it hang or even fall to the ground, you might be able to get up to 30% oil use bulk quality olive oil with it. But he picks it really green at 10%. Crazy people like me come along and say, I'll pay for that. So, you know, he's all, you know, folks, and he's a Flo Soleil top winner. And then the bold one is from a Spanish varietal from the south of Spain, near Cordoba, called Ojiblanca. It's very spicy and very high in polyphenol. So I'm hoping it kind of calibrates a little bit over the next month or so as it's working its way through FDA and customs and flights into the us so I'm sure it will. I've worked with this company in the past and so that would be their first trio. They would get in early to mid March. Yeah, thank you so much for having me on the show and educating your listeners, because this is very important and I just see it as a tool, a very easy to use tool in your arsenal.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's absolutely amazing. And you've been a bigger part of the Greenfield home than you probably realize for the past eight years. And I've been wanting to do this podcast forever. Written articles about it. I've talked about your Olive Oil club before. I've never actually taken the deep dive with you on a show, so this has been absolutely amazing. Remember to send that study to me. I'll put it in the show notes and I'll also link for you guys if you go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com Olive Oil Royal Podcast to everything else that I talk about in today's show. And then you can also go to getfresh32.com if you just want to get a bottle for a buck, try it out, taste it with yourself, with your family, smear it on your face, clean your floor with it, whatever you want to do. So, tj, thanks so much, man. I'm mildly jealous of your adventures around the globe. And perhaps some someday I can join you on a trip to one of these farms.

I would love that. The kids would love it, too. We'll put them to work, they can harvest. The families would love it.

Let's do it. We'll do a Go Greenfields episode. All right, man, well take it easy and thanks so much.

We appreciate it.

Well, thanks for listening to today's show. You can grab all the show notes, the resources, pretty much everything that I mentioned over@BenGreenfieldFitness.com along with plenty of other goodies from me, including the highly helpful Ben Recommends page, which is a list of pretty much everything that I've ever recommended for hormones, sleep, digestion, fat loss, performance, and plenty more. Please also know that all the links, all the promo codes that I mentioned during this and every episode help to make this podcast happen and to generate income that enables me to keep bringing you this content every single week. So when you listen in, be sure to use the links in the show notes, use the promo codes that I generate because that helps to float this thing and keep it coming to you each and every week.