Long live dipping bread in oil!
It is the mainstay of the Mediterranean diet. And it is the gold of our food. The EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) is the undisputed number 1 on the podium , the supreme representative of that juice that we extract from the best olive groves.
The difference between an EVOO and the rest of the olive oils (virgin olive oil or 'dry' olive oil) has to do with the origin of the olive tree : it is made exclusively with the juice of olives harvested at the optimum moment of maturity and only with mechanical procedures and has an acidity never higher than 0.8%.
And this is what makes it become a vice by simply dipping it with bread and putting it in our mouths. It is an oil with body, with presence. More than an ingredient, the EVOO it is a food itself.
However, each year the Evooleum World's Top100 Extra Virgin Olive Oils Guide , is in charge of bringing out the colors (even more) of the so-called 'liquid gold', bringing to the fore the best oils in the world in a top 100 that allows us to travel the world from 'ambrosía' to 'ambrosía'. And in this edition, **81% of the extra virgins that make up the TOP100 are Spanish (and 8 eight occupy the world top 10) **
The top 3 is Spanish (and the top 4, in fact)
In fact, the first four extra virgin olive oils are Spanish (unseating the leader of the 2019 edition, Monini Monocultivar Coratina from Perugia, Italy).
EVOOLEUM AWARDS
And who has decided the winners of 2020? 22 tasters from Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Portugal, Israel, Argentina or Japan, including chemists, pharmacists, agricultural engineers... and the Technical Directorate, Jose Maria Penco Agronomist and director of the Spanish Association of Olive Tree Municipalities (AEMO), Consultant to the International Olive Council (IOC) and Taster and member of various national and international olive oil quality competitions.
The tasting was carried out among oils from Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, France, Croatia, Japan, Slovenia (the first time it appears as a producer), Turkey, Israel, Morocco, Chile, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, South Africa, Tunisia and USA.
The experts tasted varieties of all kinds, such as the Spanish picual, hojiblanca, cornicabra, arbequina, manzanilla, empeltre or picuda ; the italians leccino, coratina, frantoio or bosana ; the lusas cobrançosa, verdeal, galega or cordovil ; the moroccan picholine ; or croatian buža.
Eight extra virgin olive oils from Spain among the ten best in the world
THE TEN BEST EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OILS IN THE WORLD
1.** Gold Bailén Picual ** (95 points). Variety: picual. Jaen (Spain)
two. Valdenvero Hojiblanco (95 points). Variety: hojiblanca. Ciudad Real (Spain)
3. The Sanctuary of Mágina Early Selection (94 points). Variety: picual. Jaen (Spain)
Four. Almaoliva Bio (94 points). Variety: picuda, picual, hojiblanca. Cordoba (Spain)
5. Oliocru Origini (94 points). Variety: casaliva. Trentino (Italy)
6. Don Gioacchino Grand Cru (94 points). Variety: Coratina. Barletta-Andria-Trani (Italy)
7. Riverside Fountain (93 points). Variety: picuda, hojiblanca. Cordoba (Spain)
8. Picual Makeup (93 points). Variety: picual. Jaen (Spain)
9. Gate of the Early Picual Villas (93 points). Variety: picual. Jaen (Spain)
10. Cladivm Hojiblanco (93 points). Variety: hojiblanca. Cordoba (Spain)
The origin of everything: the olive tree
THE EVOOLEUM GUIDE
The Evooleum Guide works as a world map of liquid gold, a bible for lovers of dipping bread in oil every morning. In this 2020 edition, in addition to the technical sheets with all the flavor notes of each of the world's top 100 oils, we can find cocktail pairings with oil, Mediterranean recipes designed by Paco Roncero, as well as a series of getaways where olive groves and oil mills are the protagonists...
**Andoni Luis Aduriz (chef at Mugaritz) **, writes a prologue that draws attention to this "liquid revolution" , as he calls it: "We are in the midst of a revolution, and the important thing about this revolution is not that certain specialists and prescribers in the sector know more about olive oil and spread that knowledge. If it were only about that, we would be talking about a fashion without continuity over time, a mere salon revolution. The important thing about this moment is that consumers have raised the flag of extra virgin olive oil , and they are the real promoters of this movement".
Fourth edition of the Evooleum Guide