Olive oil

Huile d’olive

What it is

Athens is named for a bet: Athena offered the olive tree, Poseidon a salt spring, and the citizens chose the tree. Homer called its oil “liquid gold”; athletes wore it, lamps burned it, and the Mediterranean still cooks in it before anything else.

In the kitchen

The peppery catch in the throat of a young oil is a virtue, not a flaw. Keep a modest oil for the pan and a great one for the final thread over the plate.

Goes with

Tomato Garlic Lemon Basil White beans Cod Eggplant

Same species

Agrumato lemon oil Olive Cracked olive of the Vallée des Baux Castelvetrano olive Bella di Cerignola olive Gaeta olive

Also used with

Pauillac lamb Salt marsh lamb Sisteron lamb Agretti Ajvar Albacore

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