Do you know how to distinguish good olive oil from the bad stuff? Do you know how great olive oil should taste? Do you know how it's made and what determines the different quality standards? My name is Rebecca Christophersen Gouttenoire and I'm a certified olive oil taster since 2012. A few years back I offered a course on olive oil which was a lot of fun, and now that travel has been challenged and you can't necessarily travel all the way to Florence to join me at the Italia

Tuscany is a fantastic place for growing olives for the production of high quality olive oil. The harvest of the local olive varietals (typically Frantoio, Moraiolo & Leccino) starts around mid-October when the olives start turning color from green to black. The earlier the harvest, the lower the yield of oil but the higher the content of antioxidants, vitamins & fresh green aromas. The longer one waits to harvest & press the more oil the olives will yield but with less antio