Mount Pleasant Magazine Nov/Dec 2017

lowcountry cuisine www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.MountPleasantRestaurant.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com LC buying olive oil from a source you can trust. “About 80 percent of the supermarket oil is what they call adulterated or fraudulent oil,” she said, referring to recent revelations that many of the big-name olive oil producers are selling product that is blended with lower quality oil. In a February 2016 article in Forbes, Cecilia Rodriguez wrote: “... unless you bought it directly from a producer or a certified distributor, the olive oil in your kitchen marked “Italian extra virgin” is very probably fake. Either it’s low-quality, falsely marked as virgin or extra-virgin – and not even from Italy – or it’s been mixed with other oils of dubious provenance. At worst, it’s not olive oil at all but a vegetable oil disguised with coloring and aroma. Oh my mistake – that wasn’t the worst. Here it is: Even the labels bearing the coveted “protected designation of origin – or PDO – stamp, indicating the precise geographical origin of a particular extra virgin olive oil to ensure the quality of that region’s agricultural products, and which are subjected to more strict controls, have not escaped the illegal trend.” This isn’t news, and savvy olive oil consumers probably are aware of the Where European Chic meets Southern Style