The Olive Oil Ina Garten Turns To Isn't Made In Italy

Food icon Ina Garten's go-to dried pasta brands are both of Italian origin, so it would be a safe guess her go-to olive oil brand might share the same heritage. However, on the Barefoot Contessa website, Garten responded to a user asking for olive oil recommendations by naming a fully American brand. It turns out she's a big fan of California's Olio Santo Extra Virgin Olive Oil, explaining, "I use Olio Santo olive oil from California because it's flavorful, fruity, and not heavy."

Olio Santo Extra Virgin Olive Oil was the original flagship product of Stonehouse Olive Oil in 1996, a women-owned and operated producer with farms in Capay, Napa, Winters, and Woodland in Northern California. The oil is cold-pressed from olives grown without pesticides or herbicides, making Garten's go-to brand some of the purest and freshest olive oil you can find.

Garten isn't the only personality who favors local olive oil, either. Martha Stewart's own go-to olive oil for cooking, Flamingo Estate's Heritage virgin olive oil, is made from hand-picked olives from rare trees growing in Ojai, California, which are instantly pressed for oil. Given how two individuals of reputable taste appear to be big fans of American olive oil, it's probably not a big deal your olive oil comes from Italy. Good olives are good olives, no matter where they're grown.

While characteristics of olive oil depend heavily on the variety of olives used, the terroir, and extraction methods, some general qualities remain fairly consistent among Italian and Californian olive oils. The age and size of Italy's olive oil industry, for example, means region, complexity, and intensity of its olives can be more pronounced in Italian oils. California's relatively young industry appears to favor producing olives with more approachable, easy-to-work-with flavors.

California oils like Olio Santo also tend to taste fresher in the American market, due to significantly shorter shipping times. Californian olive oil reaches U.S. consumers within three to six months of harvest, whereas imported oils can take as long as 18 months. This can be a huge deal since olive oil's short shelf life of 18 to 24 months is from the point of harvest. Extra virgin olive oil can have an even shorter shelf life of 12 to 18 months, which makes domestic brands a safer choice, especially if you don't use olive oil too often.

There's also a higher chance of Californian olive oils being made from 100% local olives; European standards allow for blending oils from different countries. In fact, some oils from Italy may not even be owned by Italians — Filippo Berio is a well-known olive oil brand owned by the Chinese government and is known for using foreign oils in its blends. If the traceability of your pantry items matters to you, it's easier to get a clearer picture of where Californian olive oils come from.