EXTRA VIRGINITY : THE SUBLIME AND SCANDALOUS WORLD OF OLIVE OIL
by Tom Mueller

In order for olive oil to have an extra virgin grade, it must be fruity, bitter and peppery, have a pleasant taste, and leave a clean feeling in the mouth. It can't be rancid, vinegary, greasy, or smelly. Unfortunately, most of what is on the supermarket shelves currently is not extra virgin (even though it's marked that way right on the bottle) but adulterated oil. Any flaws and it's classed as lampaste which means that it can only legally be sold as fuel. Fake olive oils are worldwide (many are not even made with olives) and the United States sells tons of it.
Some of the scams are taking soybean or canola oil, dyeing it green, adding beta-carotene for flavor and then putting it in tins or bottles with Italian flags across the front of it and cutesy names of fictitious producers. Most of this fraud is not regulated so it's rampant.
There are still, fortunately, artisan oil producers who mill (press) their own olives using ancient traditions where making excellent, superior extra virgin olive oil has been done in their family for generations. These are the people where you would buy your oil from. Of course, the majority of us don't live near a mill so the next best thing is to find a seller who has oil in bulk rather than in bottles or tins (decay sets in, immediately, as soon as oil is encased) and stores it in containers that are temperature-controlled. If you can find a store where you can taste olive oils before purchasing them and find out where they came from and how they were made, so much the better.
Tom Mueller has written quite an astonishing book. Besides writing about the ever present corruption, he relates the oil's history in regards to health (it's high in anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory); it's use in soaps, salves and creams; how Olympiads would slather their bodies to give them more energy; even textiles, leather and yarn were infused with oil.
At the end of the book, there's a Glossary and an Appendix on how to choose good oil and a large range of websites on all kinds of information that have to do with extra virgin olive oil, such as: research centers, olive associations, where to buy the best oils, olive oil chemistry and tasting, etc.
Mueller didn't miss a thing and it's quite comprehensive. Some great trivia is interspersed, too. If you're crazy about olive oil, this would be a good book to own. It's definitely an eye-opener.
Recommended.