Olive oil is one of the most-used cooking staples in our kitchens, which means we constantly need to replenish our supply. In her best-selling cookbook, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking, chef Samin Nosrat revealed where to get the best bang for your buck when it comes to buying olive oil: at Costco.
The Huffington Post drew our attention to this detail in Nosrat's cookbook, observing that Nosrat says that Costco sells one of the best-tasting affordable olive oils around. The product she endorses is Kirkland Signature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Costco's website lists a two-liter bottle of the oil for $21.49. That's a lot of olive oil!
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As we have previously reported, extra virgin or unrefined is the way to go when it comes to olive oil. Below that on the quality scale, there are regular or light olive oils. They are more processed and less flavorful. Since Costco's product is EVOO, we know it should have a nice taste. However, we also know from Selina Wang, the research director at UC Davis Olive Center, that we should try to use olive oil as soon as we buy it because fresher is better. That means the size of the Kirkland brand olive oil might be a drawback when it comes to freshness — but, it's not a bad thing when it comes to value. Having that two-liter bottle of good, affordable EVOO in our pantries could make us want to cook more.
We are used to hearing well-known chefs talk about their favorite gourmet ingredients that we might never be able to afford to keep stocked in our kitchens. So, for once, we were pleasantly surprised to hear Samin Nosrat sing this affordable brand of EVOO's praises. Considering how much we already love grocery shopping at Costco, we most are going to give it a shot.
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