How to select a better olive oil

Smell, taste and look before buying.

WHETHER you’re using it to saute vegetables or you’re drizzling it on bread sprinkled with sea salt, olive oil should enhance a dish or a snack. Yet many olive oils aren’t particularly good. That’s because bottles on store shelves that aren’t marked with a time stamp can be a blend of old and new oils that taste muddy, waxy or mouldy – signs that they’re past their peak, or even rancid.