Summary 
Flavored olive oil has a long history, with roots in ancient religious practices and culinary traditions. The market for flavored olive oil is expected to double over the next decade due to increasing consumer preference for gourmet food products and awareness of olive oil health benefits, although some critics argue that flavored olive oil may detract from the appreciation of natural extra virgin olive oil flavors.
Flavored olive oil has been made since time immemorial.
In the Hebrew scriptures, God told Moses to anoint priests with olive oil scented with myrrh and cinnamon. Ancient Greeks also offered scented olive oil to their gods.
It’s gimmicky. It’s not real. It’s playing on public ignorance and anxiety.- Nancy Harmon Jenkins, author, The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook
Meanwhile, molecular analysis of Roman tombs has also demonstrated that olive oil infused with cinnamon, pine resin, frankincense or myrrh was poured over bodies before they were cremated or buried.
Two recent reports anticipate that the flavored olive oil market will double over the next decade, rising from $1.29 billion in 2024 to $2.47 billion by 2033.
Market research group Dataintelo cited increasing consumer preference for gourmet food products, the versatile culinary applications of flavored olive oils and rising awareness of olive oil health benefits as the main reasons for the popularity of flavored olive oil.
See Also:Pairing Wine and Extra Virgin Olive Oil for a Perfect Meal
By comparison, separate data forecasts the entire olive oil market to grow more slowly, from $15.11 billion in 2024 to $19.77 billion in 2032.
While many producers see flavored olive oil as a way to diversify their product portfolio, other experts worry that the growing segment may prevent consumers from learning about the many natural flavors of extra virgin olive oil.
“Many people still need to be educated about olive oil,” said Amy Riolo, a self-described olive oil purist, Olive Oil for Dummies co-author and an award-winning chef.
“When we introduce flavored olive oil, people forget about what’s extra virgin and what’s a polyphenol,” she added. “They still won’t know anything about what makes a good quality extra virgin olive oil and all the different flavor nuances you can get from the different cultivars.”
Flavored olive oil is a broad category encompassing various production methods, including oils flavored with extracts, infused olive oils, and those produced by co-milling olives with other ingredients.
Co-milling olives with other fruits or herbs is especially popular in southern Italy, where olives are co-milled with citrus fruit, including oranges, blood oranges and lemons.
The entire fruit, vegetable or herb is added into the hopper with the olives, which are co-crushed in the mill. The paste is then malaxed to accumulate the oils from the olives and other ingredients before being centrifuged.
“The best results come from using the whole fruit, not just peel,” Riolo said. “That way, you get the juice and all of the fruit’s health benefits. It’s the most honest, pronounced flavor that is still genuine.”
“If I am making a fish recipe that calls for orange or lemon, then [co-milling olive oil with other fruits] eliminates an ingredient, but I know I’m still getting the real flavor from the fruit and olives,” she added. “It’s a win-win.”
“It makes the process in the kitchen quicker and easier, so I can justify that,” Riolo continued. “But if it’s an artificially flavored olive oil with lemon essence, I would rather add fresh lemon zest or juice separately.”
While co-processed oils must be produced in a mill, anecdotal evidence suggests that more people prepare naturally infused olive oil at home by steeping herbs or vegetables.
However, Riolo warned that this method can be dangerous if done incorrectly. “If the herb wasn’t adequately treated, washed or dried before use and just put into the olive oil bottle, then there is a risk for some bacterial infections,” Riolo said.
She advises adventurous home cooks who prepare naturally infused olive oil to ensure all the ingredients going into the oil are sterile and dried before steeping.
Aside from co-processed and infused variations, olive oils blended with flavor extracts are commonly found on supermarket shelves.
“Due to scale, the [co-pressed] method is more difficult,” said Mary Mori, the vice president of quality and research at California Olive Ranch (COR). “For us, the goal is to get the natural flavoring and add it to the oil uniformly.”
The largest United States-based olive oil producer sells three flavored olive oils – garlic, black truffle and jalapeño herb – in squeeze bottles under the COR brand and three under its imported Lucini brand.
“The flavors in the squeeze bottle are a smaller segment category,” Mori said. “It’s much more of a niche purchase for consumers. They love them, but it’s smaller than the extra virgin category.”
“ A lot of times, extra virgin users that want to try something new and use something different in their cooking,” she added. “So oftentimes, it’s the same user that’s already been purchasing extra virgin olive oil and wants to get the flavored oils.”
For markets such as Japan and India, where there is significant interest in Italian food, but different landscapes, seasons and available products, flavored olive oil kills two birds with one stone.- Amy Riolo, co-author, Olive Oil for Dummies
Neither Mori nor Riolo sees flavored olive oil as a gateway to extra virgin olive oil consumption, with Mori highlighting similar challenges in the flavored olive oil category.
“Flavored olive oil is still a difficult category because many consumers don’t know how to use it beyond a single application,” Mori said. “That’s why it is not so popular.”
For example, she cited consumers feeling limited to using garlic olive oil for sautéing vegetables or lemon olive oil on chicken.
Mori added that she recommends the lemon olive oil for baking, but confirmed that educating consumers about different use cases is necessary to broaden a flavored oil’s appeal.
For her part, Riolo recommends using citrusy co-pressed olive oil with seafood dishes and desserts, “but I would rather have a cultivar that I love and add citrus.”
However, Riolo’s preference for adding extra virgin olive oil to fresh ingredients makes her more sympathetic to the role of flavored olive oil in broadening the entire olive oil category’s appeal outside of its traditional food cultures.
“For markets such as Japan and India, where there is significant interest in Italian food, but different landscapes, seasons and available products, flavored olive oil kills two birds with one stone,” Riolo said.
“Putting flavored olive oil on a local fish with some salt, pepper and herbs creates a flavorful Italian dish,” she added. “The more you can get from a single ingredient, the better.”
Nancy Harmon Jenkins, a producer and the author of TheNew Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, is very blunt in her criticism of flavored olive oil.
“It’s gimmicky. It’s not real. It’s playing on public ignorance and anxiety,” she said. “I don’t like flavor in my olive oil. If I want the flavor of lemon in my salad, I add lemon juice to it.”
Harmon Jenkins added that in her experience, flavored olive oil is less versatile than extra virgin olive oil for cooking.
“ In my very limited experience with heating those flavored oils, the flavor disappears quickly, and it doesn’t infuse in the product,” she said. “If you want rosemary flavor in your dish, add rosemary, not rosemary-flavored olive oil.”
“ I know I’m a snob, but somebody has to stand up for standards,” she added.
Despite its critics, the popularity of flavored olive oil continues to grow. However, a long-time debate continues to simmer around the product’s nomenclature.
By definition, any grade of olive oil, including extra virgin, is a single ingredient food and cannot contain additives. “Flavored oils cannot be considered olive oils,” and they cannot be labeled as such under International Olive Council rules, former executive director Abdellatif Ghedira told Olive Oil Times in 2018.
Some critics argue that since flavored olive oil is adulterated by definition — to make it impure by adding extraneous ingredients — its producers may perpetuate common misinformation about olive oil fraud.
“It’s an uphill fight,” Harmon Jenkins said. “For some reason, the consumer is happy to believe that” olive oil fraud and adulteration are nearly ubiquitous.
“That’s not true,” she added. “But on the other hand, I don’t think flavoring oil is any way to combat that impression.”
While Mori said she understands the critics’ concerns, she believes labeling a flavored oil as “flavored extra virgin olive oil” is the best way to be transparent about what is in the product.
“We are adding flavoring to extra virgin olive oil,” she said. “We’re not using the [co-milled] method where you don’t know if you’re even producing extra virgin olive oil from the start.”
Mori believes “flavored oil” is too ambiguous since it does not identify the grade of olive oil used in the product. She added that she does not think the term “flavored extra virgin olive oil” confuses consumers.
“We don’t see consumer concern or confusion,” she said. “It’s very clearly in a separate area of the store where it is clear they are buying flavored oils versus extra virgin olive oil.”