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When it comes to kitchen staples, everyone has their own preferences. I know this from personal experience: I once lived with someone who refused to buy generic paper towels. Keeping generic versions of other paper products around the house is fine, but the paper towels have to be Bounty.
This paper towel arrangement made me think about my own product loyalties. I pretty much buy whatever is the most budget-friendly, so sometimes that’s a name-brand product on sale instead of a generic.
Recently, one person made me second-guess the kind of olive oil I buy, and that was Ina Garten. I was surprised to find out that her favorite olive oil isn’t from Italy. When you’ve been cooking and hosting for as long as Ina, I feel like you discover what kinds of ingredients are truly worth the splurge.
Olio Santo Extra-Virgin Olive OIl
Price: $24 for a 500-milliliter bottle on Amazon
How I’d Use It: As a finishing oil on soups or veggies, or blended into a salad dressing.
What Is Ina Garten’s Favorite Olive Oil?
To me, Italy and olive oil go hand in hand. It’s like peanut butter and jelly, or, for me, peanut butter and Oreos (I really love peanut butter). However, Ina’s favorite olive oil isn’t from abroad.
Her go-to brand is Olio Santo, a cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil from California. According to the “Ask Ina” section of her website, she prefers this one because it’s “flavorful, fruity, and not heavy.” She also believes that “good” olive oil is subjective; her advice is to buy the best-quality oil that your budget allows.
Credit: Simply Recipes / Amazon
I’ve definitely done a lot of experimenting in terms of finding the right olive oil for daily cooking use. Sometimes the oil aisle at the grocery store gets a little overwhelming, so I like that Ina reaffirms that the best oil is the one that I can afford.
The Olio Santo olive oil is really intriguing to me. It’s quite an unassuming bottle, and has a label that reminds me of the kind of artwork that lined restaurant walls in the ’90s. It is a bit on the expensive side, costing $24 for a 500-milliliter bottle, so I imagine I’d use this brand as a finishing oil to drizzle over soups or veggies, or blend it into a salad dressing.
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Dining and Cooking