Is it ok to use olive oil that's three years past it's best before date?

Olive Oil
2 years from manufacture date (After this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume.)

Their absolute times (two years, thirteen months, etc.) seem a bit wacky, but the advice that it is "generally safe to consume" is probably OK.

From: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/foodfacts/herbsoile.shtml

If it's got an expiration date, well, it's probably there for a reason. (no matter what people will tell you about the conspiracy re: exp dates.)

Olive oil tends to solidify and go cloudy in the fridge. A larder's best, but who has a larder? I just tend to buy smallish bottles and leave them out.

(haha, yeah, "conspiracy," I know. I have eaten plently of things that have gone past their exp date or "best before" date, but not all that far past... and def not 3 years past.)

But anyway, have a little taste and take it from there. If you die, then it's proably not safe to consume.

Food snobs: do you have a preferred brand of olive oil? Cook's Illustrated recommended Colavita and it's pretty good.

i buy my olive oil from my butcher, who sells it unlabeled bottles - the oil comes from his family olive grove in italy.

~ultimate food snob answer~

whoa, I want

If you ask a food snob, they'll be tempted to recommend something very, very expensive that tastes like ambrosia and you can swig it straight from the bottle. You might want to specify how you'll use it. For everyday cooking use, I would use the common-as-dirt and consequently inexpensive variety, in my case Trader Joe's house brand.

i read recently that the spanish stuff is as good as italian... is this true??

there's no reason it can't be, but finding it might be tough.
but if you're in the states there's some really fine extra virgin oil pressed in california. McEvoy is one i vouch for that's relatively affordable and super for drizzling purposes.

Opinions about when to cook with olive oil and when to cook with other oils: I have never really shaken the feeling that the giant yellow bottle of "vegetable oil" my mother always had on the shelf is kind of gross, and have always used OO for sautees, basting, etc. But the low smoke point is sometimes a problem, and now my co-chef prefers veg oil for most stovetop uses. Thoughts?

It's ok to use light olive oil for cooking -- the smoke point is close if not more than vegetable oil. I would stay away from using extra virgin olive oil for sautes -- it's a waste of good olive oil

I only buy one kind, just keep a big bottle around and never really distinguished before. One of those things I chalk up to "Maybe when I have enough cupboards to keep multiples in."

canola is my everyday-use big yellow bottle

i use extra-virg olive mostly in italian garlicky or sometimes in mexican onion-y dishes, or when it's specifically called-for in a recipe

otherwise it's the big gross yellow bottle... and sometimes some sesame in asian things

Back to the original question, I just realized that the peanut oil I've been occasionally using expired in 2004. Whoops.

yeah, discard it

i use plain ol' olive oil for everyday cooking, vegetable oil grosses me out
extra virgin oil is for salads/drizzling and such

I use canola and peanut for stovetop applications and extra virgin olive oil for vinaigrettes and italian sauces.

Extra virgin olive oil works great for confit, btw.

i use grapeseed for high-smoke point / dont want the olive taste times

Hard to find a variety of olive oils around here, so I just use Bertolli. :/
NoCal was mind-boggling with the number of choices available.

Sauteeing: butter, olive oil, or half and half
Shallow frying, deep frying: canola

Half and half butter/oil works well for the sautee, yeah

At home we use peanut oil for high heat, and whatever cheap organic versions of olive oil are available for salads and such - Newman's, Natural Directions, Spectrum, etc.

At my job we use basic bulk olive oil in the major recipe bases, but we have a small bottle of the really good stuff to use as a finish to the plates. It's a nice compromise as opposed to using expensive stuff for everything.

really want to try avocado oil for high heat stir fries/deep frying

also rice bran oil

Giant Costco olive oil for every day, canola or peanut oil for stirfry, canola for baking/ generic use, local EVOO for dressings, salads, dipping, etc.

Cook's Illustrated recommended Colavita and it's pretty good.

yeah, my mom has been recommending colavita forever, and i do too. reasonable price, available everywhere, tastes great. other than that, i usually just buy whatever looks interesting and is massively on sale.

2nd the opinion of others here that fruity, extra-virgin, first cold press (etc.) olive oil is best for drizzling, tossing, dipping, salad dressing, etc. maybe for quick sauteing (like shrimp and garlic, f'rinstance) or added to cooked dishes at the end for flavor, but definitely not something to pan fry onions in. for that kinda stuff, light olive oil or veg oil.

plus those shrimp and garlics really oughtta be in some butter, splash of vermouth

^^^guy knows his shrimps and garlics

To be more specific I was talking about common supermarket brands. All of the other ones seem to taste not that awesome. And yeah, using extra virg for cooking seems like a waste and also not v smart because of the low smoke point. I need to pick up a bottle of regular olive oil too for panfrying and such.

I use colavita evoo for cooking (sorry Stevie) and paesano (sp?) for drizzling. Colavita isn't really too pricey and if it is a super high temp application (like a stir fry) I use peanut.

stop that rhyming and i mean it

i hear them vietnams are good shrimp.

Colavita's a pretty common brand you can get here in supermarkets, as is Lupi and Bertolli. Interestingly the Spanish olive oils are heaps cheaper. I've tried them and I find them more bitter and not to my liking. I'd never fry/sautee with evoo, I use it strictly for dressings and drizzing on tomatoes/bocconcini etc.

I read something recently that claimed a lot of the italian/spanish stuff on sale here is really old and has been in shipping for a long time. I must try some Australian olive oil and compare the taste.

this should be read by everyone on this thread

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mueller

Haa. Its a good racket!