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Olive Oil.... and Balsamic choices


Kimberly G

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What are some of the choices of compliant Olive Oil you are all using?  

Also I have a really tasty aged Balsamic from one of he new Oil and Vinegar stores this one in Newburyport MA.

Link Below...

I asked and they said there are no added sugars it's all natural aged Balsamic... Just want to make sure, as I was having a maple one from this company, and my friend who had done WHhle30 said it wasn't compliant.  I am using their garlic infused olive oil... I'm sure that is complaint right?

 

https://port-plums.myshopify.com/collections/balsamic-vinegar

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With any product, you need to read the ingredients label. Their aged balsamic vinegar is compliant according to what's listed on the website, but always double check the actual bottle you have, in case they've changed recipes or anything. For most balsamic vinegars, they're going to contain sulfites, but as long as they're naturally occurring, it's fine. The ones with added honey or maple would not be because the honey or maple syrup are sweeteners.

Garlic infused olive oil is compliant.

Most olive oils are compliant, so if you have one you like, it's probably okay to use. I personally have found California Olive Ranch to be consistently good, decently priced, and available at my regular grocery store, so that's what I use for my extra virgin olive oil.

If you make your own mayo (which I highly recommend, if you've never done it before -- so much tastier than the store bought ones), you'll want a lighter flavored oil. A light tasting olive oil will work -- some people don't want to use those, which is fine, but it's definitely the cheapest and easiest to find option for a light-flavored oil. Some people prefer to use other oils, like avocado oil or macadamia nut oil -- these will have different flavors, but still should be mild enough for mayonnaise. EVOO makes bitter mayonnaise that most people do not like the taste of.

 

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Yes, I know to check my labels and ingredients, but the bottle did not have any ingredients listed, so that's why I posed the question... I have always been a little baffled by Olive oils I never know which to choose for cooking and which is best for dressings... It gets confusing.  

What do you mean by light Olive oil?  Light in color?  Or it says Light on bottle like a lower calorie version?  Which kind do you use in your mayo?

 

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You can google for more about olive oil, but in a nutshell, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is the first press of oil out of the olives. It is darker in color, often greenish looking. It has a strong flavor -- some brands may even taste bitter. It's good for salad dressings. It can be used for cooking, but isn't great for really high temperatures as it can go rancid and bitter tasting at high temperatures, so don't use it for searing meat or anything where you need it really hot (to figure out temperatures to use different oils at, you need to know the smoke point of the oil). Look for EVOO in dark colored bottles, not clear, as the darker color helps keep them from being exposed to light, which could cause them to turn rancid more quickly.

Light tasting or extra light tasting olive oil has nothing to do with calories. It's strictly how it tastes. It's been refined, which removes a lot of the flavor, and also makes it have a higher smoke point.

There are oils that are labeled light, but not specifically light tasting -- my understanding is that they may have more flavor than the specifically light-tasting ones, but less than EVOO.

For any of the oils -- EVOO or light tasting -- you may have to taste a couple of brands to find one that you really like, so it's probably not a great idea to buy the really big bottle of any brand until you've tasted it. For the light-tasting olive oil, I ended up liking my grocery store's store brand, but there are other brands available.

 

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You'd be best off going to your store of choice and looking at the bottles... what Shannon likes may differ from what you like and from what I like... Plus, all brands are not available everywhere... part of the Whole30 is getting into your local stores where you will be shopping going forward and finding out what is available, what you like and what works...

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I am just looking for some brand names of compliant oils that have worked for others. I'm not picky about taste, but for those who have gone before me it would be great to take a look at what they have used... I guess  it takes days of writing back and forth to just get a few suggestions of brands that work???? I thought people share things on here......... I'm just asking what other people have used?  this is frustrating!

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13 hours ago, Kimberly G said:

I am just looking for some brand names of compliant oils that have worked for others. I'm not picky about taste, but for those who have gone before me it would be great to take a look at what they have used... I guess  it takes days of writing back and forth to just get a few suggestions of brands that work???? I thought people share things on here......... I'm just asking what other people have used?  this is frustrating!

We do share things on here, but this isn't instant messanger and lots of us pop in here during work, so it's not instantaneous.  As far as brands, like Shannon said, us giving you brands isn't going to be helpful because if you can't find that brand, then what?  Any olive oil brand that lists either just olive oil in the ingredients or doesn't have an ingredient panel (meaning its a single ingredient item) is fine and will work.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am starting the whole 30 next week and trying to prepare. I usually use Secolari Olive oils and balsamics which I love and really help make my salads more exciting! Unfortunately a lot of them have cane sugar added, but there are a couple that don't! There are a couple balsamics I like that don't have sugar but in the ingredients it says "25 star italian balsamic vinegar (concentrated and cooked grape must, wine vinegar)". Would this be Whole 30 compliant since it has the wine vinegar? 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. Ingredients read: Wine vinegar, concentrated grape must, cooked grape must, caramel color, contains sulfites. 

I am wondering if it is compliant. Someone advised me that 'caramel color' is not allowed, but I can't find it on the  Additives Cheat Sheet under "off limits for the program" .

Is it non-compliant?

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21 minutes ago, DebiG said:

Thank you, where is that listed on the sneaky sugars list? Are there others that they sneak in on us?

 

That one isn't on the sneaky sugars list, but it should be IMO.  I googled Whole 30 and caramel color and found a bunch of posts where moderators had weighed in.

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Found this on the thread about Caramel color in beef broth. So it reinforces all the information I have been given with 'living proof' of why they get really 'sneaky' sometimes.

 

Organic Caramel Color - Beef Broth

"According to the Food and Drug Administration's Code of Federal Regulations carbohydrates that may be used to produce caramel color are dextrose, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, molasses, starch hydrolysates (such as glucose syrup) and fractions thereof, and sucrose."

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