Olive oil is a particularly versatile product. At least, the extra virgin variety. You can bake, roast, marinate and much more with it. Nowadays, olive oil is also almost standard in the kitchen in the Netherlands. But a question that is often asked is: how long can you store olive oil? Gkazas Olive Oil is extra virgin olive oil. The best version of all types of olive oil, so we will only focus on this variety.
How to store olive oil in a Nutshell
Don’t feel like reading all the details but still want to know the essentials? Here you go:
- Buy superior-quality olive oil. This type of olive oil contains more antioxidants and is therefore less likely to oxidize.
- Store olive oil in a cool, dark place. That means not on the windowsill or next to the stove. Around 15 degrees Celsius is ideal.
- Keep your olive oil (as much as possible) sealed. Every time you open your bottle or can, oxygen gets in. This causes your olive oil to oxidize, which affects its quality. Our tip: if you purchase a 5-liter olive oil can, pour it into smaller bottles, like old 750ML bottles or used wine bottles. This way, you can use one bottle while keeping the rest sealed.
- Only buy olive oil in dark bottles or certified cans. These offer the best protection against external factors like light.
- Keep tasting the olive oil. If it still smells and tastes delicious, your olive oil is ‘good’!
What not to do?
The main factors that influence the shelf life of olive oil are light, air and temperature (too hot/too cold/not constant). Light causes that the good substances in the oil break down faster, air in the olive oil can cause condensation in the bottle or the can and heat is a danger to the taste of olive oil.
For example, the sun with its light and heat has the greatest influence on olive oil. Therefore, do not store the olive oil in the window. That can be very tempting, but is not a good idea. Also, do not keep your bottle or can in the fridge. This can cause condensation dilution in the bottle and that makes the oil rancid quite quickly.
So what should you do?
The best place to store olive oil is in a dark cupboard at room temperature. In fact, a can is even better than a bottle because it keeps sunlight out entirely.
There’s actually another step to consider: olive oil with fewer antioxidants will oxidize more quickly. That’s why choosing superior-quality olive oil is essential for its shelf life. We ensure this by having every batch we bottle undergo organoleptic testing by the best panels in the world. You can find a detailed article about what makes the best olive oil here.
It’s also important to keep the bottle or can sealed as much as possible. Every time you open it—and the longer you leave it open—the humidity in the olive oil increases. This is often the main cause of your olive oil oxidizing. Our tip: we buy a 5-liter olive oil can and immediately transfer all the oil into smaller bottles. These can be old 750ML bottles or even used wine bottles. This way, you can use one bottle while keeping the rest tightly sealed. Smart, right?
The above tip is especially useful if you don’t consume olive oil like a Greek (read: if it takes you longer than 6 months to finish a 5-liter can). If you store your olive oil in a cool, dark place, the chances of it oxidizing within 6 months are very small. Olive oil storage? Check!
Is your olive oil still ‘good’?
Do you have doubts about the quality of the olive oil after a while? Taste the oil neat from a spoon. If the olive oil smells and tastes very strong, musty, rancid or too sour and is therefore no longer good to use with food, you can always use the olive oil for other purposes. Think, for example, of using olive oil as a lacquer for your furniture or when lubricating your bicycle chain. But of course we assume that you are such an olive oil lover, that the olive oil is used up pretty quickly and it doesn’t even get the time to lose its quality! 😉
Storing olive oil: a difficult question to answer
But exactly how long you can store olive oil remains a difficult question to answer. There are even tales that 2,000-year-old jars of olive oil were found on Knossos and are still edible! We do know one thing for sure: the extra virgin olive oil can easily be used for years, if stored in the dark and at a constant room temperature. The extremely low level of free oleic acids in this olive oil means that the flavor only gets marginally stronger (more nutty/vinegar-like) over time. Many Greeks therefore have a number of vintages at home and choose from them, depending on the dish they prepare.