Finding Your Perfect Flavor Match: A Guide to Olive Oils and Balsamic Vinegars

How Do You Select The Best Flavor For Your Needs, Properly Store And Then Use It? 

Feeling overwhelmed by the vast world of olive oils and balsamic vinegars? You're not alone. In this flavorful deep dive, Greg and Shirley Mueller—owners of Olive Oil Divine—demystify the art of selecting, storing, and using these culinary essentials to transform your everyday cooking.

With over 35 varieties of both oils and vinegars available, the Muellers guide us through a sensory journey, explaining how to match specific flavors to different dishes. Discover why citrusy oils like lemon and blood orange pair perfectly with seafood, how herb-infused blends elevate salads and marinades, and why self-proclaimed "garlic-aholics" might want to try both the subtle garlic oil and its more robust balsamic counterpart. Beyond flavor pairing, they reveal how the origin of olive oils—from robust Greek Koroneiki to mild California Mission varieties—significantly impacts your culinary creations.

Perhaps most valuable are the expert storage tips that preserve both flavor and health benefits. Learn why keeping oils away from heat and light in airtight containers should become your standard practice, how cooking temperatures affect the oil's beneficial properties, and why that expensive bottle has a shorter optimal consumption window than you might expect. The Muellers even share that while olive oils remain usable for up to 24 months, their renowned health benefits begin diminishing after just 2-4 months once opened. Their practical wisdom takes the guesswork out of selection and storage, helping you maximize both flavor and nutritional value from every bottle.

Ready to elevate your cooking? Visit Olive Oil Divine online or in-store to explore their exceptional selection, including exclusive blends like their signature melange herb oil. Their team stands ready to help you find the perfect flavor match, complete with a user and pairing guide to inspire your next culinary creation. Your taste buds—and dinner guests—will thank you.

To learn more about Olive Oil Divine visit:
https://oliveoildivine.com/
Olive Oil Divine
2517 N. Roan Street
Johnson City, TN 37601
423-707-7087

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Olive Oil Divine podcast, your go-to
source for culinary inspiration.
Join Greg and Shirley Muller,owners of Olive Oil Divine, as
they share tips, stories andinsights to make you a kitchen
hero.
From authentic extra virginolive oils to rich-aged Italian
balsamic vinegars, We've goteverything you need to elevate

(00:27):
your cooking.
Live divine.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
With so many amazing olive oils and balsamic vinegars
to choose from, how do you pickthe perfect one for your needs?
We're breaking it down flavorselection, proper storage and
how to use these pantryessentials to elevate every dish
.
Welcome back everyone.
Skip Monty, co-host, slashproducer, back in the studio
with owners of Olive Oil Divine,greg and Shirley Muller.

(01:00):
Greg, shirley, how are you guysdoing?

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Hey Skip, we're doing great.
Thank you, brother.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
Hey Skip.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Hey good morning.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Glad we're getting the day started off right.
Always have a pleasure to haveyou guys share your expertise,
and today we're diving into theart of selecting, storing and
using olive oils and balsamicvinegars the right way.
So how do you select the bestflavors for your needs?
There's so many, and then howdo you properly store them and

(01:31):
then use it?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
That's a great question, chip.
You know we get asked that alot because people come into our
store and they get overwhelmedwith a number of varieties and
selection and flavors that weoffer.
So that's something that isreally not a definitive answer,
other than, let me say, yourtaste buds are going to be one
of the very first things thatyou're going to rely upon is do

(01:55):
you like the flavor or not?
So you know, we've got what?
About 35 or 40 oils in the samenumber of vinegars.
So, number one, do you like it?
Do you like the flavor thatyou're looking at or needing?
And number two, what type offood are you going to put it on?
For example, let's say they'regoing fish.
Well, you know a good lemonolive oil or lime olive oil

(02:19):
would be great.
As far as balsamics, we've gota jalapeno lime.
If people like it a littlespicy, of course, anything
citrusy is going to be reallygood with fish.
The blood orange is going to bereally good for seafood.
A lot of the Asian dishes thatuse seafood are going to use the
blood orange olive oil and orblood orange balsamic, if you
want to add a little bit of atang or a bite to it in a good
way.

(02:39):
So you notice some of theflavors I said, like the blood
orange we have in oil andvinegar.
Well, we have the lemon is thesame way.
We have a lemon oil which is alittle more mild, and we have a
lemon balsamic which is going tobe a little stronger, a little
bit more pronounced and, ofcourse, the vinegar is going to
give it a little bit of a punch.
So do you want that flavor andthat addition of the Euler

(03:03):
vinegar to punch, or do you justwant it to be subtly hidden in
the background?
Yeah, and when people come in,if you come into our store, our
team is trained to work with youin this regard and help you to
pick out the punch or thesubtleness of what you're trying
to do.
Of course, salads how do youknow which salad oil to pick?

(03:28):
Well, our popular one is goingto be the Italian herb.
That's just a nice medley ofherbs and spices Basil, garlic,
rosemary is going to be in,something like the Tuscan herb.
So do you like Tuscan flavorssuch as rosemary and garlic, or
you may not.

(03:49):
So you might, you know, steertowards one that is absent of a
particular herb that you like,and we've got several herb
blends that pretty much willsatisfy everybody's taste buds.
We have one called melange herb, which is a custom blend just
for us.
No one else in the world has it.
That's a very popular one.
That's great for saladdressings.

(04:11):
Again, it's just an herbalmedley that can be used for
salad dressing.
You can use it for breaddipping, you can use that one
for sauteing your meats, yourred meats, your chicken A
variety of uses for thosemedleys.
And then, of course, we've gotthe individual herbal oils, such
as just straight garlic, andagain, we have a garlic oil for

(04:34):
subtleness and we have a garlicbalsamic that gives it that
little punch.
So what could you use that on?
Anywhere?
You're using garlic from yourguacamole all the way down to
your turkey at Thanksgiving timewhen you're putting it in the
broaster.
Or some people even use it forbread dipping.
We have garlic-aholics, as Icall them, that just come in

(04:58):
here and just love garlic andthey leave smelling wonderful.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
I'm sure I'm a garlicaholic, I believe.
No question what Greg does.
The obviously quality, but theorigin of the, either olive oil
or balsamic vinegar, does that?
Does that influence the taste?

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Well, it could.
You know we have growers thatare from different regions and
of course they're going to use adifferent base olive oil for
their flavored oils.
So, for example, our Greek oilsthey use a corniki, which is a
very robust oil.
So you're going to have notonly the flavor of what the herb
or seasoning you're putting inthere, but you're also going to

(05:42):
have the robustness of the baseoil from the corniki.
Then, for example, take some ofour oils that we get from
California.
They're going to use a verymild oil called Mission, which
is very, very mild.
It doesn't really impart awhole lot of its own
characteristics to the flavor.
So that's going to be a basethat doesn't really add anything

(06:03):
in the flavor and while ittastes wonderful on itself,
you're gonna taste more of theseasoning or the herb or the
flavoring that's put into theoil.
And the balsamics they're allfrom Italy.
In order to be a balsamic ithas to come from Italy.
So region doesn't really make awhole lot of difference there.
What's gonna change?
There is the growers or theproducers.
Who's making that particularflavor.

(06:25):
We don't buy just from onebalsamic producer.
We have several that obviouslywe pick the best of the best
from who's making what, butthey're all generally from Italy
, so they're going to be verysimilar in taste.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Very good.
Well, let's say you, pardon me,picked out the best flavor.
You're a garlichoholic and youfound a garlic oil that you like
.
What are the biggest mistakesthat people that I would make
when storing these products andhow do you avoid those mistakes?

Speaker 4 (07:01):
Well, the proper way of storing a good olive oil is
you want to keep it away fromheat and sunlight.
If you come into our store,you'll notice that all of our
oils and even our vinegars arestored in a dark green bottle,
because that helps filter thelight.
But when I store my olive oilsat home, I keep them them in my

(07:21):
cabinet, I make sure they'reairtight, I make sure they're
away from natural light and heat, because the heat will actually
cause the oil to lose itshealth properties quicker too.
It actually breaks it down.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
And that's the case when you're cooking with it,
right?

Speaker 4 (07:42):
That also happens if you actually cook for a long
period of time with a goodquality olive oil.
It replenishes those healthbenefits in it as well.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
So what is the proper temperature to cook with olive
oil?

Speaker 4 (07:56):
We actually depending on the acidity level of that
oil.
Olive oils can go up to 4, 425.
Our acidity levels that we haveon each of our oils, the smoke
point, is around 4, 425.
And I would do that not for avery long period but a short
period of time, even at mediumheat.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Oh, and then when you say short period of time, what
are you talking about?

Speaker 4 (08:22):
heat.
Oh, and then when you say shortperiod of time, what are you
talking about?
Well, let's say you're doing aslow roast and it's a couple
hours, as long as it's on amedium heat, I would be okay
with that.
I wouldn't go all day long,truthfully, because you're
losing those health benefits.
It's still going to be fine,you're just losing those health
benefits with it benefits.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
It's still going to be fine, you're just losing
those health benefits with it.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
So it still tastes good?
Oh yeah, it does.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Now, and of course freshness does play a role, I
would imagine in the flavor ofolive oil.
How long can you keep in thecabinet as far as to keep the
overall quality where it should?
Be how long can you keep itWell?

Speaker 4 (09:00):
I will say this Skip a lot of our medicinal oils.
What I have researched when youhave a high polyphenol olive
oil, once you open it, it'srecommended that you use that
oil within that two to threemonths, even four months, period
.
An olive oil is good for 24months, some are even a little
longer, but after that 24 monthsthose health benefits have more

(09:24):
than likely to plenish on that.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Very good to know.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
And the oil could still be good to use.
You're just not going to getthe health benefits with it.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
And may not taste quite as good.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
Right right.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Very good, very good.
Well, greg Shirley, we reallyappreciate you walking us
through how to select, store andcreate ways, how to use all
these amazing flavors.
I think one of the missingelements, though, is when you're
selecting your olive oil.
You've got to do it at OliveOil Divine.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
Absolutely.
Come on in.
We'll help you get the rightflavor for what you need.

Speaker 4 (09:59):
And Skip also one thing we didn't talk about.
We do have it's called a userand pairing guide Also one thing
we didn't talk about.
We do have it's called a userand pairing guide.
This will also give you ideasof how to use it and what oils
and vinegars will pair together,too, in our store.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Oh, wow, All right.
Well again, Greg Shirley,thanks so much for your time
today and we'll see you nexttime for some more expert
insights.
All right, thank you.
All right, you guys have agreat rest of the day.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Thanks, you too.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Thanks for tuning in to the Olive Oil Divine podcast.
Don't forget to visit us onlineat oliveoildivinecom for our
exceptional olive oils, agedbalsamic vinegars and more.
If you're local, stop by ourstore and discover how we can
make you a kitchen hero.
Until next time, live divine.