Olive Oil: Lamp fuel, criminal swag, pharmacy staple

For thousands of years, we’ve used olive oil for everything: from lighting lamps to chasing bugs out of our ears. In Australia, the oldest olive trees – planted 200 years ago – are still alive today. Olive oil was pressed by monks in Western Australia and inmates in Adelaide in the 1800s – but until recently, you could only find this fuel in pharmacies. It was considered an earache treatment, not a cooking essential. Migrants from the Mediterranean made it a mainstream Australian pantry ingredient and today, celebrities claim olive oil shots will do wonders for your health. But what is this prized ingredient really capable of? In this episode, Lee Tran Lam talks to chef Ibrahim Kasif, olive oil sommelier Sarah Asciutto and dietitian Dr Evangeline Mantzioris.