<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Nico,
I believe that you were asking how to do the tasting, so ...

pour a small amount of oil into a glass, hold in the palm of one hand
and cover with the palm of the other hand. Now swirl the oil around in
the glass. The idea is to keep the oil in the glass and to warm it
slightly (to about body temperature). Then smell the oil. If there is an
unpleasant smell, the oil is not very good at all, and should probably
not be tasted.

Take a small sip, swirl around the mouth and then try to "slurp" some
air through the oil while it is in the mouth. This aerates the oil and
releases some of the flavours into the mouth cavity.

Then swallow the oil. If there is a "catch" in the throat, that is an
indicator of pungency (also called pepperiness)..

The whole experience should be pleasant. If one of the areas (taste,
smell and pungency) is unpleasant - either because there is too much of
anything or too little - the oil is not good, for you.

As in all things, the quality of an oil is largely a matter of personal
taste, but there are training courses that you can attend if youwant to
become profficient in the methods of assessment of oils. As someone
whose taste buds have been totally wrecked by a number of decades of ill
treatment, I have tried, not been terrifically successful, and enjoyed
the experience.

Hope this answers the original enquiry.

BTW, the colour of oil is irrelevant to the quality. The age of the
fruit and the treatment of them after harvest are determinants of this.

John Attwood
Tamworth
(Northern) NSW Au
hs pravida wrote:

> Hallo Nico,
>
> Having just returned from a panel-tasting training, they maintain a
> sequence
> of:
> Perception of positive attributes (fruity, bitter, pungent)
> Perception of defects (fusty, musty, winey, muddy, metallic, rancid,
> other)
> through smelling/tasting.
> Being a wine student, it puzzled me to have to ignore colour!
>
> Greetings, Hans
>
> -------Original Message-------
>
> From: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 05:12:10
> To: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [OliveOil] most common way to do tasting
>
> Hi,
>
> A newbie question. When one takes someone a sample of oil to have
> them taste it, what is the most common way someone will do the
> tasting?
>
> Thanks, Nico
>
>
>
> **************************************************
> Post message: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: OliveOil-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Moderators: OliveOil-owner@yahoogroups.com
> **************************************************
> SPONSOR: http://www.sadoun.com
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
> .
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> ADVERTISEMENT
>
<<a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/M=219695.2596658.3969980.1927555/D=egroupweb/S=1707216973:HM/A=1226184/R=0/">http://rd.yahoo.com/M=219695.2596658...=1707216973:H\
M/A=1226184/R=0/</a>*<a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N879.ameritrade.yahoo/B1054521.11;sz=300x250;adc=ZHS;ord=1039680667?">http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N879....oo/B1054521.1\
1;sz=300x250;adc=ZHS;ord=1039680667?</a>>
>
>
>
> **************************************************
> Post message: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: OliveOil-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Moderators: OliveOil-owner@yahoogroups.com
> **************************************************
> SPONSOR: http://www.sadoun.com
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
</pre>
</td></tr></table>