Maussane Olive Oil

Why does this olive oil from France taste different than an olive oil from Italy? It’s more than just a difference in geography. Here are three key factors that give Maussane, the olive oil from Provence that has a cult following, its je ne sais quoi.

1. Maussane is made with sweet olives.

The varietal(s) of olives used is one of the biggest contributors to an oil’s flavor. There are hundreds and hundreds of different olives grown around the world. Around the Mediterranean, different regions grow different olives just like different regions grow different grapes. Each varietal has its own flavors. In Italy, many of the common varietals, like Frantoio from Tuscany or Coratina from Puglia, are bitter, grassy, and spicy. In France, the olives tend to be softer, less bitter. Maussane is a blend of five olives: Salonenque, Grossane, Beruguette, Verdale, and Picholine. They’re known for their sweetness.

2. The olives used to make Maussane are picked late in the season.

When the farmer chooses to pick the olives is another huge factor in creating the oil’s flavor. All olives start green and, if left to mature fully, will become black. Like any fruit, if you pick an olive when it’s greener (less ripe), it’ll be harder and more bitter. If you pick it when it’s blacker, the riper fruit will have sweeter, richer flavors. Many olive oil producers in Italy prefer to pick their olives when they’re greener, which contributes to bolder, more peppery flavors in the oil. In France, people tend to wait until the olives are blacker, which makes for softer, more buttery tasting oils. One Italian exception is Roi from Liguria in northern Italy (which happens to be right next to France)—at Roi they pick the olives later when they’re black, too.

3. To make Maussane, they ferment the olives for a few days before pressing them.

Typically, to produce good olive oil, after you pick the olives from the trees you want to get them to the mill and turned into oil as quickly as possible. A good rule of thumb is under 24 hours. But Maussane is made with the fruité noir, or “black fruity” method, an old tradition in Provence. Instead of milling the olives immediately, they’re left to rest and ferment for a few days. That time fermenting brings out huge, deep, rich flavors that are totally different from the sharper, more assertive flavors that most Italian oils have these days.

Maussane is our richest, most buttery oil.

It tastes incredibly olive-y, like a black olive tapenade in liquid form. One of its fans once told me, “if you love olives, you’ll want to marry this oil.” It has a super thick, almost buttery mouthfeel, so you could use it in place of butter; I used to have a coworker who poured Maussane over her popcorn in place of melted butter. It’s phenomenal poured over fish or golden roasted potatoes. It’s great for gently scrambled eggs. And it makes the ideal dressing for a Salade niçoise with tomatoes, tuna, hard boiled egg, olives, and anchovies.

As a very flexible rule, extra virgin olive oil can be stored for about a year. It likely will not go rancid after a year, but the flavors will mellow as the oil matures. There’s often a best by date on the bottle that is usually 1-2 years after it has been bottled.

What’s the best way to store olive oil?

Keep it in a relatively cool, dark place. Heat and light are enemies, so keep it away from window sills and stove sides. There’s no need to refrigerate, in fact, we recommend you avoid it.

When can I expect the next season’s olive oils to arrive?

Most of our olive oils come from the Northern Hemisphere, so the olives are harvested in the fall. The pressing and bottling happens in the fall or early winter. For any oils that aren’t produced in the United States, we’ll then wait for them to slowly make their voyage across the ocean to us. Keep an eye out for new harvest oils to be on our shelves by late spring or early summer.

Light & Elegant

The most delicate oils. For an olive oil novice, this is where I recommend starting. These oils are often made near the seaside, which makes them a perfect match with baked fish.

Buttery & Silky

Lovely, rich, smooth oils – without any bite. If you want to taste the fruity parts of the olive without the peppery kick getting in the way, here’s the place to look. Good as a substitute for butter or when you want to play up the sweetness of an oil.

Smooth & Assertive

Intense oils, but not over the top. These have loads of flavor but not as much spicy kick as some others. In my opinion, these are the best all-around oils for pasta, dipping bread, and more.

Rustic & Fruity

The most intense oils. Loads of grassy flavor with a peppery, spicy kick. Use these alongside bold foods, like drizzled over grilled steaks or vegetables.

Why does one olive oil taste different than another? There’s a few key factors that impact flavor:

1. Olive varietal

Just like wine made with Chardonnay grapes tastes different than wine made from Merlot grapes, olive oils made from different types of olives can have totally different flavors. There are thousands of different olives in the world. Some are milder. Some are more bitter. Some are more buttery. Each will imparts its own flavor when pressed for its oil.

2. Harvesting and production

Olives ripen in the fall. They all start green. If you leave them on the tree long enough they will all turn black. If you want a pepperier, grassier tasting oil, it’s better to look for one that was harvested earlier in the season when the olives were greener. If you’re looking for a richer, more buttery oil, you’re better off looking for one harvested later in the season when the olives were blacker. Not all olives ripen at the same time, so an oil maker looks for a certain mix of ripeness on the trees – green, brown, purple, black – before picking.

Generally, the best oils are pressed just hours after picking, while poorer quality, less flavorful oils may take longer and be treated less carefully. There’s one significant exception, however. In southern France, a few producers still use a traditional method where the olives are intentionally left to sit for a few days to ferment before pressing, creating deep black olive flavor and rich, buttery textures.

3. Region

Around the Mediterranean, olives have been pressed to make oil for thousands of years. Different regions have developed their own particular takes on oil. Many regions have unique olives found nowhere else, like the bold Coratina that’s widespread only in Puglia. Different regions can also have different standards for how ripe the olives should be when harvested, or how to handle the olives after picking. Since these traditional varietals and methods are often quite localized, knowing where a Mediterranean olive oil comes from can often be a shorthand into predicting what it will taste like.

Annual weather patterns matter too. Having a hotter, drier summer can make for a more intensely flavored oil; rain during the autumn harvest may water the flavors down. The only way to truly know what each year’s harvest is like is to taste. At Zingerman’s, we do that step for you! Each year we taste all the new harvest oils and update our tasting notes for each oil.

Every couple years it seems a big news story breaks about the dangers of adulterated extra virgin olive oil.

What’s the story?

The oils are invariably from producers who are blending olives from many sources. They’re mixing less expensive oils in, ones that are possibly not from the region they say they are, possibly not extra virgin. They cut costs, they cut the quality of the oil, they mislabel. This is totally illegal. But it’s not uncommon in the Big Olive Oil Industry. 

How do we know that Zingerman’s olive oils aren’t subject to this kind of adulteration?

We’re buying our oils directly from farmers (with very few exceptions). They make olive oil using only the olives grown on their own estates. Most bottle only a couple thousand liters annually, as compared to the millions of bottles that come from big companies. They laugh at the idea that they’re importing containers of cheap oil to make a buck. We’ve visited most of them and, frankly, when you see the small scale of their production and the handiwork that goes into it, it’s no surprise that they’re baffled.

We taste every olive oil we carry, usually many times a year. We make sure that the quality is still up to snuff. It’s not hard to spot the fakers. You really can taste the difference.