The results of the New York International Olive Oil competition are out and there is much justified celebration among the winners.
Of the 651 entries, 180 (28%) received gold medals and 73 (11%) received silver medals. The balance, 398 oils (61%) were not considered by the judges to be worthy of medals in this competition
The worrying statistic coming from this is that the judges showed a strong bias towards awarding medals to robust oils and virtually ignored delicate oils. The number of oils classified delicate which entered the competition is unknown. What is known is that just 8 (4%) of the gold medals awarded went to delicate oils, 68 (38%) to medium oils and 104 (58%) to robust oils.
It would be interesting to see if this preference for stronger flavours would be similar if the same extra virgin olive oils were judged by a knowledgeable consumer panel rather than a panel of professional olive oil tasters.
Of the 651 entries, 180 (28%) received gold medals and 73 (11%) received silver medals. The balance, 398 oils (61%) were not considered by the judges to be worthy of medals in this competition
The worrying statistic coming from this is that the judges showed a strong bias towards awarding medals to robust oils and virtually ignored delicate oils. The number of oils classified delicate which entered the competition is unknown. What is known is that just 8 (4%) of the gold medals awarded went to delicate oils, 68 (38%) to medium oils and 104 (58%) to robust oils.
It would be interesting to see if this preference for stronger flavours would be similar if the same extra virgin olive oils were judged by a knowledgeable consumer panel rather than a panel of professional olive oil tasters.
