Has this been over on the wine.woot site?
There was some EVOO offered there that people were raving about. Wondering if this was the same stuff.
Never mind. Wine.woot has Wood Ranch and Case de case and a couple of others with EVOO offerings. Not the Olevano.
Anyone can compare this with them?
great olive oil. customer top rated on QVC.
Okay, I’m not sure I’m understanding the olive oil thing. I finally sprung for a small bottle of the stuff a year or so back and it tastes funny compared to the bargain-priced generic vegetable oil which says it’s soybean oil. Is it supposed to do something different than that to make up for the taste? (And price?)
I’ve purchased this particular olive oil by the case for over a decade. Their original site was “thefinestoliveoil.com”. It now goes the same place as olevano.com. I used to give it away for Christmas presents but decided the relatives didn’t apprciate it enough so I keep it now for myself:-) That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. BTW the large 1L bottle alone goes for $25 at the site and I suppose shipping is indeed extra. This is not a bad deal.
I just went through the motions of buying the 1 liter size on their website (no cookbook). The least expensive shipping is $12 for FedEx Home delivery. Woot is definitely the better deal.
A “first cold press” olive oil like this is something that you’d get because you like the funny taste. 
This is an oil you’d use for things like dips, dressings, and sauces. Different olive oils do have different flavors, some more peppery and some more fruity, so I wouldn’t assume that you don’t like all extra virgin olive oils because you didn’t like one.
There are also lower (i.e. more processed) grades of olive oil, which have a less pronounced flavor and work better for sauteing in the kitchen or other applications where the fat stays in the background. They’re also cheaper than first press extra virgin. That would be a closer comparison to the soybean oil you mention.
It sounds like you’re referring to the health benefits of olive oil, which get a lot of attention. Olive oil is mostly monounsaturated fat, making it a less-artery-clogging choice than the saturated fats in butter, shortening, or bacon fat. It’s not clear to me that it’s a significantly better choice than soybean oil… a little bit, but the numbers look pretty close to my untrained eye. There’s some interesting research suggesting that something in olive oil is better for your heart than other vegetable oils, but I’m not aware that we can say definitively what that something is.
Of course, I like olive oil, so the answer isn’t likely to change my cooking much. YMMV.
Factoid: At the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C., athlete winners received an olive branch and olive oil as their prizes. Wonder if it was Olevano…they say it dates back to 660b.c.
Ok so I’m a fan…whatya gonna do bout it?
My wife being an avid Q’er, the author of the cookbook is a chef host and presenter on QVC. Meredith Laurence, aka “The Blue Jean Chef” presents for the Q’s proprietary cookware line “Cooks Essentials”, and some of her own (re)branded unique kitchen items.
Am I wierd?
I hate olives, but love olive oil.
this olive oil is fantastic, and the cookbook is great as well–i’ve had it since it was released in 2010 and have made nearly all of the recipes. i also love meredith laurence; she’s a sweetheart who really knows her stuff and even has her own cookware and bakeware lines.
[QUOTE=ssratracer, post:11, topic:382523]
Meredith Laurence, aka “The Blue Jean Chef” presents for the Q’s proprietary cookware line “Cooks Essentials”,
Actually Bob Warden does most of the Cook’s Essentials bits. Meredith Laurence is the primary promoter of the Technique® brand.
Olive oil has become one of those trendy items where people with more money than sense assume that if you pay much more it must be much better.
Like any other fruit there will be variations in quality from plant to plant, region to region, and season to season. Brand names have only a minimal affect on any of these factors. I’m a supertaster, and I will assure you that I have found oils costing hundreds of dollars sitting next to oils costing less than ten dollars with little perceptible difference in taste or quality. The best advice I can give is sample a variety of products and buy the least expensive one that suits your tastes. Only in this way can we combat the snobification of food.