Have you ever stood in the grocery store aisle, staring at a wall of olive oil bottles, and wondered which one is actually worth buying?
Most of us grew up hearing that olive oil is good for us. But what makes one bottle worth reaching for, and another barely better than a vegetable oil in disguise? The truth is, a lot of us have no idea what we're buying, how to taste it, or whether it even still has anything left to give us by the time it hits our pantry.
Katina Mountanos, founder of Kosterina and olive oil sommelier, is on a mission to change the way we experience olive oil. She comes from a Greek family with roots in a small town in southern Greece, where her family has pressed olive oil from their own trees for generations. That upbringing is the foundation that led her to found Kosterina, a high-quality Mediterranean extra virgin olive oil and lifestyle brand.
Katina shares how to read a label, what a harvest date is really telling you, the throat test that reveals whether your olive oil is still potent and alive, and why that peppery burn is a good thing. We also dive into how to cook with olive oil without fear, the rise of high-polyphenol olive oil shots, and how olive oil shows up in Katina's life well beyond the kitchen.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why the harvest date matters more than the expiration date
- What kind of bottles protect the olive oil’s quality and flavor
- What a cough after tasting olive oil really means (It’s good!)
- The smoke point myth that's giving you the green light to cook with it
- The difference between a shot of olive oil and the oil on your plate
- Effective ways to use olive oil for skin and beauty rituals
If there's one thing to take from this conversation, it's that choosing a high-quality extra virgin olive oil is one of the simplest ways to upgrade how your food tastes and how your body feels.
Learn More About Katina Mountanos and Kosterina:
Website: www.kosterina.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kosterina/
Extra Virgin Olive Oil Shots
Extra Virgin Olive Oil Duo
Olive Oil Skincare
Substack: Extra Virgin Everything
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