Olive Oil Sommelier, educator, and author of eight cookbooks, Emily Lycopolus is the Olive Oil Critic. With a degree in Life Science from Queen’s University and an MA in Cultural Anthropology, her love of science and discovery has blended with her deep love of food and flavour — her kitchen is a lab for discovery and learning. Since being introduced to olive oil at an olive grove owned by her husband’s family, she has dedicated her life to the ingredient.

Emily’s olive oil recommendations 

• Biancolilla from Vignoli Foods: Amazing Italian producer who bottles at his own facility in Miami to keep freshness and quality and price in check as much as possible. 
• American Olive Farmer Female founded and managed - Liz is the best. 
• California Olive Ranch Largest California D2C producer - and best overall local pricing
• Frantoi Franci - Eataly Link, but available in most high-end grocery stores, definitely more high-end/$$

Links mentioned

• Recipe: Double chocolate olive oil cake https://oliveoilcritic.com/recipes/double-chocolate-olive-oil-cake/
• Study: Olive Oil Consumption and Cardiovascular Risk in U.S. Adults https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7233327/  
• Extra olive virgin oil keeps healthy properties when used for cooking https://web.ub.edu/en/web/actualitat/w/extra-olive-virgin-oil-keeps-healthy-properties-when-used-for-cooking#:~:text=Results%20show%20that%20during%20the,total%20content%20of%20the%20phenol 
• Upcycling olive oil products: https://fermentationassociation.org/upcycling-olive-oil-wine-beer-byproducts/ 

Connect with Emily

• Website: https://oliveoilcritic.com/
• Cookbooks: https://oliveoilcritic.com/cookbooks/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliveoilcritic/ 

Connect with Jane Z. on Instagram at @farm.to.future