Customer Reviews

Zoe Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 25.5- Ounce tins (Pack of 2)

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Zoe is made from big fat olives that are meaty and buttery tasting. When my husband and I went to the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company in Pittsburgh, PA, the olive oil buyer guided us through our first olive oil purchase. She had us eat the olives that went into different kinds of olive oil and then pick the olives we liked best. Our first purchase of Zoe was the result. It is an olive oil with a distinctly buttery taste. I use it in baking cakes whenever oil or melted butter is called for. It tastes great! Absolutely great! Plus, it's heart healthy, which butter is not. Sigh. Other olives, particularly Italian olives that are made into olive oil are very peppery. Hence, their oil is peppery. This might be what other people are talking about when they say they don't like Zoe. Zoe is not a bit peppery. So please, you must try for yourself in this case. It is not a good idea to take anyone else's product review for olive oil to heart. (a pun!) You must decide what you like in an olive oil and buy according. Also, I want to mention that the buttery taste stays there even through a saute. We bought different types of Italian olive oil in smaller bottles that same first time at the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, and then we came home and made fried eggs with all of them. In that venue the taste of the olive oils really came through and Zoe kept that buttery taste. Good eating!

I have tried a lot of olive oils in the past, and being on a tight budget, I try to stay in the lower price range category. As you can imagine, I've ended up with some really lacking oils. Not so with Zoe Organic! This olive oil is light and mild with an excellent clean taste that doesn't overpower the flavor of what you're cooking (I like that in an olive oil!). Perfect for salad dressings, sauteing, baking, etc. There's nothing I wont use this oil in. Another plus is the size, no more trying to find a cabinet space tall enough for a tall bottle of oil. I've finally found an affordable winner!

I bought this olive oil since it was organic, and went through 6 (750 mL) cans on a subscription, but in the end I decided to stop buying it. I bought this oil to be my basic mid-priced olive oil primarily for sauteing. I like all sorts of olive oil -- from soft and buttery to peppery and green. This oil has a heavy woody scent, not as fragrant as other good EVOO in this price range. Sampled uncooked, the oil has mild initial taste, not much olive flavor at all, but not unpleasant, but what I didn't like is its harsh after-taste. It was not good in salad dressings. With other flavorings, the harshness is muted but still remains. In cooked dishes any olive oil flavor mostly disappears. In the same price range, I've had better luck with obscure Spanish or Greek 1 L cans of EVOO from the supermarket.

The EVOO is as tasty as described in other reviews. I thought I'd comment on the container. It is hard to open at best. The green pouring spout is accessed by pulling a ring pull which is very hard to pry up. Then it takes considerable pulling to expand the pour spout. The cap then unscrews however it is very hard to pour without a large amount of residue accumulating on the top of the container.

I recommend the oil but also recomment decanting it into another container or pouring bottle.

Good stuff -- but make sure you have a bottle to decant into. You will just make a mess if you try to pour from this container.

I usually use Bariani of California, and that stuff is like GOLD. You could sip it from a spoon, no kidding. But there is no way would I ruin the delicate flavor by heating it or cooking with it. So I tried Zoe Organic EVOO, really not expecting much, hoping it would be "good enough" for baking and stir-frying. I was really pleasantly surprised! It is stronger than I'm used to, but still mild enough to not overpower things like pie crusts and cookies. I am back to renew my subscription for this great, all purpose EVOO!

The price and quality of this product are both fantastic. I love that the dark, tin container greatly protects the taste and integrity of the oil (versus the typical glass bottle). However, there is an inherent problem with the pouring spout. It is plastic and very short. This leads to oil dripping on the top during usage, which is both wasteful and messy. If the manufacturer would alter that one component, this would be the perfect organic olive oil.

As you can see by my name, I am a green, organic mom blogger, and always try to shop accordingly. I was already a big fan of Zoe Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1-Liter Tins (Pack of 2) and was glad to see an organic version. Unfortunately, though how much we tried to like this, the organic Zoe Organic EVOO just doesn't taste anywhere near as good as the non-organic variety. This organic one definitely tastes like it's made from a whole different variety of olives, leaving it with a pronounced sharper, greener flavor with a bit of a bite. It's very distinct, and totally overpowers my cooking. The non-organic Zoe EVOO doesn't do this; it blends in perfectly as a marinade, for dipping bread, drizzling as a final touch on cooked dishes, etc. So, unfortunately, in this case, go with the non-organic, which I have on Subscribe & Save reorder, and is a pantry staple in our house.

I like that the Zoe olive oil comes in the metal containers, as opposed to plastic. The packaging was good; there was not the slightest dent in either can.

But there's the BPA thing. Buying organic, you'd like to know there's not any bpa in the lining of the can, lurking there for months, canceling out part of the benefit of organic. If Zoe does not tell us, we have to assume the bpa is there, as in other canned foods. I did a casual search but wasn't able to find out anything specific for Zoe on this. The same casual search turned up many questions about bpa, no definitive answers.

I did find a 2003 government sponsored scientific study --- [...] that found BPA was taken up by (absorbed into) olive oil in greater amounts than either water or 3% acetic acid! Apparently, BPA links with lipid molecules very easily.

Why can't we be sure, 8 years later, that BPA isn't leaching into food? Unfortunately, I found that study link AFTER I'd bought these two tins, so the only thing to do is tranfer contents into glass and refrigerate. I always keep olive oil refrigerated after opening anyway, in spite of the inconvenience when it solidifies and you have to pour warm water over the container to get it to pour.

There's the pouring problem... I'd read reviews beforehand, so I knew that you had to pull on the green tab to raise the plastic spout. However, I usually don't pour much at one time, so am still getting a bit of dribble onto the top of the can. So the plastic spout isn't working for me. I'm considering glass containers such as the Global Amici drizzlers, just for pouring; this must be a common problem with olive oil.

I can't detect anything buttery about Zoe Organic's taste. And it's not as olive-like a taste as Colavita, for example.

Next time, organic or not, I'll try something else for more flavor and to use as a dipping oil. I'd consider the Zoe special varieties, but apparently they come in plastic containers, with no BPA disavowal in the descriptions. With so many plastic items being imported from places with little manufacturing controls, it's not sure that any disavowal could be trusted, anyway.

Was looking for a real good olive oil,just happened upon Zoe.Has to be the best oil I have tasted.So rich and beautiful as a good oil should be. Also like that it is from Spain .Have read how good their oils are ,have to say its true.Love it.Cant beat the price on AMAZON.