For consumers DOP Lametia extra virgin olive oil tasting is a funny assessment method todetermine the quality of our oil and to assess its great value for money. To make the most out of your tasting experience you have to feel up physically and psychologically to degustation: you must not have a cold, use odorous substances such as perfume, eat anything or drink coffee at least one hour before tasting in order not to reduce your sensory perception.

The best way to appreciate the aromas of good olive oil is to follow the following steps:

- pour a little bit of olive oil (about a tablespoon) into a small glass;

- cup the glass in one hand and cover it with the other to trap the volatile components and aromas inside while you warm it up;

- stick your nose into the glass and take a good whiff of all pleasant and unpleasant aromas;

- take a sip of the oil and suck air through the oil, at first slowly and gently then more vigorously, to coax more aromas out of it and tickle your taste buds;

- hold it for a moment by closing your mouth while moving your tongue slowly forward against your palate;

- open your lips, with your tongue still at the top of your palate, and suck in air again;

- spit the oil out;

- keep moving your tongue forward against your palate to assess the oil aromas retronasally.

Some positive attributes that can be evaluated through the above technical tasting steps based on the intensity with which they are perceived by the taster are:

- bitter: it is a prominent taste in oil made from greener fruit (good point provided it does not prevail);

- sweet: the oil has a pleasant, little aromatic taste with a balanced pungency, bitterness and astringency; it may have a delicious almond aftertaste;

- fresh: the oil has an intense fruity flavour of fresh olives; it is not a persistent taste, and dissolves rapidly if it is not paired with a sapid, valuable and stable palate;

- green fruity: it is a lasting taste of oil made from healthy, greener fruit taken off the tree when fully mature;

- apple: used when the oil has notes of this fruit;

- pungent: a peppery sensation detected in the throat; it is typical of oils obtained from olives harvested in the early campaign;

- fresh-cut grass: it refers to oils having an aroma of freshly mown grass.

Once completed the professional and technical step of oil tasting, you can move on to the most conventional experience of pairing DOP Lametia extra virgin olive oil and local foods, including ‘bruschetta’ (toasted bread), beans and vegetables.