Green Gold: Our Love Affair with Olive Oil

Olive oil is not what you think it is. According to Tom Mueller,
author of Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of
Olive Oil, an olive is a stone fruit like a plum or cherry—meaning
that the green-gold liquid we extract from it “is, quite literally,
fruit juice.” And, while we’re blowing your minds, have you ever
stopped to wonder what “Extra Virgin” means? “It’s like extra dead
or semi-pregnant,” Mueller said. “I mean, it doesn’t make any sense
at all.” This episode we visit two groves—one in the Old World, one
in the New—to get to the bottom of olive oil’s many mysteries.
Listen in this episode as we find out why the ancient Romans rubbed
it all over their bodies, and whether the olive oil on our kitchen
counters really is what it says on the label. Learn more about your
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