SAMUEL RAE & CO. LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



21 



Other ; and while other considerations 

 partially account for these differences, 

 they are chiefly due to the influence of 

 the soil. Thus, it has been observed on 

 the same estate that oil produced from 

 trees growing on a clayey soil is very 

 much inferior to that obtained from 

 trees growing on a different formation 

 on the opposite side of the same hill. 



Selection of Fine Oils. 



While in Tuscany there are districts 

 famed for their olive oil, it is not to be 

 supposed that all the oil produced there- 

 in is of equal merit or excellence, dual- 

 ities vary even in the same locality, and 

 hence the need for a careful selection in 

 order to arrive at the highest possible 

 standard of excellence. 



An olive farm famed for its produce 

 may one year make oil of splendid qual- 

 ity ; the next year the reverse may be 

 the case. The olive-fly is very capricious 

 in its ravages, and the warmer expos- 

 ure of an olive plantation may lead to all 

 the fruit being ruined by this fly, while 

 not a mile away another plantation in a 

 less sheltered situation may escape such 

 damage. 



The same is the case with regard to 

 frost ; severe, damp cold may injure 

 the fruit in a low-lying locality, while 

 close by, but higher up, the fruit may 

 be uninjured. 



Hence, in selecting the finest qualities 

 of olive oil it is not by any means suffi- 

 cient to know in what locality the oil has 

 been grown. The ultimate test of quality 

 is the palate, and to be a good taster 

 of olive oil requires a nice, discriminat- 

 ing palate and long practice. Of course 

 if olive oil is of dark color, or possesses 

 the least bad odor, it is condemned at 

 once. But even when free from objec- 



tion on both points, the palate may re- 

 veal some fatal defect, due either to the 

 condition of the fruit or the process of 

 expressing the oil ; or else the oil may 

 simply be made from an inferior class 

 of olives, and therefore of a second rate 

 quality. Olive oil is tasted by itself, pure 

 and simple. 



According to Professor Bain, an au- 

 thority on the subject, it has been as- 

 certained that while the tip of the tongue 

 discriminates between pungent tastes, 

 such as pepper and mustard, and the 

 central part as to sweets and bitters, the 

 seat of those peculiar tastes, to which 

 the professor has given the names of 

 relishes, and disgusts, is the back part 

 of the tongue and throat. It is here 

 chiefly that fats, butters, and oils can 

 be properly tasted. 



If olive oil of very inferior quality, 

 tainted and rancid, continues to be largely 

 sold in America as being the very best, 

 and paid for proportionately, this can 

 only be because consumers do not taste 

 it in the proper way, by itself, before 

 using it. There is no great difficulty in 

 determining whether olive oil is pleas- 

 ant to the taste, or the reverse. But if in 

 a salad-dressing it be overpowered by 

 fiery condiments, bad olive oil often may 

 escape detection. 



How LONG Fine Oil Keeps Good. 



Fine olive oil is not improved by age, 

 like wine. But while inferior qualities 

 become infinitely worse by keeping, the 

 best Tuscan oil, properly kept, will re- 

 tain its sweetness and freshness for 

 fully two years from the time it was 

 made. Here it may be remarked that 

 fine oil undoubtedly retains its good 

 qualities longer when it is exported in 

 bottles, than in tin cans or in casks. 



