Judy Ridgway

has been living and working in the fascinating world of olive oil for the last fifteen years. She is an international judge for olive oil and spends much of her time writing or talking about olive oil in books, articles, seminars and tastings. Here she takes a demystifying look at this great culinary product.

"I am often asked how I came to be an expert on olive oil. After all, I am an English woman with no specific connection to any of the growing regions and like so many others in the UK was brought up on butter and vegetable oil.

"It all happened by chance. In the late 1980s I was a food and wine writer with a particular interest in taste and flavour and I was asked to collaborate with an olive oil importer on a book on oils, vinegars and seasonings. I was to write the vinegars and seasoning sections and ghost the oils section for the expert. During this process I made the great discovery that olive oil does not just taste like olive oil - each oil has its own taste and flavour. I also realised that olive oil is not only a good cooking medium but a wonderful flavouring ingredient in its own right.

"Once converted to olive oil I became a fanatic and wanted to learn as much as I could about it. I started to travel the olive growing regions and to taste every oil I discovered. Gradually my work with olive oil took over from more general food subjects. By the mid 1990s I had written a vocabulary of taste and flavour in olive oil for the European Union and been invited to sit on the judging panel for the International Leone d'Oro awards for olive oil.

"Today I am just as interested in olive oil as I ever was and I am fascinated to see the many changes which are taking place in the industry. Olive grove management is becoming much more scientific, mechanical harvesting is taking over from back-breaking hand picking, traditional granite mill stones and hydraulic presses have given way to continuous centrifugal systems and olives are now grown for oil in the southern as well as in the northern hemisphere.

"I am sure that the next fifteen years will be equally interesting in the changes and improvements that they bring to olive oil. Olive oil consumption throughout the world is on the increase, though areas such as the UK and the US have a long way to go before they catch up with the Italians at 16 litres per capita per annum or the Greeks at an even higher 22 litres per capita per annum".