About Karen

My interest in olive oil began in Greece 30 years ago, when I stopped off at Aegina Island to catch a boat to a nearby island. Fate intervened and I never made it to the other island - instead I spent 5 years living on the beautiful island of Aegina. There I was introduced to fish which had been brought straight from sea to grill, stuffed peppers, greek salads, octopus, sea urchins and of course extra virgin olive oil. Fast forward years later to VinItaly (the wine fair in Verona) where, having taken a break from a little wine tasting, I wandered into the extra virgin olive oil pavillion to find hundreds of olive oil producers set up in much the same way as the wine. That was it. I decided to learn more about olive oil. I started in London with the British olive oil expert, Judy Ridgway, and then moved on to Italy and Spain, where I trained as an olive oil taster and sommelier.

Now I run olive oil tasting classes here in Ireland, have been a judge in the Italian Armonia International Olive Oil competition in Parma, debated olive oil over butter with Darina Allen and I am the only Irish person to have passed the 2 hour tasting exam to become listed as an Associate Member of Savantes International olive oil organisation. I have hosted the first Savantes masterclass in olive oil tasting in Dublin as well as training the students and lecturers in the School of Culinary Arts in Cathal Brugha Street and the staff of Fallon & Byrne, to name a few. I run a regular olive oil tasting workshop in Triggerfish Cookshop in Dublin.

An olive oil taster is someone who uses sensory analysis (aroma and taste) to determine the quality of an olive oil. For olive oil to be extra virgin (the highest grade of olive oil) it has to have a grassy, fresh aroma, be free of any defects and have a certain level of fruitiness, bitterness and pepperiness. We need to change the way we think about extra virgin olive oil and use it as a condiment i.e. use it to flavour a wide variety of dishes. My daughter has told me that she doesn't bother with sauces anymore - using olive oil to flavour her food is more interesting and much healthier. Extra virgin olive oil can have the aromas and tastes of everything from banana, apple, tomato, artichoke, herbs and almonds to tropical fruits and chocolate and can be matched with both savoury and sweet food. Of course the oil must be of a high quality so you can get both flavour and health benefits. If you would like to read more about the sensory analysis of olive oil, see my paper on olive oil from the Dublin Gastronomy Symposium - https://arrow.tudublin.ie/dgs/2018/may30/15/