Storing Evoolution Olive Oils and Balsamic Vinegars

Once you have sampled, selected, and brought home your Evoolution olive oils and balsamic vinegars, you may be wondering how and where to store them. Here we lay out the best practices for storage to maximize the flavour and longevity of your olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

EVOO Storage

Extra virgin olive oil, or EVOO, is a fresh-pressed fruit juice. That means it does not improve with age and should be consumed within 3-4 months of opening the bottle for optimal health benefits and flavour profile. To learn more about why we recommend this timeline, check out our blog on Diacylglycerols and Oil Aging. Within than time window, there are a few tips to follow to ensure you don't accelerate the spoilage of your olive oil.

Avoid the Fridge

Firstly, we do not recommend storing your olive oil in the fridge. There can be a very small amount of water present in EVOO when it is extracted. This amount can increase when you are cooking with olive oil due to steam, for example. Picture a steaming soup that you want to add some olive oil to: when you open the bottle of oil and pour it into the soup, some steam can enter the the bottle. Putting the bottle of oil into the fridge then leads to this extra water condensing and forming droplets that can lead to microbial growth and spoilage of the oil. Instead, storing your bottle at room temperature in a cupboard or pantry is ideal.

Hello, Darkness my Old Friend

Cupboards or pantries are obviously dark, which is the perfect spot for your EVOO, as light is a primary accelerator of oxidation; a process that contributes to oil spoilage. This principle is also reflected in the dark glass of our larger bottle sizes- less light can travel through the darker glass to impact your oil. 

Too Hot to Handle

Keeping your olive oil away from the oven or other sources of heat is always recommended. Once again, heat can degrade oils through oxidation, so we keep them near room temperature to limit this reaction. If you are keen to learn more about oxidation and how it spoils oils, you can read up on our Peroxides and Oil Storage blog. 

Closure is a Good Thing

Lastly, you want to keep your bottles sealed whenever you are not using them. Keeping the cork firmly in the bottle aids in keeping air - and thus oxygen - out of the oil. For your everyday oils that you use all the time, we recommend our pouring spouts that help control the pour of your oils while still effectively keeping oxygen out. 

Don't Forget the Vinegars

Fortunately, storage for balsamic vinegars is a bit more lenient than for olive oils. Aging is a crucial step in the production of balsamic vinegars to develop their flavour and complexity. And while "at home aging" won't improve the quality of your balsamic vinegar, it won't really harm it either. We do still recommend storing balsamic vinegars in a cupboard or pantry, as the consistency of it can be altered too much if it is kept in the fridge. Over time - we're talking years - the sugar in balsamic can crystallize and slightly change its texture. However, this does not impact its flavour or safety in any way. 

Overall, storing your Evoolution products in a cupboard or pantry is the way to go in order to maximize their longevity and flavour.