橄榄油的骗局及其鉴别手法
Here’s the hard truth: the olive oil in your pantry, the one you bought for its health benefits and for some sliver of the seductive Mediterranean lifestyle, is most likely a scam.
告诉你一个残酷的现实：你厨房里的橄榄油——你为了它的健康裨益、为了一丝诱人的地中海情调而购买的橄榄油，有可能是一个骗局。
A scam, meaning it probably contains less actual olive oil than you’d ever imagine. A scam, meaning it’s likely been mixed with colorants and other less expensive oils like sunflower-seed oil. A scam, meaning you really have not been getting what you paid for.
“骗局”是说它实际所含的橄榄油可能比你想象的要少。也是说其中可能混入了着色剂和相对更便宜的食用油，如葵花子油。也就是说，你花了冤枉钱。
The reality is that this kind of fraudulent activity has been going on for centuries, and it isn’t likely to change dramatically any time soon. Not in Italy, or Spain, or Greece, or even right here in the US. It’s ugly, and unfortunate. There are many (many) multi-national commercial forces at play, and almost as many hot-button issues that cross industry lines, such as truth in labeling (a topic that wine trade organizations like the Napa Valley Vintners have taken up in earnest), lax governmental oversight, and underfunded or corrupt food inspection agencies.
事实上，这样的欺诈已经持续了几个世纪，一时半会儿不太可能得到逆转。无论是在意大利、西班牙还是希腊，乃至在美国，都不会即刻改变。这很不堪，也很不幸。其中有很多（很多）多国商业力量在起作用，并涉及几乎同样多的跨越行业敏感议题，比如标签中的真相（纳帕谷酒商[Napa Valley Vinters]等葡萄酒贸易机构已开始认真对付这个问题）、松懈的政府监管，资金不足或腐败的食品检验机构。
It’s an ongoing battle that each of us participates in, every time we stand in front of the olive oil section at our local grocery store. So that’s where I went to review the options; it wasn’t a scientific study, but it replicates the reality of what we see every time we shop.
每个人每次站在当地杂货店的橄榄油货架前时，都会经历这样的争斗。于是我选择就去那里检验我们的选项；这不是一项科学研究，但它复制了我们每次购物时都会看到的现实。
What you’ll see on the shelves are oils in clear bottles and colored bottles; colored bottles protect the integrity of the oil better, especially if what’s inside the bottles is in fact 100% olive oil (though it probably isn’t). You’ll also see words and phrases like “light olive oil” and “cold pressed” that don’t actually mean anything; cold-pressed, for example, refers to the time when oil was made using hydraulic presses and there was a distinction between the first (cold) press and the second (hot) press but that process is outdated. You’ll see various statements of geographic origins, such as Spain or Greece or Italy; that may be true, but more likely the oil was grown someplace with less expensive production costs then shipped to another country and bottled there. (It’s the bottling location that somehow legitimates the “origin” identification.)
你会在货架上看到无色透明瓶和彩色瓶装的油；有色瓶能够更好地保持橄榄油的品质，特别是当瓶内所含为100%橄榄油的时候（虽然很有可能不是如此）。你还可以看到诸如“轻橄榄油”和“冷榨”等词汇，它们实际上没有任何意义；就比如冷榨，它是指在液压机榨油的年代，压榨过程分成冷榨（第一遍）和热榨（第二遍）两个步骤，但这一工艺早已过时。你也会看到标签上的各种原产地，如西班牙、希腊或意大利；这也许是真的，但更可能的是，这些橄榄树是在某个生产成本相对低廉的地方种植，然后运到另一个国家并在那里灌装的（不知出于何种原因，“原产地”标示上的地点规定应为灌装地点）。
It’s a system largely strangled with fraud, from the labels on the outside of the bottle to the oil that’s on the inside, and we’ve all been affected by it at one phase or another.
这是一个充斥骗局的体系，从瓶身标签到瓶内所装，我们迟早会受到它的影响。
Here’s one step you can take to improve your chances of purchasing real olive oil that actually is what it says it is: turn the bottle around and read the back label. You’ll see an expiration date (usually two years after an oil was bottled) but what you’re looking for in particular is the harvest date; the further away the two-year date is, the fresher the oil is. Only one bottle — from California Olive Ranch – on the five shelves of olive oils in my supermarket indicated the harvest date, however.
有一个办法可以提高你买到名副其实的橄榄油的几率：转过瓶身，阅读背面的标签。你会看到一个保质期（一般为灌装两年之后的日期），但你要找的其实是收获日期；保质期越远，油就越新鲜。但在我那家超市，五个货架的橄榄油中只有一种橄榄油标明了收获日期——来自加州橄榄牧场（California Olive Ranch）的产品。
Here’s the even better step you can take: seek out stores that sell authentic olive oil from drums, and taste the oil first. I live in Atlanta, Georgia and my source is the E. 48th Street Market in Dunwoody, owned by Charlie Augello who researches an item’s origin before bringing it into the store. The oil is supplied by Joan and Roger Arndt, locals and friends of Augello, from their small olive grove in Umbria.
下面有几个更好的步骤：找到那些以桶出售正宗橄榄油的专卖店，买前先品尝。我住在乔治亚州亚特兰大，我的橄榄油来源是邓伍迪的E. 48thStreet Market商店，老板查理·奥杰洛（Charlie Augello）在进货前都会弄清楚橄榄油的原产地。这些橄榄油来自奥杰洛的朋友、当地人琼和罗杰·阿恩特（Joan &Roger Arndt），产自他们在翁布里亚（Umbria）的小橄榄树林。
The Arndt/Augello relationship is the kind of personal connection few of us are likely to have, but the benefits of those relationships are available to informed consumers. You may not have heard yet of Marco Oreggia’s Flos Olei guides to the extra virgin olive oils – it’s written in Italian and translated to English, the updated edition for 2014 is his fifth, and it reviews the olive growing sector in 47 countries including unexpected producers from New Zealand and Japan to South Africa, Nepal, and Brazil. The thick book isn’t just a “Who’s Who”; rather it’s a “This is serious, people.”
像阿恩特和奥杰洛这样的渠道关系在我们中并不多见，但这些关系带来的好处可供精明的消费者参考。你可能还未听说过马可洛·奥莱亚（Macro Oreggia）的《Flos Olei》特级初榨橄榄油指南，它由意大利语写就并翻译成英文，2014年更新至第五版，并且评审了47个国家的橄榄树种植产业，包括新西兰、日本、南非、尼泊尔和巴西这些令人意想不到的产地。这本厚书不仅是一个名录；它可是一本正经的。
Oreggia – a journalist who’s been harassed physically for his work – began researching and writing about olive oil in 1995. In the last five years, he’s seeing more new, small, and often young oil producers who are going back to farming and “the rural world” to recover their parents’ or grandparents’ estate, while also trying to update production methods and achieve top quality. Despite the odds against them, Oreggia believes these newer small producers can succeed by identifying “faithful” distributors in export markets and by reaching informed consumers who recognize the value of a short production chain.
奥莱亚是一名记者，他于1995年开始就橄榄油产业进行调查和报道，因为工作而常年受到人身骚扰。过去五年中，他看到越来越多初出江湖、规模有限、往往还由年轻人运营的橄榄油生产商，意欲回归农业和乡村，以重拾上一辈人的遗产，同时也试图更新生产方式并获得顶级品质。尽管成功的天平并不偏向他们那一边，但奥莱亚认为，这些新出道的小型生产商是可以成功的，只要在出口市场上找到“忠实”的分销商，同时向精明的消费者群体——那些深知短生产链价值所在的消费者——伸出橄榄枝。
Informed consumers can buy oils like these from purveyors with a transparent, rigorous selection process that wins your confidence, since they essentially travel the world to taste and choose oils on your behalf. Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for example, carries a range of well-considered oils. They’ve identified Marina Colonna’s Peranzana oil, from her estate in the Molise region of Italy, as their “house” oil. Colonna describes the Peranzana as an “always generous, always giving” kind of tree; its oil is powerful, rich and grassy, with an undertone of rosemary. A simple taste test between Peranzana and any supermarket brand will demonstrate immediately how different the two kinds of oil, and the two kinds of producers, can be.
精明的消费者就可以从这样的供货商处购买：他们拥有透明、严格的挑选流程，可以赢得你的信赖，因为他们基本上是周游世界而代你品尝挑选橄榄油的。比如密歇根州安阿伯的Zingerman’s Delicatessen商店就销售一系列精挑细选的橄榄油。他们已经将玛丽娜·科隆纳（Marina Colonna）的Peranzana橄榄油作为他们的镇店品牌，该油产自她在意大利莫利塞地区的庄园。科隆纳将Peranzana描述为一种“总是大方，总是给予”的树；它的油浓烈而富有青草香，带一点迷迭香的底蕴。只要在Peranzana和任何超市品牌的橄榄油之间做一个简单的品尝测试，你就会立刻发现两者或者两种生产商的差异竟可以如此悬殊。
You may have guessed by now that you’ll be paying more for olive oil that’s authentic and reputable. But the price goes toward keeping those producers authentic and reputable. Olive oil producers in this category belong to the “go small or go home” way of thinking, similar to micro- or nano-breweries and craft distilleries who draw consumers who have a strong aversion to mass-produced brands. The profit margins for these producers are smaller but the taste and appeal of their products, like Colonna’s Peranzana oil, is distinct.
你可能已经猜到了，有信誉的正宗橄榄油要贵得多。但这些价格正是用来保持这些生产商的正宗性与信誉的。这类橄榄油生产商拥有的是那种“小规模销售到户”的思维方式，类似于那种微型酿酒厂和酿酒作坊，专门吸引那些对批量生产品牌持有强烈反感的消费者。这些生产商的利润率较低，但产品的口味和吸引力——比如科隆纳的Peranzana橄榄油——是卓尔不群的。
About that taste? Prepare yourself. Real olive oil – the good stuff – will be powerful and peppery and it will catch in your throat. You may cough, your eyes may water. But these are in fact good indications that what you’re tasting – finally! – is authentic. It is also full of the reasons, especially flavor and health, that we were drawn to olive oil in the first place.
至于味道，你得做好心理准备。真正的橄榄油——也就是好东西——味道浓烈刺激，而且粘喉。可能导致你咳嗽、流泪。但这些其实都是好现象，说明你终于尝到真正的橄榄油了。同时它的身上也充斥着我们最初被橄榄油所吸引的原因——尤其是风味和健康。
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