Does Olive Oil Smell? (What Should It Smell Like?)

Last updated on August 8th, 2022 at 03:01 pm

Every kitchen has staple ingredients. These ingredients are used pretty much every time you cook. Salt, pepper, and cooking oil are commonly used in cooking. 

One type of cooking oil is olive oil. Olive oil is perhaps the most expensive out of all of the cooking oils. But this liquid is more pricey for a reason. It gives the food it is cooked with a really good flavor. 

It is also meant to be used in smaller amounts than other cooking oils so it lasts longer. Now for our question. Does olive oil smell and what should it smell like?

Olive oil does have a smell. This cooking oil smells pungent and fruity. It shouldn’t smell bad and if it does, then it needs to be tossed. Since olive oil is made with olives, it smells a lot like a ripe olive.

Many dishes end up tasting amazing because they are cooked in olive oil or have it added to them. 

Originating in the Mediterranean, olive oil is great for cooking, frying, and even for salad dressings. To make olive oil, olives are squeezed and juiced. 

There are also different types of olive oil, refined and unrefined. Refined olive oil is treated to remove flaws from it and make it more sellable. While this type of olive oil is fine to use, it doesn’t have much of an olive aroma, flavor, or color. 

Unrefined olive oil is not treated and is pure oil from the olives with a ripe olive smell. Extra virgin olive oil is the highest quality of olive oil you can buy. It is pure and untreated olive oil and provides great flavor for food.

Good olive oil will smell good and bad olive oil will smell bad. According to The good, the bad and the ugly side of olive oil, “Once you’ve brought the oil home, “put it on a teaspoon and smell it,” Neuman said. Start by swirling the oil in the bottle to help release the fragrance. “If it’s good it should either have an olive smell, green and grassy, or like a riper fruity olive,” he explained. “If it smells like crayon, tire tread or shoe leather, those are bad smells. Close the bottle, take it back to the store and get a refund.” 

Olive oil does have a smell. It is a pleasant aroma of ripe olives.

What Should Olive Oil Smell Like?

As you can see, olive oil does smell. But it should smell good and not bad. Refined olive oil will have a subtle smell and unrefined olive oil will have a stronger smell. 

Now, there are some types of olive oil that smell more strongly than others. So, what exactly should it smell like?

Since it is made from olives, olive oil should smell like a ripe fruity olive. It may even give off a green and grassy smell along with a pungent and fruity smell. 

The aroma from olive oil is strong but good. If olive oil ever smells rancid, then it is spoiled.

No matter the kind of olive oil, it should never smell bad. Olive oil should smell like olives. Though sometimes, certain kinds will smell stronger than others, olive oil always has a pleasant smell. 

Its smell may be green and grassy as well as a pungent and fruity smell. If olive oil smells rancid then it is spoiled. 

Bad olive oil will give off a bad aroma smelling like crayons or stale peanuts. This smell is more bitter and not as fruity as it should smell. So, your olive oil will smell but should smell good, like ripe olives. 

If it smells bad, then it should be replaced with a fresh bottle.

The article, THE BENEFITS OF EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL: A REAL LIQUID GOLD! Explains, “The oil smells are also some of the parameters that help you to distinguish the Oil Varieties. You can recognize light, medium, or intense fruity scents such as those found in green…When olive oil is too old and has oxidized, it is usually rancid. Smell and Taste test can be helpful if you are uncertain about your bottle of Olive Oil: fresh olive oil has a pungent, fruity smell, while a rancid olive oil has little smell or may smell like crayons or stale peanuts”

What Does Spoiled Olive Oil Smell Like?

So, olive oil can smell green, bright, peppery, earthy and even have a fruit or vegetable scent. Its strong smell is pleasant. 

Let’s say you open a bottle of olive oil to use, the smell is unusually strong and seems spoiled. Yet, it looks ok. What does spoiled olive oil smell like?

Spoiled olive oil will smell rancid. Olive oil does expire and go bad so if you notice a bad aroma coming from the bottle, it is a good idea to toss it. Bad olive oil can smell bad and make your food taste bad.

Livestrong.com states in their article on How to Identify Bad Olive Oil, “Place the bottle of olive oil underneath your nose and smell it deeply. Fresh olive oil has a pungent, fruity smell, while a rancid olive oil has little smell or may smell like crayons or stale peanuts…test the oil for “fustiness,” caused by fermentation of the olives that have been left to sit for even a few days…Fusty olive oil is so common that many people consider it the norm, but fresh olive oil smells like green, fresh olives. Other, less common problems to watch out for include mustiness, an old-clothes odor that derives from moldy olives, and a wine-vinegar effect, a tangy, chemical scent and flavor.”

You are sure to notice the smell of your olive oil. It should smell like ripe olives with a fruity aroma and if it smells off then don’t use it in your cooking. While it won’t make you sick, it can make your dishes taste bad.

When olive oil goes bad, its bright and fruity smell turns into a bitter, rancid smell. The smell of spoiled olive oil has even been compared to crayons, putty, or Elmer’s glue. So, good olive oil smells good and bad olive oil smells, well, bad.

Final Thoughts

Olive oil does have a smell and it should smell like ripe olives with a fruity scent. If the olive oil smells rancid or bad then it is spoiled and should be thrown away. 

Keep in mind that refined olive oil may not have as strong of a smell as unrefined olive oil. Still, these will both have a fresh scent and won’t smell bad. 

Olive oil should have a certain smell and it smells like what it is made from, olives.