Olive oil is a fresh product with a shelf life, not a spirit that improves with age. Most of the disappointing oil we taste was decent when it was bottled and ruined at home. These are the five habits doing the damage.
1. Keeping it next to the hob. Convenient, and fatal. Heat is the fastest way to turn a lively oil flat and greasy. Keep the good bottle in a cupboard away from the oven and decant a small amount if you want something within reach.
2. Buying clear glass. Light degrades olive oil almost as fast as heat. Dark glass or a tin is not a styling choice, it is packaging doing its job. Treat a clear bottle on a bright shelf as a warning sign.
3. Ignoring the harvest date. A best before date tells you when the seller gives up; a harvest date tells you when the olives were actually pressed. Oil is at its best within roughly eighteen months of harvest. No harvest date on the label usually means the producer would rather you did not know.
4. Making one bottle last a year. Once opened, oxygen gets to work. An open bottle is at its best for about two months. Buy sizes you will finish, not the giant bottle that felt like a bargain.
5. Saving the good stuff. The special bottle you are keeping for a special occasion is quietly going stale. Fresh olive oil is for using. If you need a reason to open something good tonight, start with our 33 best olive oils in the world for 2026.