The Best Olive Oil in the World is Almost Gone

This year’s harvest of Maalouf’s extra virgin olive oil has nearly run out

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May 13, 2024 7:01pm EDT

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The Best Olive Oil in the World. Get Yours Now—Very Limited Quantities

This Year’s Harvest of Maalouf Extra Virgin Olive Oil is Almost Gone

Each spring, we receive our annual shipment of Milk Street's favorite small-batch olive oil from Lebanon. Buttery-rich and nutty, it's a favorite that disappears quickly. Buy two bottles and save 10% or four and save 15%.

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Maalouf Authentic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Dear Milk Streeter,

In 2018, I was in Beirut and tasted a wondrously rich, soft olive oil. We tracked it down and now it’s our sixth year partnering with the producer, Maalouf, who only presses a few cases each year. We have a very limited inventory of their latest batch, pressed from the 2023 olive harvest.

During our trip, I was invited to the home of Hussein Hadid, the chef at Ummi, a restaurant that serves authentic Lebanese food in the heart of Beirut’s upscale shopping district. His apartment has a spectacular view of the city, and his kitchen is modern and well furnished. Among other dishes, we cooked mujaddara (lentils and rice), which is now a staple in my household.

The olive oil, however, was the real surprise. It was unfiltered and mellow, with none of that harsh back-of-the-throat bite that I had come to expect from Italian olive oils. It was soft and luxurious and richly flavored.

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Over the ensuing months, I had no luck tracking down a good Lebanese olive oil until we found Maalouf Olive Oil, a small producer in the north of the country. Stone-milled exclusively from a single grove of small, slender Souri olives grown in North Lebanon, this early-harvest unfiltered oil possesses a soft yellow color and a buttery, rich flavor with hints of green apple and artichoke. It has only the most subtle pepperiness, unlike most Italian oils I have tasted, plus a nice long, nutty finish. This is truly an all-purpose extra-virgin olive oil, without the overpowering bitterness that mars many other brands.

Christopher Kimball with Chafic Maalouf, owner and founder of Maalouf Olive Oil.

Maalouf only produces this product in small batches, so when we sell out, we sell out until next season's oil is bottled. And you can save 10% when you purchase two bottles and 15% when you purchase four, so it's the perfect opportunity to stock up. We bought everything we could, but it's still very limited volume!

Cordially,