Until recently, an olive oil's label and the bottles' position on a grocery store's shelf guided my purchase. Those boasting "first cold press," "extra virgin," "Italian," or similar alleged indicators of quality from the top shelf were what I grabbed and happily used. So I was skeptical when I read that my $25 bottle of oil was likely a sham and literally rotten.

I also rolled my eyes when authors and experts described the "transformative" experience of tasting real, fresh olive oil for the first time in terms usually reserved for the birth of a child.