Not just for dressings – the fancy oil cheap enough to cook with

The distributor of a new extra virgin olive oil is hoping to grow the market by encouraging more Brits to use it for cooking.

Single-variety Spanish oil, Hojiblanca, is set to hit UK supermarket shelves in January with an rsp of less than £5 a bottle (0.5l) – which its distributor, Single Marketing, claimed made it cheaper than most single-variety oils currently on the market.

The relatively high price of single-variety extra virgin olive oil made shoppers reluctant to cook with it, said Single Marketing MD Jeff Bayley. Most consumers therefore used it only for special occasions or finishing dishes.

Hojiblanca would open up the market by encouraging Brits to put the oil to a wider range of uses, he claimed. “Our job is to show UK consumers extra virgin olive oil is an everyday product,” he said. “It is better for you and better for cooking.”

The launch represented a major opportunity to boost the size of the UK olive oil market, added Bayley, claiming that an increase in the current annual UK consumption of olive oil from 0.5 litres per capita to one litre would put an extra £150m through British retailers’ tills.

In Spain, the average annual consumption is significantly higher – between 20 and 22 litres a head.

“Hojiblanca will significantly contribute to market growth as consumers come to understand the taste benefits of a single-variety extra virgin product,” said Bayley.

Hojiblanca – Spanish for ‘white leaf’ – is a co-operative of 35,000 families owning 300,000 hectares of olive groves in Andalucia and Castilla-La Mancha. It exports to more than 70 countries.