You've been storing olive oil wrong as expert reveals worst place to keep it

dailyrecord.co.uk:

From crisping up food and stopping it from sticking to your pan to adding flavour and reducing burning, cooking oil is one of the most-used ingredients for many people.

But if like many others, you store your oil conveniently beside the hob, we've got some bad news for you.According to experts at gut health company ZOE, this is actually one of the worst places you can store your cooking oil.

ZOE co-founders Professor Tim Spector and Jonathan Wolf spoke to Elizabeth Berger, a distributor of fine olive oils, on the company’s podcast.Jonathan explained that if you want to ensure you get the most out of a good-quality olive oil's taste and health benefits, it "matters how you store it, cook with it and how long you've had it."Elizabeth added: “In terms of the bottle, the very best is dark glass and you shouldn’t keep it next to your stove.” This is because when oil is exposed to light, it oxidises, which in turn changes its flavour.The expert went on to explain that the problem with storing it by your hob is that fluctuating temperatures mean your oil won't be kept stable. "You want to keep it where the temperature is constant," Elizabeth said. "So away from the stove, away from a window where the temperature will fluctuate quite a lot."She then suggested an alternative home for it, adding: "If you can keep it, you could always keep it in a cupboard, perhaps where you keep your salt and pepper and that sort of thing."Another thing to keep in mind is the sooner you can get through a bottle of good-quality olive oil, the better.

Elizabeth explained that “you’ve got very, very high polyphenols, just after the point of harvest,” making just before Christmas the best time of year to stock up on olive oil.“After 18 months, then,