Years ago, when I started holding regular olive oil tasting sessions, I started collecting the open bottles with the remainder of the extra virgin olive oil we had tasted. As I am the one who usually does the cooking at home, I found myself faced with the pleasurable dilemma of choosing which of them to use in each case.

Based on the fact that this is an enormously subjective matter, I eventually made up my own basic rule, which was to use the oil that would best emphasise the taste of the ingredients without taking over. For practicality's sake, although some people might think it simplistic, I differentiate between three types of extra virgin oil.

1- The sweet oils. They are usually lightly fruity and have a smooth taste, with little or no bitter notes. To my taste, they are ideal for combining with delicately flavoured ingredients, for dressing white fish for example, for making mayonnaise or when we want to use olive oil instead of butter for making cakes or other sweets.

2- There are other oils we might call intermediate, which are somewhat more intensely fruity and green, sweet at first taste, but then with a little more bitterness and bite. They are very versatile and go very well with foodstuffs with a defined but not strong taste, to dress grilled beef and chicken or wild mushrooms, for example.

3- Finally, we have oils with body and character, with intense green fruits and well defined bitter notes and bite. I especially enjoy using these oils to make gazpachos, for dressing grilled or boiled meats and many other stewed dishes.

When it comes to dressing salads, there is plenty of room for experimentation. I like combining sweet oils, many arbequina oils fall into this category, with ingredients like lettuce, carrots, corn and avocado and mixing them with equally sweet vinegars such as Pedro Ximenez o Módena.

For salads with rocket, anchovies and mature cheese, for example, I prefer to use a much fuller-bodies oil, produced from, among others the picual, cornicabra or hojiblanca olives, with a Jerez vinegar or red wine.

Although some great chefs say that extra virgin olive oil has been used to create a particular recipe, oil matching is only just starting to be explored by professionals in general.

To end with, what I have said until now is applicable to all uses of raw extra virgin olive oil, which is either unheated or heated only slightly to 40 or 45 degrees.

In the next edition I'll be talking about my criteria for using hot olive oil, specifically for frying.