packing olive oil/balsamic

I just came back from Provence and I wrapped my glass bottles in plastic shopping bags, twisted and tied the tops, then buried them in the middle of my bag with clothes all around them. Three bottles came home unscathed.

One idea I heard was to get kids' plastic water wings, blow them up around the bottle then place in luggage.

I also brought home items that were in plastic containers, many places offer those now instead of glass since the issue with liquids in carry-on baggage means we need to check our liquids.

First of all....it's kind of expensive to purchase this stuff in Italy. Just like wine, you can find the same stuff in the US.

However, if it's a keepsake and you really want to pack stuff to bring home...the shop will wrap it for you, then pack it in the very middle of your suitcase, and then make sure you wrap those bottles in your dirty clothes for extra padding. Bring some extra large Zip Lock bags with you for this purchase and place the bottles inside the zip locks after you've wrapped them, just in case of breakage!

I'd suggest bringing smaller bottles home, not just because of weight, but also it will be easier to pack, and you will have less worry about breakage.

My hubby had to have a bottle of Brunello wine this last trip, we had it packed in a box, then wrapped it in his dirty shirts and packed it in the bike case on the way home...it made it safely!

Just use common sense when packing your purchase and you should be OK

Thanks for the info!!!

I think the packing suggestions are all good ones. After you use up your great souvenirs, you might want to try www.olio2go.com for more.

I brought some olive oil home and a put it inside a sock and buried in the middle of my clothes. This olive oil was a very special souvenir. Made from olives grown on a Chianti vinyard estate.

Yes you can buy Italian Olive oil in the states, but it's likely that only 10% of the olives actually were grown in Italy. That's the percentage allowed for the oil to be considered "Italian".

You could always buy a bit of bubble wrap in Italy. Wrap it around the bottles then place the bottles in ziplock bags.

On bottling and labelling, DOP indicates that the olives were grown, pressed and bottled all in one region. Those oils won't including Spanish olives. There are all sorts of regulations on labelling. The larger the "name brand" the more likely they are not to produce all of the olives they need for bottling. The smallest estates will grow and bottle. Some of the smallest estate won't used DOP certification due to the additional costs. Hope this helps!

I bought olive oil in cans--worked great!