We don’t run a taste panel in a conference room, and we don’t count stars. Instead, we do the legwork you’d never have time for: we go through what dozens — often hundreds — of top chefs, cookbook authors, food writers, and critics have said about the products they actually buy and cook with. Interviews, cookbooks, columns, blind tastings, pantry tours, podcasts. Then we find the brands that come up again and again, and those are the ones you’ll see here.
- The people we listen to. Our tasters are cooks and writers whose palates have earned trust — think Kenji López-Alt, not a random five-star review. The bar is high, though we’ll make room for a respected regional chef or a specialist who knows one ingredient better than anyone.
- Organic recommendations only. We only count picks that people made on their own. If a chef is paid to promote a specific product — a sponsorship, an ambassador deal, an ad — that recommendation doesn’t count toward our rankings.
- Real brands you can buy. “Good olive oil” isn’t an answer. Every pick is a specific brand you can find and put in your cart, and we favor products that are reasonably easy to get, not something available from one farm stand.
- Most recommended wins. The order of each list reflects how often, and how strongly, a brand is recommended by the people we survey. Sometimes that’s a small-batch producer; sometimes it’s Heinz. When the experts overwhelmingly love a classic grocery-store brand, it earns its spot like anything else.
- Every pick is sourced. Each recommendation links back to where the taster said it, so you can read it for yourself. We never invent quotes.
- Rankings aren’t for sale. No brand can pay to be included or to move up. Some “Where to buy” links may earn us a small commission, which helps keep the site running — that never affects what we recommend. You can read the details in our affiliate disclosure.
Tasters cited from public sources have not endorsed MyTastr.
See the rankings →