Olive Oil

Buying & Choosing Olive Oil

Olive Oil has lots of good in it. It is the best edible oil you can get. Everybody knows but understanding its varieties & label is difficult. Some of its varieties are actually a mix of different grade olive oils, hence understanding its basic varieties is important. Below is a basic guide which can help one to choose:

Varieties of Olive Oil:

Extra-virgin Olive oil comes from the first pressing of the olives, contains no more than 0.8% acidity, and is judged to have superior taste. Extra-virgin olive oil is the purest and the most expensive. Mostly it is used for salad dressing or may be light frying.

Virgin olive oil has acidity less than 2%, and judged to have a good taste. There should be no refined oil in virgin olive oil.

Pure olive oil Oils labeled as ‘Pure olive oil’ or ‘Olive oil’ are usually a blend of refined olive oil and one of the above two categories of Virgin olive oil.

Olive oil is a blend of virgin oil and refined oil, containing no more than 1.5% acidity. It commonly lacks a strong flavor.

Olive-Pomace oil is a blend of refined pomace olive oil (explained below) and possibly some virgin oil. It is fit for consumption, but it may not be called olive oil.

The oil is extracted by means of pressure (traditional method) or centrifugation (modern method). After extraction, the remaining solid substance is called Pomace, still contains a small quantity of oil. This is extracted through heat & chemical processes, and termed as olive pomace oil.

Lampante oil is olive oil not used for consumption; lampante comes from olive oil’s ancient use as fuel in oil-burning lamps. Lampante oil is mostly used in the industrial market.

Label Wording

Olive oil vendors choose the wording on their labels very carefully.

• “Imported from Italy” produces an impression that the olives were grown in Italy, although in fact it only means that the oil was bottled there.
• “100% Pure Olive Oil” is often the lowest quality available in a retail store: better grades would have “virgin” on the label.
• “Made from refined olive oils” suggests that the essence was captured, but in fact means that the taste and acidity were chemically produced.
• “Light olive oil” actually means refined olive oil, not a lower fat content. All olive oil has 120 calories per tablespoon (33 kJ/ml).
• “From hand-picked olives” may indicate that the oil is of better quality, since producers harvesting olives by mechanical methods are inclined to leave olives to over-ripen in order to increase yield.
• “First cold press” means that the oil in bottles with this label is the first oil that came from the first press of the olives. The word “cold” is important because if heat is used, the olive oil’s chemistry is changed.

Enjoy!