How to Untangle in the Italian Olive Oil Jungle

 

EVOO & Truffle

*in this article we use the acronym EVOO standing for Extra Virgin Olive Oil

You can’t forget your dream holiday in Italy or that extraordinary dinner at your favourite Italian restaurant. The flavours, the aromas, the incredible experience of Italian food are stuck in your head (and your tastebuds!) and now you want to reproduce that experience at home. You know that one of the cornerstones of Italian cookery is Italian olive oil and you heard wonders about its health benefits. You’ve also heard a lot of other things about Italian olive oil and you are a bit baffled now that you want to buy some.

Here is a guide to untangle from the information jungle! First of all a couple of tips for extra virgin olive oil in general.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In an Italian supermarket you won’t find olive oil that is not extra virgin. If you bump into virgin olive oil, pure olive oil or refined olive oil, say hello and move on! Let’s go to the second step.

Cold Pressed or Cold Extracted?

Nowadays the majority of extra virgin olive oils are cold extracted with a process of percolation or centrifugation of the olive paste (continuous system). The new generation extracting machines guarantee a fully automated process, low temperatures, self cleaning and maximum yield. The paste is so well squeezed that it makes no sense anymore to talk about “first cold pressed”.

It is quite unlikely that an extra virgin olive oil is not cold pressed / extracted as heat produces an increase of acidity. If acidity exceeds 0.8% the oil cannot be classified as “extra virgin”. If you cannot find “cold pressed / extracted” on the label of an extra virgin olive oil, be aware that it is the lowest quality extra virgin that you can find.

Italian Olive Oil? How Many Types?

100% Italian extra virgin olive oil can be a blend of extra virgin olive oils from different parts of Italy. This is what you call “single origin”. If you choose an organic “single origin” EVOO you will get a remarkable level of quality. If you are aiming at top quality and maximum level of traceability, opt for a “single estate” or a PDO, Protected Denomination of Origin. This will guarantee that your Italian extra virgin olive oil comes from a single producer or at least from a specific area. Is “blend” a negative thing? No, it’s not. A single origin EVOO can be a blend of different EVOOs made by an olive oil sommelier and if the EVOOs blended are good quality the result blend will be a good quality EVOO, often tasting better of the single components. A single estate or a PDO EVOO can be a blend of different varieties of olives coming from the same olive grove. Italy is the country with the highest number of PDO areas, 42 in total from south to north including islands, plus a few sub-areas. Next time we’ll tell you more about the PDO areas.

Where can I buy Italian olive oil?

Olivocracy is a trusted shop of Italian olive oil. They stock three organic & biodynamic single estate EVOOs and one organic 100% Italian EVOO (single origin). They promptly reply to any questions you might have about their products, via phone, email and social media.

Location: Ealing House, 33 Hanger Ln, Ealing, London W5 3HJ, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why People in the UK Want to Buy Bulk Italian Olive Oil

Image
  Italian olive oil (extra virgin of course!) is renowned to be top quality, due to the fact that Italy is the country with the highest number of PDO (Protected Denomination of Origin) certified areas.  The PDO certification is a guarantee of quality as the oil has to be produced and extracted within a certain area and meet certain criteria in order to get it. Furthermore, in Italy small productions still resist the spreading of mass intensive production in olive farming, with remarkable advantages in terms of traceability and attention to quality. Small producers in fact, would not probably cope financially if they didn’t make an outstanding product as they can’t reach the numbers that would allow them to be profitable with a cheap product.These are some of the reasons why consumers in the UK want to buy bulk Italian olive oil to secure a supply of their favourite condiment. Bulk buying explained…so you can buy bulk Italian olive oil and know why So, what’s this big fuss about bulk b
Read more

What’s Special About Italian Olive Oil?

Image
Italy is the second producer of olive oil in the world after Spain. On average, 464.000 tons of Italian olive oil are produced every year. In Italy there are 41 PDO areas. PDO (protected denomination of origin) is a protection mark assigned by the EU to food products whose peculiar characteristics depends on the area of production.  This means that the Italian olive oil from Puglia is different from the one from Umbria. Even within the same region, you will have sub-areas with products and traditions different from each other. Italian Olive Oil Production in Detail In Italy two millions of hectares (around 2.5 millions of acres) are dedicated to olive farming , both exclusively or in conjunction with other species, usually grapevine, citrus fruits and almonds. The presence of other species, trees, fruit trees and herbs, contributes to the final aroma of the extra virgin olive oil.  The south of Italy accounts for about 78% of the production, followed by the central regions (20%) and fi
Read more

How Good is Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil?

Image
Dietary fats are a hot topic of discussion these days. Whether we talk about animal fats, seed oils, saturated and unsaturated fats, omega 3 and so on, most people agree that organic extra virgin olive oil is one of the healthiest edible fats. A cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet, EVOO has been gaining popularity in recent years and is now widely used because of its health benefits. The different grades of olive oil With so many options available on supermarket shelves, it’s very hard to tell which olive oil is better. Ignore those labeled as “pure olive oil” or “light olive oil”: despite the charming power of the words pure and light, these olive oils are very low quality. If you want to make the most of olive oil’s health benefits, go for organic extra virgin olive oil. For two reasons. First of all, extra virgin is the only grade of olive oil you want to consider as it is the only one extracted mechanically and not processed chemically. Second, the organic certification guarante
Read more