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

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