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What is Extra Virgin
Olive Oil?
Adapted from the guidelines as set by the International
Olive Oil Council
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
is olive oil with an absolutely impeccable taste and
aroma, obtained from healthy, fresh green or ripe olives.
How fruity it is depends on the variety and ripeness of
the olives. This fruitiness can be perceived through both
flavor and aroma.
Extra virgin olive oil has no
defect in smell or taste. Extra virgin olive oil
should be cold-pressed in a traditional press or
extraction system that does not damage the oil with heat,
and the resulting acidity level should be no greater than
1%.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
is obtained from
the fruit of the olive tree by mechanical or other
physical means that does not lead to deterioration of the
oil. The oil does not undergo any treatment other than
washing, decantation,
centrifugation and filtration. Extra virgin olive
oil, by definition, excludes oils obtained by the use of
solvents, and those mixed with oils from other sources.
©
2003-5 Mary Lou Heiss
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Using Extra Virgin
Olive Oils
The finest olive oils are considered ‘condiment oils’ and
are used not as much for cooking as they are for drizzling
over prepared foods such as bean and rice dishes,
vegetable or green salads, and, of course, luxurious bread
dipping. Given the coddled nature of these oils, they will
cost two to three times as much as will generic,
mass-produced bulk olive oils. Yet they really cost only
pennies per serving when you consider how little you use
per dish, and what a small cost that is in exchange for
the glorious flavors they deliver.
Sautéing or frying with these fine oils will diminish
their nuances of flavor, and some cooks might consider it
wasteful cost-wise, but there is no right or wrong. The
flavor these oils add to meats or fish is quite delicious,
so the choice is yours.
‘ the
best olive oil is the one that harmonizes with
the food that you are cooking....
do not overwhelm your food with an oil that shouts at you
from the plate ’
©
2003-5 Mary Lou Heiss
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Shelf Life and Storage
Olive oil is bottled and released for sale two to five
months after pressing. For example, oil that was pressed
in the fall of 2002 came to market from February to May of
2003.
The shelf life of most extra-virgin olive oils is anywhere
from 1 year to 18 months from the bottling date, but it is
always a good idea to do as the locals do and buy fresh
oil when the new release comes to market. Unlike wine,
olive oil does not improve with age, so you can assume a
4-6 month shelf life for opened bottles, and a full year
in a sealed bottle from one release date to the next.
If you purchase an olive oil that is stronger than you
like, just set it aside for a few months and then taste it
again. Olive oils gradually mellow over the course of the
year.
Because olive oil is susceptible to deterioration from
air, you may be better off purchasing olive oil
frequently, in smaller quantities, rather than purchasing
one large container. Most top producers put their oil into
dark glass bottles or clear bottles that are covered in a
foil wrap. Clear glass bottles allow damaging light to
affect the oil, bleaching the color and souring the
flavor. Keep your oils away from heat sources, such as a
radiator, the backsplash of your stove, or the sun.
It is best to keep your olive oil at a slightly cool
temperature that does not fluctuate ...but do not
refrigerate it.
©
2003-5 Mary Lou Heiss
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Characteristics of Extra Virgin
Olive Oil
How to evaluate quality and goodness
The olive cultivar, the ripeness of the fruit, the
soundness of the fruit, and the timeliness of extraction
determine the flavor of olive oil.
When professional olive oil tasters evaluate oil from a
particular terroir, they determine how closely to the
expected standard of flavor that particular oil measures.
They also look for a fresh, lively flavor, and will reject
those with ‘ off ’ aromas and a stale or flat taste.
When we taste food, our olfactory sense allows us to
appreciate aroma, and enables our gustatory sense to
evaluate the flavor and mouth-feel of the oil. We also
feel the degree of peppery bite in the back of our throat
- referred to as retro-nasal - as a slight sting or burn
when we swallow.
Aroma
Our nose detects aromas signaling sweet or bitter flavors,
as well as musty, off-odors warning of un-pleasant flavors
before we taste them. Without our noses we could not taste
the pageantry of flavors in the food world. Positive
aromas of olive oil are: almond, apple, artichoke, citrus,
eucalyptus, mango, flowers, peppercorns, herbs, pear,
green fruit, ripe fruit, red berries, tomato, vanilla,
walnuts. Negative aromas are: musty, moldy, rancid, soapy
and winey.
Color / Clarity
Ranging
from golden yellow to the darkest green, color is a
function of the time of year that the olives are
harvested, the particular cultivar, and geographic
location. Every olive oil producing region within every
country picks their olives at the stage that will yield
the flavor and style of olive oil for which their region
is known. A golden, straw-colored extra-virgin olive oil
will have been pressed from riper, oil-filled sweet
olives, and will be lighter and more delicate in flavor
than dark green oil. But each epitomizes the style of its
specific terroir, and each has its appropriate uses.
Color alone only indicates degree of ripeness of the
olives and is not a valid assessment of the integrity or
the flavor of oil. It is only when we taste an oil that we
can we determine if the flavor is sound and appropriate
for the food for which we intend to use it.
Some producers
filter their oil after it is pressed while others do not.
For those who do filter, the oil is passed through cotton
filters to remove the sediment and other particulate
matter. For those who do not filter, ‘un-filtered’ can
have one of two meanings. Some oil is bottled, as it is,
cloudy and full of sediment. Others are left to naturally
decant by allowing the sediment to settle to the bottom of
its tank. The oil is siphoned off from the top later,
leaving the sediment behind and giving the oil the
appearance of having been filtered.
Taste
Some olive oils have a sweet taste, others a bitter bite,
while many have a very fruity, peppery ‘ just squeezed ’
olive taste. Major taste characteristics of olive oil are
sweet, pungent, bitter or grassy, but, as with wine,
professional olive oil tasters find many taste nuances in
an olive oil, including hints of almonds, artichoke, bread
dough, celery, citrus, fennel, hay, herbs, black pepper,
or tomato.
Body
Body can
best be described as the viscosity or mouth-feel of the
oil. Some olive oils are rich and unctuous; others are
light and buttery. Again, body is a function of olive
variety and degree of ripeness.
Acidity
The
benchmark of extra-virgin olive oil is a low, naturally
occurring oleic acid content - a measurement of 1 % or
less is necessary for an oil to be labeled extra virgin.
While oleic acid is undetectable in flavor, the top
producers pride themselves on beating the 1 % standard -
their oils normally test between .025 -.040 %. The lower
the oleic acid the more flavorful the oil will be and the
longer the flavor will hold up.
©
2003-5 Mary Lou Heiss
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Single-Estate
Produced and Bottled Oils
The demand for single-estate extra virgin olive oils has
reached near-cult status in the specialty food world. As
with a fine wine, we can very clearly taste the terroir in
the best oils, while bulk, mass produced oils have had any
possibility of distinction blended out of them.
Estate producers, generally working with native olive
varieties, are vulnerable to greater risks and production
losses from circumstances of weather, but even in
adversity they produce the greatest oils. The recognition
and protection by individual countries and the European
Union granted to these olive oils acknowledges the pride
that these producers place in the terroir of these
signature olive oils.
Single-estate olive oils can be mono-cultivars - those
oils made from just one variety of olive - or blends
created from two or more cultivars of olives grown on the
property. Many of these oils are also pressed and bottled
on the estate. For those estates that do not have a
frantoio - pressing mill - on their property, these
growers send their olives to a neighboring mill for
pressing.
Estate oils are usually recognizable by the extensive
amount of information given on the label that identifies
the source of the oil - country, region and name of the
farm, estate or producer. Protected-product seals, such as
DOP, DO, AOC, or information such as an organic
certification, or a regional Consortium seal of merit will
be highly visible on the label or neck of the bottle. Gold
or silver medal award seals may also be applied for
placements won by the oil in previous years.
The year of the harvest should also be indicated on the
label, and if the oil has been filtered. The
classification of extra-virgin should be there, and
sometimes the term ‘first cold pressed’ will also be used.
Today, by the nature of the modern production methods
used, nearly all fine oil is ‘first cold pressed’, but
because this was not always the case in the past, the
terminology is still used.
©
2003-5 Mary Lou Heiss
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What is Necessary to Produce a
Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil?
The unique flavor and quality of an extra-virgin olive oil
is determined by many factors in the journey of an olive
from tree to oil pressing mill. Variables such as soil,
latitude and weather are determined by nature. Orchard
management, harvest timetables and mechanical processes,
such as the pressing of the olives and the extracting of
the oil, rely solely on the skill, experience and
intuition of humans. The goal in creating a world-class
extra-virgin olive oil is to extract the olive’s inherent
oil without altering its pure, natural flavor.
1. Differences in soil composition and climate
Soil directly affects the flavor of food, and all soils
are different. While soil conditions may be similar
country to country, the exact soil structure, texture and
chemical composition differs. What thrives in some soils
would perish in others. Similar to wine grapes, olives
perform best in soil that is chalky, stony, with a high
mineral content and good drainage.
The predominance of venerable, hundred-year-old olive
trees throughout the Mediterranean speaks to the longevity
and durability of this majestic tree in a range of
variable climates. A yearly weather cycle of sun and rain,
cold and heat is essential for a good harvest - variations
from a normal weather pattern will affect the size of an
olive crop and the concentration of oil in the olives. In
regions where frost is possible, this enemy has been known
to kill acres of olive trees. Olive trees have very deep
roots and can survive for long periods of drought without
rain, but the fruit thrives when rain comes during certain
critical periods during the growing season.
2. The specific olive cultivars.
There are
more than 2,000 varieties of olive trees in the word, and
roughly 130 of them are viable for pressing olive oil -
the rest are used for table olives or are considered
commercially un-important. In most olive oil producing
countries, the olive cultivars or mix of cultivars differs
among regions as well as between country to country. When
the same cultivars are grown in several different regions,
the resulting oils will still taste differently because of
the affects that weather and terroir have on the olives.
For example, one
can expect that a bottle of DOP oil from Liguria will be
soft and fragrant, while a DOP oil from Sicily will be
bracing and quite robust. While it is true that there will
always be the producer who throws you a curve, and the oil
that just does not meet the expected flavor profile, the
beauty of terroir is that it can usually be counted on to
deliver the expected flavor and style.
3. When the olives are picked.
Harvest time for olives can begin as early as mid-October
in regions that pick green, under-ripe olives, and end as
late as February in regions where very ripe, black olives
are preferred. Green olives contain less oil than black
olives, so oil pressed from these olives is costlier to
press. Cultural preference determines what style of oil is
made in each region.
4. How the olives are picked
Only sound olives are used to make the best oil -
windfalls should never be used, as bruised and damaged
olives are the enemy of healthy olive oil. Traditionally,
olives were picked by hand, and it is still done that way
today in some places. But olives can also be detached from
the tree by mechanical shaking devises and caught in nets,
or picked by flapping mechanical fingers on a picking
machine.
Once the olives are picked, they should be delivered to
the olive mill and pressed within 24 hours. There are
several different methods used to extract oil from the
olives, and there is much thought about which method
produces the better tasting oil. Like a better mousetrap,
oil producers keep an eye out for the newest method that
will yield the most delicious oil.
©
2003-5 Mary Lou Heiss
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Protected
Designation of Origin
In 1992,
the European Union adopted a system for recognizing,
regulating, guaranteeing and protecting culturally
important food products, based on classifications already
established in member countries. This EU classification -
PDO - is granted to food products whose flavor
characteristics are due exclusively to the terroir of a
particular geographical area, and cannot be successfully
reproduced elsewhere. These certified products earn the
right to carry the PDO seal on their labels to alert
customers to the special nature of their product. Today,
more than 500 foods from categories such as cheese, meats,
cereals, fruits, vegetables, fish, grains, nuts, and
confections have had their names and entities safeguarded
and protected by law.
In the
USA, the California Olive Oil Council has instituted a
seal for those California olive oils that meet strict
criteria based on standards of the International Olive Oil
Council in Madrid, Spain. This COOC seal guarantees that
the oil in the bottle has passed the test for extra virgin
classification, and that the oil was pressed from olives
grown in California.
Within
olive oil producing regions, are the products that wear
these certification seals better than other oils from the
same region without the seal? Not necessarily, but as all
the producers in a given area know what each other is
doing, it does ensure honesty and establishes a traceable
origin of the product for the consumer. As all oils must
pass a test for certification each year, the application
of these seals encourages producers to aim for the highest
standards, and allows them to be recognized for producing
a well crafted, superior product.
Designations by Producing Region
California
France
Greece
Italy
Spain
©
2003-5 Mary Lou Heiss
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Olive
Oil and Health
Olive oil is the principal source of fat in the
Mediterranean diet. The healthful benefits of extra-virgin
olive oil are due to its simple purity and genuine,
natural composition. Extra virgin olive oil is classified
as beneficial oil, and is easily digested. It is comprised
of a high percentage of oleic and linoleic
mono-unsaturated fatty acids, and low percentages of
both saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Mono-unsaturated fatty acids contain no cholesterol, and
consumption of these lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol levels,
offers protection against coronary heart disease, and can
significantly increase HDL (good cholesterol) levels.
Olive oil contains antioxidant tocopherols, polyphenols
and also vitamins A, E, D, and K. Olive oil helps protect
against some forms of cancers, including colon cancer, and
aids in regulating glucose levels in the bloodstream.
Studies of rheumatoid arthritis show that a diet inclusive
of olive oil is helpful in keeping this crippling
condition at bay. Most recently, researchers now suspect
that consuming 40 grams (3 Tablespoons) of olive oil per
day helps to naturally control blood pressure.
©
2003-5 Mary Lou Heiss
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