Categories The OLIVE Oil
The OLIVE Oil
Olive oil is a vegetable oil for culinary use mainly extracted from freshly picked fruit of the olive tree (Olea europaea) called olive. Almost one third of the olive pulp is oil, it is for this reason since ancient times has its oil extracted easily with a simple pressure of a primitive mill (mill).
Its use is mainly culinary oil extracted from ripe olives between six and eight months, just when they contain the maximum amount of oil and is usually in late autumn.
The olives are subjected to a first pressure in order to extract their juice, the quality of oil depends heavily on further processing. It is for this reason that producers monitor these steps carefully. The olive oil quality is judged by its organoleptic and its content of free fatty acids. The study of the properties of olive oil and olive cultivation, olive cultivation is called, being a branch of olive oil extraction from the Greek meaning Elaios crop science of the vegetable oil extraction Today olive oil is marketed packaged in bottles (glass or plastic) and drums from light.
The world's largest producers are in the vicinity of the Mediterranean, with Spain the world's largest producer.
Olive Varieties
In general we can say that the oils with yellow-gold correspond to sweet oils extracted from olives harvested late, while the dark-green flashes, own something fruity and bitter liquids come from early harvest olives.
Extraction
The olives must be harvested from the olive trees in late autumn or early winter and choose the moment that the olives have their maximum level of fatty acids in olive pulp.
Olive Oil Grades
The different qualities of olives, different methods of collection, transportation and more or less careful preparation leads to different grades of olive oils.
Olive Oil Characterisitics
The color of virgin olive oils can vary from gold to dark green depending on the variety of olive used, but it does not indicate that its quality is better or less.
Nutritional Info
The average fatty acid composition of olive oil is 78-83% in mono-unsaturated oleic acid, 6-9% in essential polyunsaturated linoleic acid, 8-15% in saturated palmitic acid and 1.5-3% in stearic acid. Olive Oil also contains 19 mg of Vitamin E per 100 gr. of oil.
Health and the EXTRA VIRGIN Olive Oil
Today's scientific research on nutrition has recognized the Mediterranean Spanish diet as among the healthiest in the world. EXTRA VIRGIN Olive oil, rich in monounsaturated fats, is largely responsible for this excellent bill of health.