Posted on 12/12/2011 7:58:03 PM PST by Rabin
The term "extra-virgin olive oil" means the olive oil has been made from crushed olives and is not refined in any way by chemical solvents or high heat… "In the past, the technology that had been used had been used really by the Romans, you grounded the olives with stone mills [and] you crushed them with presses." One olive oil producer told Mueller that 50 percent of the olive oil sold in the United States is, in some ways, adulterated.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
In chemical terms extra virgin olive oil is described as having a free acidity, expressed as oleic acid, of not more than 0.8 grams per 100 grams and a peroxide value of less than 20 milliequivalent O2. It must be produced entirely by mechanical means without the use of any solvents, and under temperatures that will not degrade the oil (less than 86°F, 30°C).
In order for an oil to qualify as "extra virgin" the oil must also pass both an official chemical test in a laboratory and a sensory evaluation by a trained tasting panel recognized by the International Olive Council. The olive oil must be found to be free from defects while exhibiting some fruitiness.
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Now, that said, there is VERY high competition in production of the highest quality olive oil in CA. I know too much about it, having been 'at the fight' in Temecula, seeing how the best is rated (judged) and seeing how they rate quality. It's really quite rigorous.
Olea Farm and Temecula Olive Oil Company have won 'Best Of' many shows, and if I remember rightly, they help harvest and process many olives up and down the coast of CA with mobile olive mills.
I did see a bottle of EVOO from Italy on the shelf at the Giant for sale for $48.00. It was a highly recommended salad oil.
They BLEND oil there and it could come from North Africa as well as Spain, or even Italy.
According to an extensive test done about a decade ago by a German university the best olive oil from the German perspective ("Least poisonous" was their term) was sold by Aldi's ~ that's their Bertolini brand I believe.
I've used it before ~ and even after it's sat around for a couple of years it's still a good product. Some far higher priced oils have short shelf lives.
TSmith, “Watch what you say about Olive Oil”
No-worries Mate. Revised Spinach can construction features insure the cob pipes will no longer facilitate spinach access. Even in the inverted pipe (rather than inverted can) configuration.
Safety ground?
‘scuz me, from olive oil to sleaze...? There’s wimmen present.
It’s common to filter and acid-neutralize lesser quality olive oils. The result is perfectly edible, if bland.
I prefer them in all cases.
Grown from Sacramento to Redding in the great valley. They are the finest in the world.
People will pay extra for what they think is Italian-source olive oil
Read an article a few monts ago about olive oil shipped in tanker trucks from Spain and Portugal to Italy where it was mixed with local olive oil and sold as genuine Italian extra vergin oil, the article recomended California olive oil as it is likely to be purer, whoknew, we buy our oil by prize
Grounded? They must have been rolled on the ground, as in baseball (grounded out) or thrown onto the ground as in football (intentional grounding).
“Extra-virgin olive oil.”
A friend of mine once said “It means them olives ain’t even been kissed.”
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