22/04/2021
Is extra virgin olive oil the same than olive oil?
This question has been the trending topic in all conversations I had when I talked to customers always. We could talk for hours about the colour, density, acidity, bottling and labelling. But basically what you need to know what is better for your health and what has the best value for money. Defining therefore the adequacy of your olive oil for healthier meal.
Not all olive oils are the same, and their quality is directly related to the beneficial effects that they are capable of producing in the human body, therefore it is important to know what differentiates an extra virgin olive oil from a virgin olive oil or just olive oil; whose quality is incomparable
The first thing you need to know is that the name of extra virgin olive oil (or EVOO) is mandatory. So an olive oil that is not extra virgin or virgin must not be named as such. Reputable brands will never name their oil if it does not belong to this category because that will be nothing less than a legal violation in the countries where is produced.
However let’s not just be simplistic here.
I guess if you have read so far you are fairly interested in the process of extracting the oil from the olives. Please note that I did not say producing the oil. There is nothing to produce here there is just a process where the less technological input the more genuine and honest is the favour we can get from nature.
I have visited few, or many olive oil mills down my country, Spain. They are very simple facilities where space, cleanliness and very little machinery are the key elements of these shops.
THIS IS ALL THEY DO FOR EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL.
Olive in Conveyer belt→ press→ filter→ centrifuge→ filter→ bottling= extra virgin olive oil.
The extraction of the olive juice from the olive fruit is a simple but laborious process that throughout thousands of years has been improved and passed to generations in the Mediterranean areas. This process starts with picking the olive, the transportation to the mill, the extraction of the oils and bottling. As you can see they are very straight forward steps although the quality of your extra virgin olive oil leans on the attention and diligence when those are carried out.
The olive must be picked right on the maturity point, very carefully. These days the tree is shaken with a tractor and the olives fall on a floor net laid around the tree. The tree must be not damaged or this will interfere with the next year’s crops. After this collection, it will take place a first selection; pickers will separate the olive from the leaves and little branches. Olives are already free from soil, essential for the final cleaning. Once in sacks or small containers to avoid crushing, they rush to the mill reducing as much as possible the transport’s time and therefore, avoiding the acid fats molecule to corrupt. Once in the Mill there is a second selection by hand of all debris and leaves they might remain. Then lightly washed so little dust and maybe some insects are washed away from the olive fruit.
Now the olive is ready for the press. The temperature must be always under 27° Celsius to be considered cold press. All the fruit will be compressed mechanically and all the juice will be obtained in what is call the first extraction. Now is when the first and premium juices are out of the olive, will be filtered. This will correspond 10% to 20% of the total oil capacity that can be extracted and produce from the olives crop. The process centrifuges the juice to separate the water from the oil in the nectar. Filter again and now we have the potential “extra virgin olive oil”. I say potential because we need to do a chemical analysis of the acidity in this first extraction. See if the oleic acid (omega 9 monounsaturated fatty acid) are at the correct numbers: must be 79% at minimum. This analysis will determine if all the processes before explained are correctly executed. We will also know if the maturity and quality of the olive is adequate, the trees’ health, the land cleanliness and the care of the crops are correct for the production of this superfood.
If expectedly all the level are right we have what we, legitimately, can call extra virgin olive oil. In simple terms first cold extraction with more that 79% of oleic acid. All the oil that will be storage in stainless steel tanks until is put into bottles, tins or carafes.
Within the extra virgin olive oil we must distinguish two varieties the monovarietal which will be made out of just one type of olive. Or the “de coupage” or blend which will include more that on type of olive. First category will be always finer oil.
Let’s go now for the second extraction from the same pressed olives. We will have what we call the virgin olive oil. Still is an oil that contains in between 55% and 78% of the oleic acid. Still is obtain by cold press and it is a good quality product, it is better to cook than any other vegetable oil but with shortage of omega9
With all the olive and pits paste that remains, mills will produce what just it is just call olive oil. These oils will be obtained through a refine process. Which is a chemical process that will not alter the glyceric structure of the oils. This process will extract the remaining olive oil. This oil now will be blend approximately 10% to 20% with virgin olive oil and it will constitute what is commercially called olive oil.
There are more oils that can be extracted from the rest of the paste and it is what we call Pomace oil. Those remains will be only adequate for human consumption if it is blended with virgin or extra virgin olive oil. The wanted oleic acid (omega 9) are around 1% and is considered very low quality olive oil.
One of the most common mistakes is to believe that the higher the acidity of the olive oil, the stronger its flavour. Acidity measures the amount of free fatty acids - mostly oleic acid - in the oil. This release is the result of the breakdown that occurs in the union of the glycerin molecules and the fatty acids that make up olive oil. These unions can break because the olives are not in optimal conditions after harvest (excess maturity, frost ...) or because the oil has deteriorated during the extraction or storage process. So the lower the acidity, the higher the quality and the lower the risk of it being altered.
OliviaCam.
