Supposedly you walk into a market to buy olive oil. You go to the designated shelf and see many brands, sizes and bottles. How do you choose?

In this article, we will go through some common knowledge, offer some insight and learn how to read the label and through the label.

Before buying it is good to take some things in consideration:

• Starting from the very beginning, the container itself is vital. Avoid transparent glass because it doesn’t shield olive oil from light, olive oil’s enemy. Choose a dark glass bottle or a tin can, stored in a shelf without access to direct sunlight.
• Next is category. As a philosophy, we choose Extra Virgin Olive Oil, since it always has the best price to quality ratio. There would be a point in buying lesser categories if you lived in Greece which is a producing country and you consumed in average 20 ltr per person per year. For categories see here. And yes, you can fry with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
• Following is the extraction method. There are two possible options here:
• Cold press / First cold press : Is the method requiring grinding stones, a hydraulic press and a vertical separator
• Cold extraction: is a modern method in which olive oil is separated with the use of centrifugal force.

It is best to pick cold extracted olive oils since this is the industry standard and is comparably superior to pressing in most of examined aspects.

• Then, we go to origin. Before choosing, it is good to remember that no country can claim to produce the best olive oil. Good olive oil comes from areas inside countries. An area which produces high quality Extra Virgin Olive oil is Apokoronas, where our village of Tsivaras is situated. But how can someone know these areas?

All these areas are designated under the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. All origin claims must go back to these areas in order to have any significance. “Produced in <Country>” isn’t a locality claim, since E.U. legislation allows European companies to import olive oil from an E.U. country and, after proper categorization, can be sold as native to the bottling company. This applies to all E.U. countries, both as sellers and as importers.

PDO and PGI cannot be tampered, are fraud-proof and they are the only safe way to properly understand where your olive oil is from.

• Finally, the most expensive isn’t the best. Something recommended would be to choose a label, try it, then another, etc. until you have a small knowledge of brands, varieties and areas and be able to easy pick a label!

After buying it, storage is still important. We try to protect olive oil from its enemies:

• Light: As stated above, we pick properly our olive oil from the store. In our home, we store it in a place with no sunlight access.
• Air: Oxygen in air reacts with olive oil and oxidizes it. This means that olive oil will lose its characteristics faster than expect (as stated in best before date). To prevent this, first we choose the amount we expect to consume within 1-2 months and second we close the cap after each use tightly.
• Time: as stated above, always choose the amount you plan to consume within 1-2 months. However, it is a fact that bigger amounts get better prices, so if you buy a quantity not expected to consume so quickly, remember to store in a dry, dark and cool place.
• Temperature: Olive oil doesn’t really like heat or cold. The best temperature for storing olive is between 15⁰c - 20⁰c and away from quick temperature changes, like near an oven. Remember, store in a dry, dark and cool place. Putting olive oil in the refrigerator will not really help it somehow and it will crystalize, which will make it difficult to use.

The Mediterranean diet, one of the most widespread diets around the world, is based on the consumption of olive oil as the main source of fat. Over the last 50 years, surveys carried out in parts of the Mediterranean, including Crete and southern Italy, have shown that the Mediterranean diet is responsible for the longevity of the inhabitants and the absence of cardiovascular and digestive diseases.

The Mediterranean Diet, rich in fibers, is based on eating healthy foods for the body, vegetable and plant foods. Vegetables, pasta, rice, legumes and fruits are its main ingredients, while food of animal origin is consumed in small quantities.
Olive oil, specifically raw, is used in salads and always at the end of cooking. Finally, in this model of diet, it is common to consume small quantities of red wine during meals.

An example of Mediterranean diet could be:

And also don't forget that Olive Oil:

• Has the same number of calories (9.3 per gr) with any other vegetable fat.

• It is, together with avocado oil, the only vegetable oils that can be consumed immediately after extraction without having to undergo any further treatment

• It is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids: 60-80% oleic acid

• It has a very low content of saturated fatty acids ~ 14%

• It has approx. 10% linoleic acid

• Contains about 10% of the required daily amount of vitamin E in each tablespoon

• It has a high content of natural antioxidants and nutrients (eg polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenes etc.)

• It has a high content of squalene that actively regulates metabolism

• Does not contain water, proteins, gluten, carbohydrates, salt or other preservative

• It is absorbed by the body by 98%, while retains an important role in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins

• It has an excellent digestion by the human body, while its fatty acid composition and the presence of chlorophyll helps digestive tract function, stimulates the enzyme pancreatic lipase, facilitates the secretion of bile and promotes the metabolism of endogenous cholesterol.

Sources:

www.sevitel.gr

In order to properly categorize an olive oil, it has to go through a chemical analysis to determine the value of several parameters and at the same time, an organoleptic analysis to validate the category statement. So, olive oil products are divided in three major categories:  

    A) Virgin Olive Oils

    B) Refined Olive Oils

    C) Olive pomace oils.

-A-

Virgin olive oil is produced solely by extracting the oil from the olives by using solely mechanical means. Essentially, it is the juice of the fruit of the olive tree. This category requires an organoleptic analysis to prove the category statement. There are four categories of virgin olive oil:

-B-

Refined olive oil is produced through processing lampante olive oil with chemical and physical filters but without changing the initial glyceridic structure. They can be blended with virgin oils, but not the opposite. There are two types of refined olive oils:

Refining process are:

1. 1. Deacidification

Olive oil is processed with a NaOH solution, which will form some kind of soap with the free fatty acids. Then, the mixture will undergo washing to clean solid parts and achieve a deacidified oil.

2. 2. Bleaching

The oxidised substances of present in lampante olive oils are removed by filtering the oil through activated charcoal or other similar bleaching agents. The oil gets a yellow colour which reminds many cheap vegetable oils.

3. 3. Deodorising

To remove unpleasant odours, the oil is processed by going through high temperatures and through vacuum.  The outcome is a an odouless oil.

-C-

Olive pomace oil is the oil obtained by treating olive pomace with solvents or other physical treatments, to the exclusion of oils obtained by re esterification processes and of any mixture with oils of other kinds. Olive pomace oil cannot be sold with the designation or definition “olive oil”, because it is a product of a by-product of the extraction process.

Olive pomace, or the solid by-product of the extraction, still contains a minimal quantity of oil. Olive mills cannot extract it, so the pomace goes to specialized plants for processing. During this process, pomace will be dried and with hexane so that all liquids are separated from the solids. Finally, hexane and liquids will be separated to obtain crude olive pomace oil.

There are three types of olive pomace oils:

(*) Acidity is the basic parameter for categorisation of olive oils. However, there are many chemical tests required to be within certain limits for each category.

Sources:

www.internationaloliveoil.org

In order to categorise an olive oil, taste is as important as the chemical analysis. Olive oil is the only food required to undergo a trained and approved panel test to prove its category statement.
To be able to label an olive oil as Extra Virgin, there must be no defects in its taste and must at least just perceptibly fruity.

Flavor defects in olive oil are associated with problems with the olive fruit (olive fly, frozen conditions), improper handling of olives during harvest (dirt, wet fruit, prolonged storage prior to milling), certain milling conditions (unsanitary equipment, excessive heat), and improper or prolonged storage after milling (oxidation).

The first step in learning how to taste olive oil is to understand how our senses work. Perception of flavor relies on both our senses of taste and smell. The ability to taste is quite limited; receptors on our tongue can only discern sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. All other information that we think of as flavor is actually perceived by smelling food through the back of our nostrils (retronasally) while it is in our mouths.

Knowing the facts above, we undergo this process:

1) Pour two tablespoons into the cobalt blue olive oil tasting glass, or glass for white wine or a glass for cognac.
2) Cover the bottom of the glass with your hand to help the olive oil warm up while simultaneously you cover the top of the glass. This will help release the aromas and flavours of the olive oil.
3) Swirl the glass for a couple of minutes and allow the olive oil to reach all .
4) Release the hand covering the glass. Instantly sniff a couple of times the olive oil and then take a deep breath to sense the fruity attribute.
5) Sip a small amount of the olive oil. Close your mouth well and draw in air through your teeth, delicately first and more intense after, while breathing out through your nose. Here you must sense the bitter attribute.
6) Now you can either expel the olive oil or continue by swalling the olive oil to sense other things about this olive oil.
7) Right after you swallow the olive oil, the phenols of olive oil with start a reaction which you will feel as a tingle in your throat and might be as strong to make you cough 1-2 times. This is the pungent atrribute which is absolutely normal to happen and it is a proof of olive oil quality.

Finally, here are some common attributes of olive oil:

Positive:

Astringent: dry and puckering mouthfeel created by tannins mostly appearing in bitter and robust olive oils
Buttery: creamy, smooth sensation on palate
Floral: perfume / aroma of flowers
Forest: fresh aroma reminiscent of forest floor, NOT dirty
Fresh: good aroma, fruity, not oxidixed
Fruity: refers to the aroma of fresh olive fruit, which is perceived through the nostrils and retronasally when the oil is in one’s mouth.
Grass: the aroma of fresh-cut (mowed) grass
Green: aroma/flavor of unripe olives
Harmonious: balance among the olive oil’s characteristics with none overpowering the other
Herbaceous: unripe olive fruit reminiscent of fresh green herbs

Negative:

Acetone: aroma of nail polish remover, associated with winey defect
Blue Cheese: aroma associated with muddy sediment defect
Burnt/Heated: caused by processing at too high a temperature
Cucumber: off flavor from prolonged storage, particularly in tin cans
Dirty: oils which have absorbed unpleasant odors and flavors of dirty waste water during milling
Flat / Bland: oils which have no positive or negative aroma or flavor characteristic of olive oil; may indicate presence of refined olive oil
Frozen / Wet Wood: sweet, dry, and typical aroma/flavor derived from olives which have been exposed to freezing temperatures
Fusty: anaerobic fermentation that occurs when olives are stored in piles too long before milling
Grubby: flavor imparted to oil by olive fly damage to olives
Haywood: flavor of dried olives
Muddy Sediment: barnyard-like aroma caused by olives' prolonged contact with dirt before or after milling
Musty: moldy, humid flavor created by wet olives that have been stored too long before pressing
Metallic: oils that have had prolonged contact with reactive metal surfaces either during processing or storage
Rancid: the flavor of oxidation that occurs as olive oil ages, often described as “stale nuts”
Rough: nasty, thick, greasy mouth feel
Unbalanced: olive oils with overwhelming flavors of bitterness and pungency
Winey /vinegary: sour flavor caused by aerobic fermentation of olives during processing

Sources:
http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://www.oliveoilsource.com