In this installment
OLV Olive Oil
What does extra virgin mean anyway?
OLV Olive Oil
Though Italy garners most of the acclaim and attention for olive oil, Spain is actually the world’s leading producer of the golden elixir. According to some estimates, Spain produces. As far as reputation goes, the tides are changing. Spain is exporting more estate olive oils than ever before and culinary types are taking notice. Olv Bio is a great example of Spanish prowess. A high quality, hand harvested oil from the Flores Family in the La Mancha region in southern Spain best known as the home of Don Quixote. The Flores family is passionate about producing great oil. When they decided to get their olive groves certified organic, they didn’t stop there: they also helped to inspire 87 of their closest olive-growing neighbors to go organic, too.
This oil is a powerhouse. It might well be the biggest tasting oil we’ve come across in years bigger and bolder than any Tuscan oil on our shelves, the defacto kings of big oils. It’s organic, and organic oils tend to be rustic and bold, but this one really sets the bar above anything else we carry. It’s a blend of Arbequina and Picual olives that has big, bold, slightly sweet flavors making it incredibly useful in the kitchen.
Great for garden greens or a caprese salad of basil, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Certainly one of the most complex oils we carry and a fantastic ambassador for the quality of Spanish olive oil.
What does extra virgin mean anyway?
Traditionally produced extra virgin oils, made from the first pressing of olives, are essentially little more than the juice of the olive. Technically, “extra virgin” is a grade of olive oil—usually indicating the highest quality—distinguished by its naturally low levels of free oleic acid. To qualify as “extra virgin,” an olive oil must have a free acid count of less than 1 percent.
Oils made from lesser quality olives, or from the residue of first pressing oils, are significantly less flavorful and have much higher levels of free acidity. The higher the free acid level, the lower the grade; “virgin” olive oil has two to three times the free acid of an extra virgin oil. It is a measurement of how much of the fat in the oil has oxidized. In the case of olive oil, the less oxidation—and hence, the lower the level of free oleic acid—the better. Take note that “free acid” doesn’t mean the oil will taste acidic. To the contrary, oils with high levels of free oleic acid tend to taste either unpleasantly, cloyingly sweet (as in overripe fruit) or, alternatively, off-puttingly of benzine.
“Olive Oil”—the term is somewhat deceptive since you have to look for the absence of the words “extra virgin”—is the chemically refined stuff they sell at the supermarket. Despite its innocent sounding name, it’s actually the lowest edible grade of oil and by far the least flavorful. (It used to be known as “pure” olive oil and you may still see it referred to as such.) “Pomace” oil is pressed from the olive solids—skin, pulp and pits—left after the first pressing has been completed. It has little flavor, and is of little use to anyone who’s after the great taste of good olive oil. Sadly I’ve seen gallons of the stuff intentionally on display on the counters of upscale restaurants that apparently fail to grasp the low-grade message they’re unintentionally sending.
The logical—and intended—significance of the term “extra virgin” is that it would be used on only the highest quality olive oils.
Unfortunately, in today’s high-tech world it is possible to take a low-grade, essentially flavorless olive oil and chemically remove or reduce its free acidity down to a level that would technically qualify it as “extra virgin.” Oil of this sort has appeared on the market in the United States and other countries. If you’ve had real extra virgin olive oil, you’ll notice the difference immediately. The low-grade pretender costs about half as much. I’ve seen gallons of “extra virgin olive oil” on sale for something like $7. This is the Mediterranean equivalent of those big bottles of “vanilla extract” they sell to tourists coming home from Mexico. It’s just way too cheap to be the real thing. Sadly, the first-time buyer may unknowingly take home this phony “extra virgin oil” thinking they got a really good deal. But after using it at home they’ll quickly decide that olive oil was just one more example of modern marketing hype with no real redeeming value. And that would be a shame.
Other than a price that’s way too low to be real, the easiest way to spot this type of oil is to taste it. It will taste greasy and have hardly any olive flavor. And tasted next to a good quality extra virgin olive oil the difference in flavor, texture and aroma will be like night and day.
Moral of the story? Extra virgin olive oil is usually best. But, to be sure, buy from a reputable olive oil seller and try to taste before you buy.