Tell me why: extra-virgin olive oil. June 17, 2009
Posted by ourfriendben in wit and wisdom.Tags: how olive oil is made, olive oil, virgin vs. extra-virgin olive oil
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It’s me, Richard Saunders of Poor Richard’s Almanac fame, here today to ask how olive oil can be extra-virgin. Maybe the Virgin Mary could be described as “extra-virgin,” but surely everything else is either a virgin or it isn’t. And why would olive oil be described as “virgin” in the first place? Is there such a thing as virgin olive oil as well as extra-virgin?
These questions came up when I dropped by Hawk’s Haven, the rural Pennsylvania cottage where our friend Ben and Silence Dogood live with numerous cats, birds, chickens, fish, and their puppy Shiloh, yesterday. I was lucky enough to arrive just as Silence was setting out a repast for OFB and their friend Sarah, and it included fabulous bread and a dipping sauce made with extra-virgin olive oil. (See Silence’s post “Silence makes pesto” for more on that.)
When I got home, I consulted with my good friend Google to find some answers, and it led me to www.chefdepot.net. Here’s what they had to say:
To make olive oil, the olives are picked by hand (!!!), crushed, pits and all, under giant millstones, then spread on mats which are stacked in a press and subjected to hundreds of pounds of pressure. Oil and water are pressed out of the olives, collected in vats, and then the water is separated from the oil, which is called “cold-pressed” because no heat was used to extract it. It is also considered “virgin” olive oil because, as the website explains, “it is pure, unrefined and unprocessed.”
Okay, fine. So what is extra-virgin olive oil? According to Chef Depot, “‘Extra’ is the highest grade for olive oil—the best you can buy. The virgin oil… may be called ‘extra’ if it has less than 1% free oleic acid, and if it exhibits superior taste, color and aroma. Thus, the ‘extra’ in extra virgin olive oil means ‘premium’, or simply, ‘the best’.”
So, there you have it. No wonder Silence’s dipping sauce tasted so good!
Soap makers use this stuff called Pomace, it’s the crappiest olive oil, it’ extracted from the remaining pits and skins using solvents, it’s a darker green, especially when compared to the more golden evoo.
Thank goodness they’re using it in soap instead of selling it to us! But I have to say, the most fabulous olive oil I ever had was a small-batch organic evoo, and it was definitely green, not gold. I bought it at a local products conference, and I wish I’d saved the bottle so I could get more!
I get so mind-boggled in some of the gourmet shops where they have olive oils from Italy, Greece and Provence, etc. Apparently there really are differences in flavor according to region, just like with wine. I find I like the mild, green-tasting (not peppery) ones.
Yep, that’s what the article I read said too, Jen. Terroir and all that! Makes sense, I guess.
I was always told that virgin means no chemicals were used to process it (which is basically what you said, unrefined). Which means I always get virgin olive oil. And yes I always go for the extra. Yum. I love freshly baked rosemary bread dipped in olive oil. Double yum. Now if only the shops around here would do olive oil tastings. I just can’t compare them unless they are side to side. Chesse they will do. Wine they will do. But why do they never do the same thing for olive oil?
Yum, an olive oil tasting (preferably with rosemary bread)! What a great idea!!!
Growing up my parents were always partial to Spanish olive oil. They said it had the best color, and therefore the best flavor. I definitely choose by the color. The darkest green I can find–beware of tinted bottles! I definitely want that distinctive peppery taste, and it usually is marked “extra”. I just ran to the kitchen and checked and sure enough what we are currently buying is from Spain. We’ve even started experimenting with olive oil in some of our sweet baked goods after a recipe I tried suggested it as a variation.
The most recent bottle I got is also Spanish olive oil, Curmudgeon. Now I can’t wait to finish the current bottle so I can try it! You’ll have to post about your baking experiments. I’m curious about how they’ll turn out!
What????
You didn’t know that?
Ha ha ha! I didn’t either.
Ha! Well, I guess we do now.
I’ve been wondering why they called it that or why they even needed it. Now I know, so thanks for the excellent explanation.
Thanks, Ratty!