Olive (and other) Oil

Olive oil, virgin olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, "pure" olive oil....what does it all mean?

Well, "virgin" oil is oil which has been extracted by means of cold pressing - no heat, no solvents, no refining with chemicals. The adjective "extra" simply means it has a lower acidity (less than 0.8% - I just looked it up). Olive oil labelled "virgin" must have less than 2% acidity. One of the finest, if not the finest extra virgin oil is Pax Jani. This oil is cold pressed using methods allegedly passed down from the ancient Etruscans and Romans, and is unfiltered to retain flavour. A gourmet oil indeed

But - what about "100% Pure Olive Oil". Hey - that sounds good! Sorry, no. It basically means it's made from olives rather than crude oil and is, therefore, no good for your car engine.

However, if the label says just "Olive Oil" - i.e. not virgin or extra virgin, it will have had some chemical refining. It will be less than than 1% acid, will lack a strong olive oil flavour, and is perfectly good for frying or baking.

Oh - and a really good one - "lite" olive oil! Sounds good and healthy, doesn't it? Hmmm...sorry to disappoint you healthy eating zealots, the "lite" refers to the colour! I'm afraid, in this case, oils is oils, it's all fat! Lite olive oil has been refined using chemicals and heat and is ok for frying.

I suggest you have a bottle of "Olive Oil" or peanut or sunflower for cooking and a bottle of "Extra Virgin Olive Oil" for salads on your shelf.

 

Virgin and extra virgin olive oil, which have “smoke points” of 406°F and 420°F respectively, are less suitable for high temperature frying than oils such as peanut or sunflower, which have smoke points of 450°F. The smoke point is, as the name implies, the point at which the oil starts to get smoky and, basically starts decomposing. Light olive oil has a higher smoke point, about 460°F, and, if you are going to use olive oil for frying you are better to use that.

Canola oil is very popular and has the least amount of saturated fats. The commonly used refined version is also used for cooking with a high (about 450°F) smoke point. Personally I don’t like its flavour. The unrefined oil is unsuitable for high temperature frying.

“Refined” oil sounds great but the processes they put it through – yuk! They use petroleum solvents and then boil off the toxic components; then it is bleached and deodorised. Still, it’s what you want to use for high temperature frying. I only hope they don’t find out in ten years time that we’ve been poisoning ourselves….

I try to use as little oil as possible and fry at a high temperature to minimise the time the food is in contact with the oil. It is scary to see stir fries swimming around in a bath of extra virgin olive oil with the stove extraction fan roaring away to rid the kitchen of the acrid smoke belching out of the pan