"Extra
Virgin", "First Cold Press" — What's It All Mean? Everyone knows that when it comes to olive
oil, "extra virgin", means the very best olive oil. But what—exactly—does the term "extra
virgin" mean? In the
broadest sense, extra virgin olive oil refers to raw, unprocessed, unrefined olive oil. Just the pure juice of
the olive, with all of its nutrients and flavor intact. But most importantly, the oil has no taste or odor defects
as judged by an independent, third party. The acidity of the oil, a measure of how ripe or old the oil is, will also
be below 1 percent. To guarantee
consumer confidence in California Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the California Olive Oil Council (COOC) introduced its Seal of Quality
program in 1998. To earn the Seal, oil is submitted to an independent laboratory for chemical analysis and then evaluated
by a Panel of Tasters. Each member of the tasting panel has undergone rigorous, highly specialized training. Members
reflect California’s talented culinary community: the panel includes some of the Golden State’s finest chefs,
specialty farmers, food and wine writers, and experienced olive oil aficionados. To insure objectivity, all olive oils are laboratory tested and tasted blind. Panelists
taste for both defects and overall quality. Only oils that are made from 100% California olives containing 0.5% or less free
fatty acid and are determined to be free of defects are awarded the COOC Seal.
To find out more about extra virgin olive oil, please read
on.
How's It Made?
Real extra virgin olive oil is typically produced on a
family-owned farm either here in the U.S. or abroad. This is because to make real extra virgin olive, you end up
with a relatively small quantity of oil. The large,
multi-national manufacturers are going after two things when they make olive oil—volume and shelf life. Neither
of which is possible with extra virgin oil. To make extra
virgin olive oil, the olives are generally picked by hand so as not to damage the skin or pulp. The harvest season ranges
from early October to January. The olives are then transported in well-aerated containers to a nearby olive mill.
At the mill, any leaves or twigs are removed, the olives are
rinsed in cold water, and then pressed at room temperature. This is what is refered to as the first, 'cold' pressing.
Extra virgin oil demands that the oil is obtained from the
olives within 24 hours of being picked. Any longer, and the olives—as with any fruit—will start to
ripen or ferment, which will degrade the quality of the oil. Since
no heat or chemicals are used in the making of extra virgin olive oil, only about a third of the potential oil is obtained.
That's all. After pressing, the oil is allowed
to settle or 'rest' in air-tight stainless steel tanks for a couple of months. This encourages any remaining water to
separate out, and it gives the oil a chance to lose some of its bitterness. For those who like this taste, some producers
sell a limited quantity of Olio Nuovo (New Oil) late in November and early December. Given this labor and time-intensive process, olive oil is rarely produced
in this manner today. Estimates are that less than 10 percent of all the olive oil in the world is. But that 10
percent—WOW—what a remarkable taste sensation!
The Flavors of Real Extra
Virgin Olive Oil What determines the
flavor of a real extra virgin olive oil? Two factors—the type of olive, and the time of the year that the olive
is pressed. The olive oil sold by All Things Olive comes
from California olive trees. The olive tree has been growing in California since the late 1700s, when the Franciscan
monks began planting them along their mission trail from San Diego to Sonoma. The olives were the varieties known to
their native Spain: Misson, Manzinillo, Ascolano, and Sevillano are some of the more common varieties grown today.
In the late 1980s, at the beginning of the resurgence of California's olive oil industry, olive varieties native to Italy
were planted by the entrepreneurs. Pendalino, Lecchino, and Frantoio are common Italian varieties grown in California
today. Each olive, just like apples, grapes, and all
other fruit, offers a unique flavor. Olive oil producers make their oil from single variety olives or they blend a number
of olives together to create distinctive flavors. The
time of the year that an olive is picked and pressed will also affect the flavor of the oil. Olives are picked each
year in California beginning about October and continuing through to February. In the early fall, the olive is green.
As it ripens, it changes color, Mild and delicate olive oil is typically obtained from Mission olives that are pressed
late in the year, usually in December. At this point, the olive is very black and ripe. When pressed, the oil
will have a mild olive flavor, with minimal "pepper" or "bitterness" on the finish. Because it does not have a strong olive flavor, a mild and delicate olive
oil is often used as a substitute for butter. You get all the healthful attributes of olive oil, without a strong olive
flavor. This makes a mild and delicate oil ideal for use on toast or bagels, scrambling eggs, or on fresh peas. The next notch up in the flavor category is the "fragrant and fruity"
olive oil. This oil is most often pressed from Spanish olives that are almost, but not quite fully ripe. This
category of olive oil is a good choice to serve with salads. The next category, "olivey and peppery" olive oil is typically produced from Italian olives which
are a bit younger. This type, often referred to as a Tuscan-type, is great on a crusty piece of bread or with pasta.
The last category is the leafy green and grassy. This
oil comes from olives, Spanish or Italian, that are pressed early in the year. That gives them their characteristicly
strong olive flavor and peppery finish. What determines
the flavor of a real extra virgin olive oil? Two factors—the type of olive, and the time of the year that the
olive is pressed.
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Olive
oil is unique among all the oils in that you can eat it without having to first process or refine it. This is because
an olive is really a fruit—like an apple or a pear--whose juice is an oil.
You can pick an olive
off a branch and press it to get its oil. Oil produced from olives in this way is, in the truest sense, extra virgin
olive oil—the fresh squeezed juice of the olive. But fresh-squeezed olive oil is a rare commodity.
Estimates are that of all the olive oil produced worldwide each year, less than 10 percent is really, truly,
extra virgin olive oil.
To be a true extra virgin olive oil, the oil must have no taste or odor defects as
determined by a trained panel of experts. It must also undergo a chemical analysis to determine if the oil has a 'free
acidity' level of less than 0.8 percent if it is a European oil, or 0.5 percent if it is from California. The
free acidity level is an indication of how ripe the olives were when they were pressed--the higher the acidity level the riper
the fruit was. Just as you would not want to eat a pear or banana if it was too ripe, you do not want to press
olives that are past their peak ripeness. If the oil has no taste or odor
defects, and it is below these acidity levels, it is declared an extra virgin olive oil.
Oil that is good but does not meet the extra virgin requirements is referred to as "virgin"
olive oil. Virgin olive oil is generally not available to the public and is sold commercially for
the food industry. The next level of olive oil is "pure" olive oil (acidity less than 3.3%), which
is usually a blend of refined and virgin or extra-virgin oil. "Pomace" oil comes from the final pressing of
the olive mash or pomace. It is used for manufacturing, making cosmetics, and as an oil for lamps.
The oil from seeds, such as sesame, grape, safflower, corn, sunflower, soy, and canola,
can only be obtained using high pressure, heat, and often-times,chemical solvents such as hexane.
To sum up, the difference between real extra virgin olive oil and what is
typically labeled extra virgin olive oil in the U.S. is somewhat comparable to the difference between a glass of fresh squeezed
orange juice and a can of orange soda.
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What about the Other "Extra Virgin" Olive Oil? With less than 10 percent of all olive oil produced in the world each year
estimated to be really extra virgin olive oil, you might be wondering about the olive oil in your cupboard. How is most
olive oil made today? To get the greatest amount
of oil possible from the olives, manufacturers need to "hot" press the oil. In making extra virgin oil, a
key step is pressing the olives at room temperature. But this "cold" pressing only gets about a third of
all the potential oil out of the olive. To meet today's high and continually rising demand for olive oil, large
olive oil producers must use high heat and industrial solvents like hexane to get almost all the oil from the olive. Hexane, it should be noted, is harmful to the environment. However,
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not require manufacturers to list it on the bottle's label because almost all of
it evaporates during the processing. After being hot pressed,
the oil has no color, flavor, odor, or healthful properties. It is also inedible. The manufacturer will need to
add chemicals and flavors, such as industrial chlorophyll and beta carotene, to make the oil look green and to give it some
taste and smell. But that is not all they need to do. To
ensure the longest possible shelf-life (who do you know that has ever thrown out a bottle of olive oil?) the oil must undergo
a number of other steps. Among them: Bleaching—Eliminates
any pigments in the crude oil. Degumming—Removes
the free fatty acids and small quantities of proteins and other substances that contribute to the instability of the oil and
the production of smoke during high-temperature cooking. Deodorizing—Eliminates
substances that causes oil to go rancid, and thus prolong its shelf life. Hydrogenation—Adding hydrogen prevents oxidation or aging of the oil. Refining—An alkaline substance (often caustic soda) is added to transform
the oil's fatty acids into soap, which is then extracted from the oil via centrifugation. Anti-oxidation—Synthetic vitamin E is added to further prolong shelf
life.
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Free Acidity Level (Oleic Acid per 100 gms.)
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Extra Virgin
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None
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Some
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2.0% maximum
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Some
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How Can I Tell If It's Really Extra Virgin
Olive Oil? The simplest way is to buy California olive oil that
has earned the California Olive Oil Council's (COOC) seal.
California produces 99 percent of the olive
oil made in the U.S. each year. The California Olive Oil Council is an independent third party that certifies whether
or not a California olive oil is really extra virgin. The COOC seal, awarded annually, is your assurance that the
Council's trained experts have verified that the oil in the bottle you are buying really is extra virgin.
Without the seal, there are a number of clues that can tell you if an oil is really
an extra virgin olive oil:
Price—Real
extra virgin olive oil will be priced significantly above the other oils on the shelf. Acidity Level—This is a measure of the free fatty acids in the
oil, which essentially indicates how ripe, or more accurately, how decomposed the oil is when it went into the bottle.
To be called extra virgin oil, it must have an free acidity level below 0.80 percent (below 0.50 percent for COOC-certified
extra virgin olive oil). Olive Variety/Varieties—Just
as grapes or apples have different flavors, so too do olives. Look to see which type of olive or olives were pressed
to produce the oil in the bottle. The variety will also give you a good indication of the oil's flavor. Another
flavor factor is how early or late in the harvest season the olives were pressed. Olives harvested early, say in September,
will be green and produce a more leafy green and pungent oil. It will also have more healthful properties. Olives
harvested late, in January or even February, will be black and produce a milder oil. Growing Region—The region where the olive trees are grown—the
terrior as it is called in France—with its unique type of soil, weather, and sunshine, will also have an affect on the
flavor of the oil obtained from those olives. Real extra virgin oils will promote their growing regions. Date—Since olive oil, unlike wine, does
not get better with age, the clock starts ticking as soon as the olive is picked from the tree. As a rule, olives must
be pressed within 24 hours to keep the acidity level low. Knowing the pressing date can tell you how fresh the
oil in the bottle is. Failing this fact, look for other signs of age, with the weakest being the "best if used
by" date. (Note that oil in a clear bottle that is displayed on a store shelf in direct sunlight, or even store
lighting, can age rapidly.)

A
Word about European Olive Oil
If you are considering
the purchase of European olive oil, there are a number of clues to help you determine if the oil is really extra
virgin oil. The most authoritative is the European Union's denominations of origin program. This is a strict labeling
policy that means a certain product comes from a specific geographical area, and was produced under a rigorous set of clearly
defined standards that have historically been used to produce the product. Think Chianti or Champagne or Parmagean cheese.
Real extra virgin olive oil will carry its country's designations of origin, as established by the European Union.
Some examples are:
France--Appellation
d'origine contrôlée (AOC)
Italy-- Denominazione di Origine Protetta (DOP) Spain--Denominación de
Origen (DO)
Given the big and growing premium of the Euro
over the dollar, authentic extra virgin olive oils from Europe will continue to be much more expensive than the other
"extra virgin" olive oils on the shelf. But they will be the real deal.
A word to the wise, olive
oil that says "Imported from Italy" on the label can, and usually does, mean that the olives or olive oil was shipped
by ocean freighter to an Italian port, and was bottled by an Italian company.
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