Extra virgin olive oil

Extra virgin olive oil vs olive oil

The are many reasons to buy Extra Virgin Olive Oil because of its a vast source of flavours and tastes, specially when it is “just harvest”. Moreover olive oil can cure a lot of illnesses and helps us to enjoy of a healthier life.

Scientists are investigating in why the incidence of cancer in the Mediterranean countries is clearly lower compared to the rest of Europe, USA or Canada.

They think that olive oil could have something to do with it, even thou this hypotesis has not proven yet. It seems that olive oil contains poliphenols molecules that would act as protectors of our health, and even could kill malign cancer cells!

Olive oil may act actually as a medicament that has effects in the short, medium and long term. Besides, many investigations have proven that helps to reduce colestherol and therefore arterial pressure.

What is Extra Virgin olive oil?

There are many others kinds of vegetables oils, as palm oil, coco oil, soja oil or girasol oil. Some of them are clearly bad for our health, as the palm oil, and it is very recomended not to cook with them. The reason is that they turn easily with the heat into very aggressiv free radicals, that could bring cancer in a short-medium time!

On the other side olive oil resists better to high temeperatures and remain stable. So, it is very recommended, form a health point of view, to always cook with olive oil. Besides, it must be Extra Virgin because this means that its oleic acid is still non-degradated and its poliphenols still there.

For this reason, we must always take care of keeping our extra virgin olive oil in its bottle, well closed, far from light and air (oxiygens harms the oil starting oxidation processes).

Extra Virgin Oil is the one extracted only by mechanicals means in the mill, without chemicals or any additives, just olive jug. Sometimes we see in the label “refinated olive oil” or simply “olive oil”. Be careful! this means that the oil was so deterorated that had to be “restaured” by chemicals means. Therefore, now it has no taste or flavour at all, or maybe a lately when it is at the end mixed with a little part of extra virgin oil. Avoid them!

However, if you read “Virgin” instead “Extra Virgin” it’s still ok. That means that the acidez has gone over 0,8º, in other words, that its oleic acid has initiated some degradation process, but you must use it within a few weeks.

Extra virgin olive oil smoke point

The smoke point represents an oil’s resistance to heat, it is is the temperature at which it will stop glistening and start to burn and smoke instead, imparting an acrid, burnt flavor to the foods. This happens when the compounds in the oil break down as a result of heat exposure.

Some sources put the smoke point of olive oil somewhere around 374–405°F (190–207°C) (17). This makes it a safe choice for most cooking methods, including most pan frying.

When you heat olive oil to its smoke point, the beneficial compounds in oil start to degrade, and potentially health-harming compounds form. But even when heated past its smoke point, virgin olive oils produce low levels of harmful compounds due to the high antioxidant content in the oil.

The smoke point of oil varies with its quality. High quality extra virgin olive oils (with low free fatty acids) have a high smoke point. They are an excellent choice, but an expensive one. Mass produced, low quality olive oils have a much lower smoke point.