Tag Archives: Extra virgin olive oil

What is extra virgin olive oil? Top ten for a healthy diet

What is extra virgin olive oil? This is a top ten product, an essential element for the Mediterranean diet and a basic ingredient for your health.

What is extra virgin olive oil? This is a question that maybe some of you have asked when referring to the ideal ingredient for salads or toast, but really not everybody in the world has a clear idea about this product’s composition or benefits. Evoo is the base for the Mediterranean diet and a clear example of health presented as golden liquid.What is extra virgin olive oil

Anyway, if you ask this question, what is extra virgin olive oil? anywhere in Spain, probably everybody will give a quite accurate answer, as it is a really well-known and popular product here. However, in some other countries this concept could be simply enigmatic. Extra virgin olive oil or Evoo, to be short, is a high-quality vegetable oil whose antioxidant proportion makes it the king of Mediterranean diet and the prince of the Spanish most ancestral traditions in gastronomy.

Which is the difference between ordinary olive oil, virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil? Of course, quality, as usual. Particularly, what is extra virgin olive oil? It is the olive oil attaining the best quality standards in this area, not just concerning composition and taste, but also regarding acidity and health benefits. In this sense, it is important to remember that Evoo is produced by using perfect maturity status olives, whose properties are the best among the best.

On the other hand, one of the commonest aspects being ascribed to Evoo is its exclusive character and its expensive price. Nevertheless, we are not used to comparing the real quality and this product’s price. So for the question what is extra virgin olive oil? some consumers provide a fixed reply: this is the type of vegetable oil I cannot afford. To this respect, some tests can be done to find a counterpart for such a common prejudice.

Evoo’s composition allows its properties to remain intact in spite of frying, grilling or baking processes. In fact, it doesn’t break down as easily as other oils, not to forget its texture and taste. So what is extra virgin olive oil? It is a mixture of special touch and magic flavour that make you save money and health.

Moreover, what is extra virgin olive oil from commercial viewpoint? It is the product you will start to find at all the supermarkets around the world, since it is the star product providing oleic acid, phenols and vitamin E whose consumption entails a direct positive effect against oxidation rate.

Concerning its health benefits, what is extra virgin olive oil and why is it so positive? No doubt, it is a key product, as it involves low-density lipoprotein levels, that is a notable decrease in oxidation. Therefore, it is a kind of preventive value tool.

In conclusion, what is extra virgin olive oil? The secret of ethernal youth for human cells and the best option for all kinds of recipes. And what is extra virgin olive oil for the Spanish culture? Its both, an emblem and a heritage.

Recipes with extra virgin olive oil: Salmorejo from Córdoba

Recipes with extra virgin olive oil

Recipes with extra virgin olive oil

Recipes with extra virgin olive oil

The extra virgin olive oil is known by its multiple nutritional properties and its benefits for health. For this reason, its consumption is highly recommended. It is very important to include it in our diet as a raw ingredient or as part of a cooked dish. Today we are going to speak about a very good recipe due to its content in vegetables and extra virgin olive oil: Spanish salmorejo. There are lots of recipes with extra virgin olive oil and about Salmorejo in Spain, because this is a very well known dish, but today we are going to present only the most common. Continue reading

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Is it advisable to use extra virgin olive oil in frying? Definitely, yes

Is it advisable to use extra virgin olive oil in frying

Is it advisable to use extra virgin olive oil in frying?

There is a lot of doubt concerning the use of extra virgin olive oils in cooking. Some state that its consumption may be advisable only as a raw food because oil can lose its properties when heated. Others recommend to use it only as a raw food and to use other oils of less quality when frying, hiding behind the trite “olive oil makes you fat”.

Nothing further from the truth. Extra virgin olive oil is the best option for frying due to its heat resistance, which is better than others’. However, it is important to keep an eye on the heat subjected to oils. It is not recommendable to heat oils until they smoke and it is advisable to maintain temperature under 180ºC. The oil, when heated, does not lose any of its properties and continues to be a food full of healthy and nutritional properties for our body and, definitely, “it does not make us fat”.

It is important to know the role of oil when frying food. When the food is added to a frying pan, the oil creates a thin film around the piece of food that becomes gold and crusty with heat. This thin cover avoids the oil soaking in the food and in this way the nutritional properties of the food are preserved. Continue reading

Acidity levels in good olive oils

Acidity levels in good olive oils

Acidity levels in good olive oils:

A couple of days ago I wrote an article about the benefits of oleic acid, a fatty acid present in the triglycerides of olive oil. Today I am going to explain the different grades of acidity in olive oils, what that grade of acidity means and which levels correspond to best oils.

With this aim, it is important to analyze the features and qualities of the most important fatty acids that form the triglycerides of olive oil: oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids. The oleic acid is a fatty acid present in a very high proportion in olive oils; nearly the 75% of its composition. Decreasingly, in a second place, the linoleic acid is in between 3.5%-21%. As in the case of the oleic acid, our body is not able to synthesize it; therefore, its consumption is necessary and beneficial. Continue reading

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Low quality olive oils sold as extra virgin olive oil

Low quality olive oils sold as extra virgin olive oil

Please, pay close attention to the recent conclusions reached by the Spanish User and Consumer Organization in relation to the commercialization of different olive oils. It seems that not every single olive oil bottle labeled as Extra Virgin is really what it seems. Several olive oil trademarks have been analyzed and it has been detected that the quality levels of their olive oil products are not suitably labeled. Therefore, it is possible to find virgin olive oil considered and sold as if it was extra virgin olive oil.

The main differences between virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil begin in lands and basically depend on the olive fruit condition and the elaboration process in the Oil Mills, the mill used for making olive oil. If the fruits are in perfect conditions, these are washed and ground the same day of harvesting, then the oil is extracted from the fruit at a low temperature and then it is stored in tanks. Surely, the resultant oil will be of best quality, an excellent liquid with perfect taste and scent. Continue reading