EVO oil...the meaning of EVOO

[Maxone73]

Just to make things clear (and considering that in my family we make our own oil...small production only for self consumption, so I know a couple of things about it):

When you hear things like "this extra virgin olive oil is better than that because it's the first mechanical extraction of oil (cold pressed)" or similar, it's just marketing...because first mechanical extraction of oil (cold pressed) is by itself the definition of extra-virgin olive oil, so that goes without saying!

I don't know how labelling works around the world, but basically in the EU you are scamming people if you write extra-virgin olive oil on something that is not extracted that way 😀

[TeleGuy]

Thank you, I never knew that (or thought to inquire). It’s nice to see a tidbit of food here.

[MSTI]

And what amazes is that nobody analyzes olive oil in terms of presence of residual chemicals used to treat grass/weeds or tree itself. Cold pressed or not. I am lucky to have my olives near the top of the hill so there is no way that water that had washed kontaminated fields climb to mine.

[Maxone73 in reply to MSTI]

Yup, that's important too! Luckily normally olive trees require no chemicals because they grow on very "poor" ground. Here around lake Garda they grow on rocky hills, you don't even cut the weeds around the trees. Same in Apulia region, it's so dry and hot in summer that there is basically no weed!

[Maxone73 in reply to MSTI]

By the way, bok!

[MSTI]

Ciao!My trees are located on island Hvar. No goats and sheeps to harvest macchia any more. Spraying chemicals is easier than use lawn mover.

Bok variant is used in northern parts of country. South is on Bog (God) which is standard language too.

Best wishes to you and keep on successfully exploring PCA field for all of us.

[Maxone73 in reply to MSTI]

Ah I think you are located more to the south than where I used to go by the end of '90. Pag, Pasman, Krk park, Kornati and Plitvice...been there quite often (a friend owned a camping site we used as base for our trips )

[MSTI]

Southern islands by boat is nice to see although "developers" are in charge to destroy coast even more. Me, my children and grandchildren were lucky to spend our summer vacations on near "virgin" part of the island. Today it's status is very much compromised. C'est la vie.😅

[dhccpa]

There's a lot of fraud in the USA in EVOO, even from major brands, from what I've read. The fraud may start before the brands obtain the oil. From reading Consumer Lab, it takes an expert taster, or even a team, to detect it sometimes.

Is the reason to get EVOO the better taste, in your opinion? Or the content of healthy elements in the oil?

[Maxone73 in reply to dhccpa]

Both play a role. There are oils like rapeseed oil that are good for health but tastewise they are not great. Plus olive oil is reasonable easy to store, you just need to avoid extremely hot weather and light and it can last for a long time. I know some producer that told me literally that a good seed oil is better than a bad olive oil. Some others say that given the same amount of contaminants and so on (if any is present) the worst evoo is better than the best seed oil...bah...tastes good to me, healthy, ketogenic, versatile...I use it without asking myself too many questions 😜

[dhccpa in reply to Maxone73]

I know that I would not be an excellent "expert" taster, so as long as the brand tastes generally good, I've tended to buy the best polyphenol content (and as you say, the least contaminants. Consumer Lab generally has recommended California Olive Ranch, among other brands.

I've also learned that I like one that drizzles efficiently, rather than pours, but those can be challenging to find.

[Maxone73 in reply to dhccpa]

I tend to prefer it freshly pressed, foggy....can't have enough of that! Then when it gets clearer after a few weeks it's still lovely but not as lovely!