Olive oil is almost unique among oils in that it can be consumed
in the crude form without refining. This has the effect of conserving all
its vitamins, essential fatty acids, and other nutrients. Because it
contains all these nutrients, including powerful antioxidants, real extra
virgin olive oil is beneficial to health and protects us from damage by free
radical oxidation. Cell membranes contain fatty acids that are highly
susceptible to free radical damage. This damage produces lipid peroxides
that can kill the cell. Real olive oil contains polyphenols, vitamin E, and
other natural antioxidants (vitamin
A) that prevent this damage. These same antioxidants also add
to the stability, shelf life, and flavor of the oil.
It is monounsaturated,
therefore it lowers the “bad” LDL cholesterol without reducing the “good”
HDL cholesterol. This results in improved circulation, lowered blood
pressure and less risk for heart disease. Recent research also indicates
that olive oil may be especially effective in preventing both breast cancer
and osteoporosis.
Its high concentration of oleic acid not only keeps our arteries supple, it
is also partly responsible for olive oil’s popularity--it is a fairly stable
oil with a high smoking point. This means it is suitable for all cooking
except frying, and it stores for a year to a year and a half in cool, dark
storage conditions.
Historically, high quality olive oil, rich in antioxidants, was easy to
obtain, but not any more. Today, high quality oil is available only in
relatively small quantities, usually from family owned farms, where the oils
are produced in ways similar to how the Greeks and Romans made theirs. On
these farms, olives are picked by hand so as not to damage the skin or pulp.
They are transported in well aerated containers and milled within 48 hours
of harvesting. Before milling, leaves and twigs are removed, the olives
washed and dried, and then stone pressed the same way as it was done in
antiquity. The resulting olive paste was then pressed in a hydraulic press
without the use of heat, hot water, or solvents. The oil is left unfiltered
as filtering removes many nutrients. The first pressing produces the best
"extra virgin" oil.
The problem with most of today's olive
oil is that it is rarely produced in the old way, which is more time
consuming and expensive. Due to the increasing demand for olive oil, the
trend has been to reduce production costs by moving toward more automation
and concentration of production in ever larger installations. These modem
factories extract more oil more cheaply, but their processing methods
substantially reduce the nutritional quality of the oil.
To reduce costs, olives are machine
harvested along with leaves and twigs. Olives that have dropped on the
ground, which can be said to contain bad oil, are often mixed with the good
ones. They are shipped in all kinds of containers, many of which are poorly
ventilated, and heaped in large piles where the olives are stored for too
long and often become moldy. The oil is then extracted in a continuous
centrifuge where hot water is used to help separate out the oil.
Antioxidant polyphenols are soluble in
water and are washed away in this process, thereby lowering the shelf life
and the nutritional quality of the oil. Italy alone produces 800,000 cubic
meters of waste water per year from this process. Because substantial
amounts of antioxidants are washed away, factory produced olive oils have a
short shelf life of only months, whereas real olive oil lasts for two to
three years. Factory produced olive oil is filtered and looks clear. Real
olive oil is not filtered and looks cloudy.
Most people think that by purchasing
"extra virgin" olive oil they are getting a high quality oil.
Unfortunately, in most cases, this is
not true. It's more complex than that. A label reading extra virgin is no
guarantee of quality. For one thing, nowhere does it say that extra virgin
olive oil has to be made 100% from olives. An major criterion for grading
olive oil is its level of acidity. Extra virgin oil should have a free oleic
acid acidity of no more than one percent, whereas ordinary virgin olive oil
can have an acidity of up to 3.3 percent.
Lower quality oils can be refined to
bring the acidity down so they can be labeled as extra virgin. But now the
oil has been refined, and that's not what you want. That's why being labeled
extra virgin is no guarantee of getting high quality oil, which has not been
processed in ways that reduce its nutritional value.
How does one ensure that they are
eating the most healthful oil? Find an extra virgin olive oil that is cold
pressed, unfiltered, and looks cloudy. The oil should be packaged in dark
glass bottles to protect it from the damaging effects of light. Real olive
oil is still made in small estate bottled settings. The challenge is to find
one that does it! all right.
After selecting the oil, it has to be
stored properly. When properly stored, real extra virgin olive oil can last
two to three years. Because of processing, most of the extra virgin oil on
the market has a shelf life of only a few months. A good rule of thumb is to
purchase oil in small bottles and consume it within a year of purchase; this
will also ensure getting the best flavor. Store the oil away from both heat
and light.
Storing in a dark place is important
because exposure to light will start a chain reaction that will destroy the
oil a thousand times faster than oxygen. During storage, olive oil oxidizes
and undergoes a slow, continuous, and irreversible deterioration until it
becomes inedible. |
will save)
would
affirm today; it's the same truth He
attested to as he walked this earth
some 2000 years ago - an exclusive way to the Father
(John 14:6) and that man,
as a sinful creature, is in need of a
Saviour.(John
3:16-21).
