Ingredients: Busting Olive Oil Myths

Claims And Retractions

While a highly debated derogatory article in The New York Times in 2014 played fast and loose with facts about Italian olive oil imported to the US, in reality, both FDA testing and the North America Olive Oil Association have found that the vast majority of olive oils sold in US grocery stores are unadulterated.  Yet, there still remain some interesting questions about what’s on an olive oil label and whether it represents fact, a marketing claim, or is simply untrue.

It is absolutely a fact that olive oil should be sold in metal cans or dark colored glass bottles. Light affects not only the taste of olive oil, but also shortens its shelf life and eradicates some of its  highly touted health benefits. Also a fact: olive oil that has been filtered so that it looks clear does not mean  it’s a better quality olive oil than one that is unfiltered and looks cloudy. But there exist some other pointers or lack thereof that can indicate the real quality of the olive oil in question.

One of the great myths that appear on some EVOO labels is the term “cold pressed” or “first cold pressed”. This language calls to mind visions of granite wheels and straw mats in rustic open sheds as in days of yore. It’s meant to, I suspect. In reality, stainless steel centrifuges extract the oil from a paste made of cleaned olives (always in cold water, as heat also damages some of its good properties). The proper term is “cold extracted” and no, Virginia, there is no such thing as a “second pressing” anymore, so that “first” brag is meaningless. 

I actually thought for a long time  – from reading in some cookbooks – that a decent grade olive oil was not a good choice for deep frying, although I certainly used it to saute. Extra Virgin olive oil is excellent for deep frying. Its smoke point is 375-410F or 190-210C and since your deep fry temperature shouldn’t exceed 375F (and in many cases should be in the range of 325-350F) I discovered that olive oil is great for this job. Obviously, I wouldn’t waste a single estate bottle of EVOO for this, but any journeyman version is fine for deep frying. 

I used to see “Light” Olive Oil in the US – I have not seen it in Bologna – which some diets inferred  had fewer calories. In fact, it has been refined to lose its color (and obviously flavor) but the calories will be the same.  And the term Extra Virgin simply means it has no sensory defects and has no more than an .08% oleic acidity rate. Nothing more.

Rather look for the harvest date, not the bottling date Check the website of the producer if the company is new to you; transparency is always a good sign. Usually the naming of the olive cultivars on the label indicates a better quality of EVOO, as do the certifications of the COOC, DOP and PGI. COOC is California Olive Oil Council, and it certifies he freshness and regional authenticity of the oil that is produced only in California.  The DOP and PGI are the EU certifications that I explained in this earlier post. 

One of the interesting things I saw in videos of professional olive oil tastings was the use of blue glasses. There are even electrically heated warming cases for them. Their color and design were established by the International Olive Council in 2007.  Manufactured  to hide the color of the olive oil sample and hold the aromas,these little glasses allow a tasting panel to only use taste and smell to grade the oil. A pale yellow color in an olive oil does not mean a lesser quality than a darker green one, by the way. And in the same vein, a cloudy or unfiltered olive oil does not mean it is a lesser quality. I like using the murkier ones sometimes as the taste is more robust (not sharp and prickly necessarily). I like them in marinades and in really mustardy vinaigrettes. 

Use It Or Lose It

And here are some minor clarifications: olive oils DO NOT improve with age but they do not need to be refrigerated. They aren’t like vinegars, which can happily  hang around your cupboards for ages. They are good  for max a year and a half, and even toward the end I will use them for sautéing rather than as a finishing oil. Over the hill EVOO definitely has the Gout de Crayola. They can still be used to refurbish your wood cutting boards, to remove sticky labels, or perhaps as suntan oil with no SPF. 

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

A final note – there is so much variety in the flavor of different first rate olive oils – we certainly discovered that at the shop. And price range is not always an indicator. As I said, my working EVOO was from Tunisia. Delicious and reliable. There was an olive oil made from the Mignola olive, which is from Le Marche from a small producer that I used just as a finishing oil for steak or fish, or mixed with a champagne vinegar (no mustard) for a salad. 

And, sad but true, olive oil is healthier as a  cooking fat than my beloved butter, and heating it does not diminish its nutritional benefits. An article I read in the NOOA newsletter stated that the phenols and antioxidants in olive oil get transferred to vegetables when they are cooked in it, making the vegetable even healthier. I am not sure my grandsons are going to buy into this. But I’ll keep it in mind.