Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: Mediterranean’s taste
Extra virgin olive oil: a tasting experience
A splash of olive oil on your dish, a fragrant touch, an ancestral gesture connected to family history.
The golden thread that links the history of each Italian family with a thousand-year tradition. In other words, is a cultural, gastronomic and emotional heritage. Consequently, we must preserve it.
Is oil a dressing or food? Quality oil plays a decisive role in the success of a dish, no matter if at home or at a restaurant.
Within the Mediterranean diet model, scientifically considered one of the best nutritional system choices, and declared a UNESCO World Heritage, olive oil occupies a position of excellence.
The choice to replace other fats is absolutely personal. It’s a matter of personal taste residing in the territorial tradition of the kitchen.
But, as long as you speak in both cases of quality.
How should we consider quality Olive Oil?
The mix of variety, territory, maturation, climate and harvesting and extraction technique.
Is olive oil quality measurable?
There are measurable chemical parameters and quality assessment methods. Chemical analysis is defined by the components of acidity, polyphenols, and peroxides.
The control of genuineness is based on detecting the presence of compounds that are atypical.
For example, the presence of chemical products used for extraction.
How to know we are choosing the right one?
Firstly, read the label: extra-virgin olive oil is extracted, it is not produced.
To extract the oil it is necessary to use mechanical and artisanal machinery. It is important to focus on the origin of olives and the time gap between the harvest and the squeezing. It is evident that shorter is the gap, better is the result. We love to choose producers that take care of this.
Italian production law, requires artisan mills to certify all stages of production of their oil. From breeding choices, extraction, bottling, an artisan product guarantees more protection for the consumer.
Secondly, be sure olives grows in the same Country of the Producer.
In the same vein, better if milled and bottled by the producer itself.
Certainly, this will mean shorter time from hearvest to squeeze, in other words more quality. Big food Companies or multinationals, that market the product with massive advertising campaigns, are, in short, bottling companies.
Rarely they are producers or farmers, often buying olives in different countries of the Mediterranean basin. In other words, those Companies are focused on buy and blend olives. They need, above all, to obtain a homogeneous product for distribution.
Pairing olive oil and food
Maybe we do not enough consider the opportunity to match food and olive oil.
Do you usually use just one type, for all food preparations?
Extra virgin olive oil can be more or less intense, fruity or vegetal.
You can absolutely boost the overall flavor of your recipe, with the right pairing. For instance, a sweet potato salad could be more tasty just by adding some olive oil with a bitter taste. The contrast of flavors, to clarify, will definitely improve the recipe.
