Not All Olive Oil is Created Equal
January 23, 2012
There are so many different brands and Types Of Olive Oil on the store shelves today that it can be absolutely mind-boggling to figure out which one to choose, but choose you must if you want to enjoy the taste and all the health benefits of consuming olive oil. The trick is choosing an olive oil that tastes good and has the most health-promoting properties. Not all olive oil is the same. To help you figure out which to buy, let me share with you a few tips. In addition, I will share some key information that you need to know on how to store and use olive oil appropriately.
Extra virgin olive oil is what you should be purchasing if you want a product with the best taste and the most nutritional value. By definition, extra virgin olive oil is unrefined and comes from cold pressing olives. Cold pressing sometimes referred to as first pressing is a process in which the olives are not heated over a certain temperature. This process preserves nutrients as well as flavor. In addition, you are best off if you can find a brand that says 100% extra virgin olive oil; otherwise, it is possible that only a small percentage of the olive oil in the bottle is extra virgin olive oil. The balance could be light or pure olive oil. Light and pure olive oils are refined and have been chemically treated to extract the last possible oil from the olives. This process removes some of the heart-healthy components of the oil. In addition, light and pure olive oils have inferior taste.
Choose olive oil that comes in a dark glass bottle so that light doesn’t penetrate easily. When olive oil is exposed to light, the olive oil can turn rancid more quickly than if it is stored in a dark container. Heat and air can also cause olive oil to spoil. As a result, keep olive oil in an enclosed container and store away from such heat sources as the stove, oven, or the surface on top of the refrigerator. In addition, olive oil should be used within four months after purchasing or the beneficial heart-healthy antioxidant properties of the oil will be greatly reduced.
As extra insurance that you are buying a quality olive oil, purchase brands that have a seal of approval from the ICEA (Istituto per la Certificazione Etica e Ambientale or Ethical and Environmental Certification Institute), California Olive Oil Council or some other reputable regulatory body. You are also more likely to be buying a quality product if the olive oil has the USDA Organic seal of approval. As the price and demand of olive oil has increased, there has been an increase in the amount of adulterated olive oil being sold on the market. Typically, the adulterated oil has a label that says extra virgin olive oil but the product has been diluted with cheaper oils of lesser quality. To the best of my knowledge, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) does not routinely test imported olive oil for adulteration.
Olive oil is the number one heart-healthy oil that I recommend particularly if used at low temperatures. It is high in monounsaturated fats which help to lower LDL or bad cholesterol while increasing HDL or good cholesterol. In addition, the antioxidants in olive oil may help to prevent LDL cholesterol from oxidizing. Another heart-healthy benefit of olive oil is its ability to reduce inflammation and possibly diabetes two important risk factors for heart disease. What a wonderful heart-healthy super food it is. To get the best quality olive oil may cost more money but in terms of its health benefits, olive oil is priceless.
Author: Sandra is a Heart-Healthy Food Coach. She received her nutrition and coaching training from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC. Her passion is helping people lower their cholesterol naturally. Check out her free audio recording “Top 3 Secrets to Lower Your Cholesterol Fast without Drugs or Drastic Dieting” by visiting cutcholesterolnow.com.
Article Source: http://goarticles.com/
The Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a Nutshell
October 20, 2010
If there is one thing that could be said about extra virgin olive oil is that, if it is a type of wine, it is going to be treated as the finest of all fine wines. This is how precious the extra virgin olive oil is and, as expected, how expensive it can also be. But what exactly is an extra virgin olive oil, and how does it differ with the rest of the olive oil varieties?
To make it really simple, an olive oil will only be called extra virgin olive oil if it has undergone as little processing as possible. You could say that the extra virgin olive oil is an unrefined type of olive oil but is very natural.
There are, in fact, four distinct criteria that an olive oil should meet before it will be considered as an extra virgin olive oil. One, no chemicals should be used, and no hot water application should be applied during the extraction process. Two, it should have undergone only the first cold processing method. Three, the oleic acidity level of the olive oil should be no more than 1%. The lower the acidity level, the higher the quality of the extra virgin olive oil. Four, the taste should be described as nothing but perfect. This last criterion though cannot be measured accurately as the taste depends upon the individual, and that it is only those who have seasoned palates who can tell the difference between excellent and good quality extra virgin olive oil.
When it comes to the flavors of the extra virgin olive oil, you should know that the flavors are categorized into three types. There is the fruity flavor wherein there is a very strong flavor of the olive fruit. There is the semi-fruity flavor which is a bit mild in flavor but greatly leans towards having a moderate olive flavor. Lastly, there is the mild flavor which has three subtypes. It could either be very delicate in flavor or has a very light flavor or gives a buttery flavor.
There are so many benefits that extra virgin olive oil gives. For one, it has anti-inflammatory properties which help reduce inflammation in an affected site. It also contains natural pain reliever components that help relieve pain. Compared with other Types Of Olive Oils, extra virgin olive oil has the most and highest contents of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients as well as other beneficial components that help fight off cancer cells and bad cholesterols that damages the organ systems of the body.
Extra virgin olive oil may be more expensive than other olive oil types, but it is definitely worth your money to use it in your cooking and your daily needs. In the long run, it will help you have and maintain a healthier lifestyle.
Tips For Buying The Best Olive Oil From Italy
August 12, 2010
Say “Olive Oil” to most Americans and they think “Italy.” Good for the Italian olive oil producers, but is olive oil from Italy really the very best? What the Italians don’t want you to know is that Italy consumes a great deal more olive oil than it produces. So where does olive oil from Italy come from?
Big Italian olive oil companies buy their oil from Greece, Spain, and the Middle East. The oil is shipped to Italy, where it is blended, bottled, and exported to America, where people looking for olive oil from Italy will buy it without suspecting its true origins. On this very long supply chain, the oil gets older and loses its unique qualities as it is blended. The fats involved are still the healthy fats, but even if it grades as “Extra Virgin Olive Oil” it’s quality is questionable.
Which brings us to a good question: What is Extra Virgin Olive Oil? In the old days, it was the oil from the first pressing of the olives, which had the lowest acid content. Times have changed.
Today most olive oil is produced in a different way – no more crushing olives with stones, pressing it with weights, and heating it up to get out the lower quality oil. In a modern olive press, the olives are crushed in a steel machine and the oil is extracted by centrifuge. The temperature is kept low to protect the oil quality. There are no subsequent pressings – all of the edible oil is extracted at the same time. The secret: if the olives were harvested at the right time and handled correctly, every drop of this oil is extra virgin.
Does all this mean that you can’t get a good olive oil from Italy? No, absolutely not. But you can’t get a good olive oil from Italy from mass producers – the ones your grocery store stocks. That oil serves its purpose – and it won’t hurt you. But to get a top olive oil from Italy, you have to look to the smaller, artisan, estate producers. These producers grow their own olives and are very careful about handling their product.
Poor handling and storage of olive oil is the best way to ruin a good product. Let it get warm, expose it to light and oxygen, let it get old and you turn a magnificent natural product into ‘just an oil.’ It loses most of the qualities that make olive oil not just good for you, but enjoyable. The major producers don’t take the same care as the artisans. Neither does your local grocery store.
So the next time you are looking for a top olive oil from Italy, look to the smaller producers. With the internet, what used to be reserved for visitors to Italy is within the reach of Joe in Wisconsin. These small producers are out there, and their fresh olive oils are some of the best olive oils available anywhere.
Want to know which oils are worth the money and which to skip? Sydney discovered good olive oil when she moved to Crete, Greece. When she left Crete, she began a quest to discover great quality olive oil available in America. She writes about the best olive oils she’s found at Olive Oil Review.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sydney_Phillips
How is olive oil healthier than any other type of oil?
July 15, 2010
Hi, my friend was telling me the other day that olive oil was a lot healthier than any other oil, but i checked the amount of calories per serving and it is the same. So why would olive oil be better to have your food than vegetable or corn oil for instance?
I have been trying to start a diet and i am changing my eating habits so i wanna make the right decisions in the choice of my ingredients.
Simplest way to put it: It all comes down to the “good fats” and the “bad fats”. The fat in olive oil is good for your body, while the fat in vegetable oil is horrible for your body.
It’s the same idea with nuts. Eating things like peanuts (in moderation, of course) is good for your body because they contain the right fats, but it will still have like 15g of fat per serving, which seems like a lot.
Bad fats would be like cakes, cookies, etc.
Whether it’s good fat or bad fat, you still need to remember to eat in moderation. Obviously the less bad fats you eat, the better.
Which type of olive oil?
July 6, 2010
I want to use olive oil on my face..but i dont know whether oilve oil used for cooking can also be used for our skin..or are there different Types Of Olive Oils prefered for different purposes?
Does olive oil work for all types of skin?I have bought a small tin of olive oil and am unsure abt using it on my face..The product name is EKIZ..pls tell me whether its good for skin..
Any olive oil fit for consumption can be used in facial and body applications to the skin. But, if I were going to use the oil on my skin, I would want the best I could get or afford. Extra virgin is a high grade, and perfect for both salads, cooking and skin moisturizing. So, maybe by adjusting the type and brand of oil you use and getting extra virgin olive oil you won’t feel unsure of putting it on your skin.
Be aware of some lesser grades of olive oil, (not usually sold at your grocery store) as they contain some other types of oils, and some are intended for industrial uses in the restaurant industry (frying, cooking, and food release sprays).
