EXTRACTION TECHNOLOGY

Extra virgin olive oil is distinguished from all other vergetable oils for a unique factor.  It derives from a fruit (the olive fruit) and not from seed like other oils.

This has a first important consequence: a fruit, unlike a seed, is rich in water (oil contains about 50% by weight) and this allows to extract the oil by purely mechanic means. The olives are reduced to a paste during the milling and then pass through squeezing or centrifugation to obtain the separation of the oil from the water and the solid parts of the fruit. 

The word "virgin" means this: that the oil is extracted from olives by purely mechanic means.

QUALITY

As a result of what said above, the quality of extra virgin olive oil depends firstly on the quality (integrity, health) of the “fresh fruit”, i.e.: the olives. Because a fruit is an active organ, with a
complex metabolism (unlike the seed that is a form of suspended life or quiescent), the olive is rich in many compounds, some of which affect the oil and determine the characteristics essential for its effects both on our health and on our senses.

Nutritional quality

Firstly, extra virgin olive oils are healthy for their high content of antioxidant components. The antioxidant power of extra virgin olive oil is attributable to a combination of substances: squalene, tocopherols (especially alpha-tocopherol), phenolic substances (particularly oleuropein and its aglycone). 

Alpha-tocopherol is the major antioxidant of cell membranes and LDL (low density lipoproteins), therefore an important factor in prevention of atherosclerosis. Even more specific and exclusive is the phenolic fraction, which includes many substances that have shown an interesting antioxidant activity of LDL and DNA; they help preventing cardio-vascular problems and platelet aggregation, protect the red blood cells, help inhibit the proliferation of some tumor cells.

Among the phenolic particular antioxidant potential has been detected in oleuropein and its derivatives, the aglycones.

In the mysterious synergy that takes place between the various antioxidants in the oil, it is also possible that antioxidants present in low concentrations such as beta-carotene, can play a significant role. Certainly, the pharmaceutical industry is not able to reproduce in a pill the benefits of extra virgin olive oil.

Sensory quality
The second effect of the complex metabolism of the olive oil is represented by the components that determine the peculiar sensory properties of extra virgin oils. These components are especially linked to the assessment of acceptability and consumer preference. Simplifying greatly, we can say that the sensory profile of extra virgin olive oil is determined mainly by the combination of three perceptual stimuli: smell, taste, sight.

No other oil stimulates these three senses as extra virgin olive oil, adding to our dishes unique flavours and aromas and drawing our attention from the first moment we can see its rich colour through the bottle. No seed oil can boast a richness in tastes, smells, colours (mainly depending on olive tree varieties and climatic conditions of the area where it grows, as well as on agricultural techniques) similar to that of the olive oil, that has rightly been compared to wine as regards the incredible quantity of varieties and origins (actually, an olive oil taster is very much the same as a sommelier, and uses  similar gestures when tasting oil.)

COOKING WITH OLIVE OIL

Here is a statement on cooking with olive oil from the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC):

Frying temperatures: When heated, olive oil is the most stable fat, which means it stands up well to high frying temperatures. Its high smoking point (210° C) is well above the ideal temperature for frying food (180° C). The digestibility of olive oil is not affected when it is heated, even when it is re-used several times for frying.

Olive oil is a great oil for cooking.  
It has a high smoke point, 210° and doesn't degrade as quickly as many other oils do with repeated high heating. Some doubts, due to inaccurate information, have recently circulated
about olive oil and cooking.  We’ll now see them one by one.

- Olive oil loses its benefits when heated?
It’s true that excessive heating causes evaporation of the alcohols and esters which make up the oil delicate taste and fragrance.  But heating olive oil will not change its health aspects, only the flavor. Olive oil is a highly monounsaturated oil and therefore resistant to oxidation (rancidity).

- Heating a cooking oil will make it saturated or a trans-fatty oil?
All oils oxidize and hydrogenate to a tiny degree if repeatedly heated to very high temperatures such as is done in commercial frying operations. Olive oils are  highly monounsaturated oils and therefore resistant to oxidation and hydrogenation. Studies have shown oxidation and hydrogenation occurs to a lesser degree in olive oil than in other oils.  But in any case, the amount of hydrogenation is miniscule .

- Cooking in olive oil diminishes the nutritional value of the food?

Heating food breaks down its nutritional value.  It is not the cooking oil per se, but the heat. Regardless of the oil that is being used (olive or seed oil), the longer the exposition and the higher the temperature, the more nutritional values of food will be proportionately lost.

OLIVE OIL - good for health

  1)  The lower of "bad" cholesterol (LDL) in blood.
  2)  The maintenance in the blood of "good" cholesterol (HDL).
  3)  The good function of the intestine.
  4)  The prevention of cardiovascular diseases and the protection of         the organism from the  coronary disease due to the strong         antioxidants it contains.
  5)  The cure of gastric and duodenum ulcer, as it eases the         digestion.
  6)  The decline of the gastric juices.
  7)  The best immersion of calcium by the organism.
  8)  The correct metabolism of diabetics and consequently the         balance of the diabetes rates.
  9)  The prevention from cancer.
10)  It revitalizes the skin.