May 10 2008
Greek Olive Oil
Greek olive oil is famous for its quality!
Cultivation of the Olive is a key characteristic of Mediterranean farming and as a fruit but also as source for the finest Extra Virgin Olive Oils that are produced world-wide is of major agricultural importance to Greece. Recent research has indicated that the Mediterranean diet and especially olives and olive oil is heart-healthy and can contribute to longevity. Besides this, Olive Oil has a variety of applications spanning from personal hygiene and cosmetics, for cooking, as a lubricant, for lighting, for pharmaceuticals and is one of the main export goods of Greece.
In Greece there are many olive varieties. Some of them are used for table consumption and some others for oil production.
About 95% of the olive trees cultivated worldwide are in the Mediterranean region, whereas the local production is generally considered the finest. Greek, Italian and Spanish olive oils are the best-known and top-quality extra-virgin oils from Greece, Italy and Spain are sold at high prices.
One problem with with olive oil classification is the regulation itself that is extremely lax and corrupt. For example, major Italian shippers routinely adulterate olive oil and only about 40% of olive oil sold as “extra virgin” actually meets requirements. This extensive fraud prompted the Italian government, in 2007, to mandate a new labeling law for companies selling olive oil, under which every bottle of Italian olive oil would have to declare the farm and press on which it was produced, as well as display a precise breakdown of the oils used, for blended oils. In February 2008, however, EU officials took issue with the new law, stating that under EU rules such labeling should be voluntary rather than compulsory. Under EU rules, olive oil may be sold as Italian even if it only contains a small amount of Italian oil.
It is obvious that Italy has a general problem, as they sell about doubble the amount of olive oil than they are able to produce locally based on Italian Olives. This is explained on the one hand side with the fact that Italians themselves consume more Olive Oil than they produce locally and what is more important they export in addition the same amount that they consume to other countries. Italy’s olive oil business therefore involves importing oil from other countries, re-labelling it as Italian oil, labelling inferior oil as extra-virgin olive oil and selling it to the market in Italy and to other countries. It is estimated that about half of the ‘Italian’ oil sold inside Italy is pressed from olives of an unknown provenance. Further, many olive oils sold in supermarkets in the UK are “blended” from a variety of different oils before being sold as Italian extra-virgin. And finally, Mr De Castro, the agriculture minister of Italy, recently revealed that the government had investigated 787 olive oil producers and found that 205 were guilty of adulterating their products with low-grade oils, or falsely labelling their bottles.
The actual situation is represented by various articles like the one published at the Telegraph web site that desribes that the Police in Italy has arrested 23 people and confiscated 85 farms in an operation that has exposed the scale of the country’s fraudulent olive oil trade.
Luckily there is a different situation in countries like Greece and Spain. Half of the Greek local production, for example, is consumed by the local market and the other half is exported to other countries without the need to jeopardise the quality of this highly valuable product.
Olive oil is classified by how it was produced, by its chemistry, and by its flavor. The labels in stores clearly show an oil’s quality (except in the U.S., where terms such as “extra virgin” may be applied to any grade of oil, making the term of dubious usefulness) and in the following are ranked from best to worst:
- Extra-virgin olive oil comes from cold pressing of the olives, contains no more than 0.8% acidity, and is judged to have a superior taste. There can be no refined oil in extra-virgin olive oil. Note: The label “First cold press” means that the oil in bottles with this label is the first oil that came from the first press of the olives. The word cold is important because if heat is used, the olive oil’s chemistry is changed. It should be noted that extra-virgin olive oil is cold pressed, but not necessarily the first oils.
- Virgin olive oil has an acidity less than 2%, and judged to have a good taste. There can be no refined oil in virgin olive oil.
- Pure olive oil. Oils labeled as Pure olive oil or Olive oil are usually a blend of refined olive oil and one of the above two categories of virgin olive oil.
- Olive oil is a blend of virgin oil and refined oil, containing no more than 1.5% acidity. It commonly lacks a strong flavor.
- Olive-pomace oil is a blend of refined pomace olive oil and possibly some virgin oil. It is fit for consumption, but it may not be called olive oil. Olive-pomace oil is rarely found in a grocery store; it is often used for certain kinds of cooking in restaurants.
- Lampante oil is olive oil not used for consumption; lampante comes from olive oil’s ancient use as fuel in oil-burning lamps. Lampante oil is mostly used in the industrial market.
Finally it is highly recommended, if you have the possibility to do so, to buy olive oil directly from the producer. For more details about Olive Oil we recommend the respective article at Wikipedia.