3 Myths about olive oil - Part 2

Price does not define quality of extra virgin olive oil

While many of the commercial olive oils are quite cheap and suitable for consumption, extra virgin olive oil offers most of the nutritional values and richness in flavors and aromas that you can find in the highest quality products of olive cultivation.

Extra virgin olive oil of the highest quality is hand-picked and mashed on the same day. The production process is quite a challenge, so its price is directly affected by the harvesting techniques and quality of the facilities.

Quality labels don’t really matter that much

The evolution of technology besides the globalization of the food market has given many resellers the opportunity to counterfeit their products over the years. Using chemical impurities in the oils, which leave no visible traces of deformation, they flooded the market with adulterated substitutes, deceiving the consumer.

Indications such as DOP, DIO, DOC and PDO can assure you that the oil has been produced in accordance with the requirements of the European Union, which is a prime example of the quality of the oil you consume.

Extra virgin olive oil is not suitable for cooking

A study published in 2018 by Modern Olives Laboratory Services in the ACTA Scientific Nutritional Health Journal found that extra virgin olive oil is the most stable cooking oil. The EVOO was tested against virgin olive oil, refined olive oil, canola oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, rice bran oil and grapesed oil.

EVOO showed remarkable stability when heated at high temperatures. Not only did it have a more stable composition of fatty acids under such conditions, but also contains polyphenols which act by reacting rapidly with lipid radicals and are thereby consumed.