Lecture 7: Olive oil categories

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C. Olive oil Quality2. Olive oil categories and
types

• 7. Olive oil categories

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Olive oil categories

• organic olive oil
• 0live oil cold pressed
• early harvest or fall harvest oil
• infused olive oil

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Organic olive oil (part I)

• "Organic" is a term with a lot of different
  meanings, depending on the context in which it is
  used
• it refers to foods which are grown without
  pesticides, inorganic fertilizers and many of the
  other unnatural additives of modern agriculture

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Organic olive oil (part II)

• in many countries, there are organizations that
  certify a food product as organic, and have
  varying standards which must be met to meet that
  certification
• some governments also mandate specific standards
  that foods carrying the organic label must meet

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Cold pressed

• "cold pressed" can be used only if during
  malaxation and extraction the olive paste is kept
  under 27 0C (800F)
• heating the paste excessively increases yield but
  degrades flavor

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Early harvest or fall harvest (part I)

• olives reach their full size in the fall but may
  not fully ripen from green to black until late
  winter
• green olives have slightly less oil, more
  bitterness and can be higher in polyphenols.

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Early harvest or fall harvest (part II)

• because of the higher polyphenols and
  antioxidants, early harvest oils often have a
  longer shelf life

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Infusing olive oil (part I)

• It is possible to make excellent infused oil
  using dried wild herbs
• the intensity of the flavor varies with the
  season, whether the herbs are wild or domestic,
  how the local growing conditions have been, etc

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Infusing olive oil (part II)

• the oil will pick up the flavor fairly quickly,
  in the first few weeks, and then slowly
  intensify. It is fine to leave the herbs in for a
  long time eventually all the flavor leaves the
  herbs and the oil flavor stabilizes

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Summary of 7th Lecture

• Olive oil categories
• Organic olive oil
• Cold pressed
• Early harvest
• Infused olive oil