Nowadays, many people include olive oil in their daily diet, rightly believing that it can not only get rid of some health problems, but also return an attractive appearance to skin, nails and hair. True, this effect can be expected only if you managed to buy a truly high-quality olive oil.
Olive Oil Classification
In order not to be mistaken with the choice, you should know that this product has 3 types of classification depending on the type of production. This characteristic must be indicated when marking olive oil, which allows customers to properly navigate and understand what they are buying. The best and, accordingly, the most expensive is virgin olive oil. This means that before you a natural product of the highest quality, which does not contain any additives. Moreover, if the label additionally has a mark such as extra, this means that the oil is made in accordance with the highest standards. In this case, you can be sure that the olives were harvested by hand, passed a special sort by size and degree of maturity, and then were used to extrude the oil mechanically. If there is no extra mark next to the word virgin, this means that the technological process has been modified. However, this is unlikely to affect the quality of olive oil, although it indicates that the production process of this product was significantly cheaper. Second in terms of utility is refined olive oil, i.e., refined. It has practically no bitter taste due to additional purification, but at the same time during processing it loses some of its beneficial properties. First of all, the amount of fatty acids in this oil is significantly reduced, therefore, for therapeutic purposes this product is useless. In addition, refined olive oil contains half the amount of vitamin E than unrefined.
The cheapest and, accordingly, the least quality oil is considered to be the category of pomace, which is obtained from oilcake treated with special chemical compounds. It is not recommended to add such oil to salads and soups, and even more so to use to combat various ailments. The main purpose of this product is to prepare dough for various types of baking.
Country of origin
Once you have decided on the type of olive oil, you can proceed to the choice of the product itself. To do this, you will need to carefully examine the label to find out exactly where this product was manufactured. The best is Italian and Greek olive oil. However, it is important to consider not only the country of manufacture, but also to pay attention to exactly where the oil was packed. This moment is very important, as any self-respecting manufacturer of this product is engaged in its own packaging. If this work is done by another company, then there is a reason to think about the quality of the oil, which, most likely, was made in violation of the technological process. Of course, the label should indicate not only the addresses of the companies-manufacturers of the oil, but also the date of its bottling. If this information is not available, then we can talk not only about gross violations of consumer rights, but also about the likely falsification of goods, which by their characteristics do not meet international standards. By the way, on the etiquette it is also necessary to find information about the acidity level of the oil, which should be no more than 0, 8%. If this figure is higher, then it is worth refraining from buying oil, as its quality leaves much to be desired. Of course, if the oil is packaged in bottles, then it is extremely difficult to evaluate its taste and purification characteristics. However, carefully reviewing the contents of the bottle, the weight can come to some conclusions. So, if the oil is too light, then it is most likely made from immature olives, called olives. In this case, the taste of the product will be tart and quite sharp. Dark little purple tint indicates that it was made from very ripe fruits. The taste of this product will be quite soft and sweet. Due to the fact that the difference in quality is very large, modern producers of olive oil often produce a combined product derived from olives and olives. You should not be afraid of this, because this oil will have an excellent taste, which is very important when cooking without heat treatment.
If you still purchased olive oil, but are not sure of its quality, then it is worthwhile to conduct a small experiment at home. To do this, a bottle of oil should be placed for 10-15 minutes in the refrigerator. If after this characteristic white flakes appear in it, which disappear after heating the oil, then there is a natural product in front of you without any impurities or chemical additives.
