Olive oil is basically oil obtained from olives ( Olea europaea ) by compression or other mechanical means. For several millennia it has been used mainly in food production, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. Olive oil is an integral part of Mediterranean cuisine. Its consumption is considered to be beneficial because it contains large amounts of mono-unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins. Olive tree (
Olive tree ( Olea europaea ) . It comes from Asia and Africa, but today it is commonly found in the Mediterranean regions of Europe. The olive tree is an evergreen tree that reaches a height of 5 to 10 m. Low trunk with grey-green cracked bark. The crown is richly branched, irregular, ovate to spherical. The olive tree may have a bizarre appearance. Leaf-leathery, elliptic to lanceolate, grey-green underneath, dark green upper, up to 8 cm long, evergreen. Small, fragrant, yellow-white flowers with four-toothed calyx and four-piece yellowish crown. The fruit is a pulpy drupe of spherical to a cylindrical shape, which contains a considerable amount of oil in the mesocarp. Source: Wikipedia
VIRGIN OILS
Oils that are made directly from fresh olives only by mechanical processes and especially at low temperatures. Mechanical processes for oil production include sorting and cleaning, decanting, grinding and mixing, centrifuging and filtration. Thus, virgin oils do not include oils obtained at high temperatures by means of solvents and re-esterification processes.
Virgin oil is best conceived as a juice of fresh olives, which does not need additional chemical treatment and is suitable for immediate consumption.
Virgin oils include:
EXTRA VIRGIN OIL
Oils with an acidity of less than or equal to 0.8%.
VIRGIN OIL
Oils with an acidity of less than or equal to 2.0%
NON-CONSUMER OIL (LAMPANTE)
Oils with acidity higher than 2.0%
NON-VIRGIN OILS
These oils are obtained by means of solvents or other chemical agents at high temperatures.
REFINED OLIVE OIL
Oils produced by the virgin oil refining process that do not meet the consumption requirements. The refining process reduces, among other things, the acidity of the oil while eliminating many beneficial substances. The acidity of the refined oils must not exceed 0.3%. The acidity of refined oils in Spain leads to a seemingly illogical measure which prohibits olive oil producers from indicating the acidity of their product without indicating the complete chemical composition of the product. The legislation thus wanted to prevent misleading advertising of refined oil producers who compared the acidity of their products with that of virgin oils.
OLIVE OIL (NON-VIRGIN)
A mixture of refined olive oil and virgin oil with an acidity of less than 2%. The acidity of the mixture must not exceed 1%.
CRUDE OLIVE – RESIDUE OIL
Oilcake is a waste of the virgin oil extraction process. The solid parts of the olive, from which it is not possible to mechanically obtain more oil from the cold, are exposed to the solvent and high temperatures.
REFINED OLIVE – RESIDUE OIL
The oil obtained by the process of refining from the oil of the previous category. The acidity must not exceed 0.3%.
OLIVE – POMACE OIL
This oil is a mixture of refined oilseed oil with virgin oil with an acidity of less than 2%. The acidity of the mixture must not exceed 1%.
100% NATURAL – No Additives – No Preservatives – No Nitrates
