Cooking Term

[The Grebe]

What does the term 'Virgin Olive oil' mean? How about 'Extra Virgin olive oil' how can something be that? I'm sure I could come up with some smart discriptions, but what does it really mean?

[Dark Cloud]

Here is a little info I pulled off the net...

But the gist of it is how its produced. To be called virgin it has to be produced by "physical means", no chemical reatment. To be called extra virgin, it has to contain less than .8% acidity

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Commercial grades

All production begins by transforming the olive fruit into olive paste. This paste is then malaxed (slowly churned or mixed) to allow the microscopic oil droplets to concentrate. The oil is extracted by means of pressure (traditional method) or centrifugation (modern method). After extraction the remnant solid substance, called pomace, still contains a small quantity of oil.

The grades of oil extracted from the olive fruit can be classified as:

Virgin means the oil was produced by the use of physical means and no chemical treatment. The term virgin oil referring to production is different from Virgin Oil on a retail label (see next section).

Refined means that the oil has been chemically treated to neutralize strong tastes (characterized as defects) and neutralize the acid content (free fatty acids). Refined oil is commonly regarded as lower quality than virgin oil; oils with the retail labels extra-virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil cannot contain any refined oil.

Olive pomace oil means oil extracted from the pomace using solvents, mostly hexane, and by heat.

Quantitative analysis can determine the oil's acidity, defined as the percent, measured by weight, of free oleic acid it contains. This is a measure of the oil's chemical degradation; as the oil degrades, more fatty acids are freed from the glycerides, increasing the level of free acidity and thereby increasing rancidity. Another measure of the oil's chemical degradation is the organic peroxide level, which measures the degree to which the oil is oxidized, another cause of rancidity.

To classify it by taste, olive oil is subjectively judged by a panel of professional tasters in a blind taste test. This is also called its organoleptic quality.

[edit] Retail grades in IOC member nations

Italian label for "extra vergine" oil

In countries that adhere to the standards of the IOC[33] the labels in stores show an oil's grade.

Extra-virgin olive oil comes from virgin oil production only, contains no more than 0.8% acidity, and is judged to have a superior taste. Extra Virgin olive oil accounts for less than 10% of oil in many producing countries; the percentage is far higher in the Mediterranean countries (Greece: 80%, Italy: 45%, Spain 30%). It is used on salads, added at the table to soups and stews and for dipping.

Virgin olive oil comes from virgin oil production only, has an acidity less than 2%, and is judged to have a good taste.

Pure olive oil. Oils labeled as Pure olive oil or Olive oil are usually a blend of refined and virgin production oil.

Olive oil is a blend of virgin and refined production oil, of no more than 1.5% acidity. It commonly lacks a strong flavor.

Olive pomace oil is refined pomace olive oil often blended with some virgin oil. It is fit for consumption, but may not be described simply as olive oil. It has a more neutral flavor than pure or virgin olive oil, making it unfashionable among connoisseurs; however, it has the same fat composition as regular olive oil, rendering it the same health benefits. It also has a high smoke point, and thus is widely used in restaurants as well as home cooking in some countries.

Lampante oil is olive oil not suitable as food; lampante comes from olive oil's long-standing use in oil-burning lamps. Lampante oil is mostly used in the industrial market.

Refined olive oil is the olive oil obtained from virgin olive oils by refining methods that do not lead to alterations in the initial glyceridic structure. It has a free acidity, expressed as oleic acid, of not more than 0.3 grams per 100 grams (0.3%) and its other characteristics correspond to those fixed for this category in this standard. This is obtained by refining virgin olive oils with a high acidity level and/or organoleptic defects that are eliminated after refining. Note that no solvents have been used to extract the oil, but it has been refined with the use of charcoal and other chemical and physical filters.

[edit] Retail grades in the United States from the USDA

As of October 25, 2010, the U.S. Standards for Grades of Olive Oil and Olive-Pomace Oil went into effect.[34]

As the United States is not a member, the IOC retail grades have no legal meaning in that country; terms such as "extra virgin" may be used without legal restrictions.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) currently has a four-part grading of olive oil based on acidity, absence of defects, odor and flavor:[34]

U.S. Extra Virgin Olive Oil for oil with excellent flavor and odor and free fatty acid content of 0.8g per 100g (0.8%);

U.S. Virgin Olive Oil for oil with reasonably good flavor and odor and free fatty acid content of not more than 2g per 100g (2%);

U.S. Virgin Olive Oil Not Fit For Human Consumption Without Further Processing is a virgin oil of poor flavor and odor;

U.S. Olive Oil is an oil mix of both virgin and refined oils;

U.S. Refined Olive Oil is an oil made from refined oils with some restrictions on the processing;

These grades are voluntary. Certification is available from the USDA on a fee-for-service basis.[34]

[edit] Previous USDA ratings

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) previously listed four grades of olive oil. These grades were established in 1948, and are based on acidity, absence of defects, odor and flavor:[34]

U.S. Grade A or U.S. Fancy possesses a free fatty acid content of not more than 1.4% and is "free from defects";

U.S. Grade B or U.S. Choice possesses a free fatty acid content of not more than 2.5% and is "reasonably free from defects";

U.S. Grade C or U.S. Standard possesses a free fatty acid content of not more than 3.0% and is "fairly free from defects";

U.S. Grade D or U.S. Substandard possesses a free fatty acid content greater than 3.0% and "fails to meet the requirements of U.S. Grade C".

These grades are entirely voluntary and are available from the USDA on a fee-for-service basis.[34]

[edit] Label wording

The different names for olive oil indicate the degree of processing the oil has undergone as well as the quality of the oil. Extra-virgin olive oil is the highest grade available, followed by virgin olive oil. The word "virgin" indicates that the olives have been pressed to extract the oil; no heat or chemicals have been used during the extraction process, and the oil is pure and unrefined. Virgin olive oils contain the highest levels of polyphenols, antioxidants that have been linked with better health.[35]

"Made from refined olive oils" means that the taste and acidity were chemically controlled.[citation needed]

Cold pressed or Cold extraction means "that the oil was not heated over a certain temperature (usually 80 °F (27 °C)) during processing, thus retaining more nutrients and undergoing less degradation."[36]

First cold pressed means "that the fruit of the olive was crushed exactly one time-i.e., the first press. The cold refers to the temperature range of the fruit at the time it is crushed."[37] In Calabria (Italy) the olives are collected in October. In regions like Tuscany or Liguria, the olives collected in November and ground often at night are too cold to be processed efficiently without heating. The paste is regularly heated above the environmental temperatures, which may be as low as 10-15 °C, to extract the oil efficiently with only physical means. Olives pressed in warm regions like Southern Italy or Northern Africa may be pressed at significantly higher temperatures although not heated. While it is important that the pressing temperatures be as low as possible (generally below 25 °C) there is no international reliable definition of "cold pressed".

Furthermore, there is no "second" press of virgin oil, so the term "first press" means only that the oil was produced in a press vs. other possible methods.

PDO and PGI refers to olive oils with "exceptional properties and quality derived from their place of origin as well as from the way of their production".[38]

The label may indicate that the oil was bottled or packed in a stated country. This does not necessarily mean that the oil was produced there. The origin of the oil may sometimes be marked elsewhere on the label; it may be a mixture of oils from more than one country.[23]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration permitted a claim on olive oil labels stating: "Limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that eating about two tablespoons (23g) of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease."

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There is definatly a diff in "grades"...

A buddy of mine is a high level chef and gets me some awesome extra v stuff. I dont use it for cooking but do use it for drizzling or some dressings. My favorite is three bean salad with artichokes and black olivs. A little salt, pepper, garlic, whole grain mustard, red wine vinegar, and extra v...

The "lower" grade stuff I use for saute'n or marinades...

[The Grebe]

Wow! Nuff said! That says it all! You know, they use basically the same process we used to use when I was a Veg. oil refiner. Ours was Linseed, sunflower and soya bean oil.

We would run it through expellers to get a cake, add water to it, run it through hammer mills, through flakers, mix it in a slurry of hexane gas and distill the gas out of the oil it extracted and use it over. The recovered oil would go through centrifuges, sludge one way, oil the other. I can't recall what we did with the mud that came out of those centrifuges? I think it went to a settling tank and was even tually reprocessed? Thanks for the answer.

[OnAFly]

mmmmmmm...hexane.....

[reinhard1]

thanks for all of that information. i've wondered about that term at times as well. normaly just used the x-virgin oil. good luck.

[The Grebe]

Yup! If you ain't carefull with that chit, it can spell the end of the road!