olive oil

Olive oil is an essential element of Mediterranean cuisine. Due to its high smoke point (filtered, extra virgin olive oil 210 ° C, virgin 190-215 ° C; refined 230 ° C; another source gives the following values: extra virgin 207 ° C, virgin 175 ° C, refined 208 ° C) it is particularly suitable for frying and deep-frying.

An extra virgin olive oil of high quality, with a low proportion of free fatty acids and a high proportion of phenolic antioxidants, is ideal for frying in terms of health and taste. Extra virgin olive oil is the most stable oil when heated, followed by coconut oil. The statement, often presented as expert knowledge in the media, that one should only use refined and by no means high-quality (extra) virgin olive oil for frying is therefore wrong.

Cold-pressed olive oil was considered a remedy in ancient times, for example against all kinds of skin diseases on the outside or against inflammation on the inside. It also ranked next to donkey milk as a beauty product. Extra virgin olive oil contains small doses of a natural, non-selective cyclooxygenase inhibitor called oleocanthal, which has anti-inflammatory effects comparable to ibuprofen

Unlike most other vegetable oils that are made by refining, virgin olive oil is a purely natural product. Olive oil is composed of 77% monounsaturated, 9% polyunsaturated and 14% saturated fatty acids.

In ancient Greece and Rome, olive oil was used to consecrate the altars, which were doused with olive oil. Consecrated olive oil (partly mixed with balsam, see chrism) is still used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches for baptism, confirmation, ordination, but also for anointing the sick and for burials.

An olive tree bears up to 300 kg of olives depending on physiological conditions (alternation), weather, water supply, age and size. The long-term average yields between 20 and 30 kg of olives. For the production of olive oil, five kilograms of olives make up to one liter of oil.

The EC regulation no. 1513/2001 defines virgin olive oil as "oils that have been obtained from the fruit of the olive tree exclusively by mechanical or other physical processes under conditions that do not lead to deterioration of the oil." The aim is to use the olive oil as the juice of the olive if possible to be preserved in its natural state and not to be falsified or negatively influenced by the manufacturing method.

Olive oil that is declared as cold-pressed or cold-extracted must not be warmer than 27 ° C during production.

The terms Extra Virgin (English), Vierge Extra (French), Extra Vergine (Italian), Virgen Extra (Spanish) or Extra Virgem (Portuguese) correspond to the German extra virgin olive oil and are a quality label for olive oil.

The following oils are available from retailers:

Extra virgin olive oil: acidity ≤ 0.8%, without sensory faults olive oil: acidity ≤ 2%, slight defects Olive oil: mixtures of refined olive oil (acidity ≤ 0.3%, typical taste and odor components of olive oil missing; must not be given to consumers , but must be processed into "olive oil".) with virgin olive oil (extra).

The taste quality results from

the olive variety, the condition of the olives such as ripeness, the water supply during growth, the proportion of rotten and pest-infested fruits, the purity of foreign bodies such as leaves, pieces of twigs and sawdust, the type and duration of storage after harvest up to processing, the purity of the equipment during processing, especially with residues of older batches of oxygen exposure during processing, further processing after pressing

Greece has more than 50 varieties of olives. The total cultivation area in 2011 was around 750,000 hectares. The most important cultivation areas are on the Peloponnese, Crete, Lesbos and some other islands. The most important varieties include Adramytiani, Doppia, Kalamata, Kolovi, Koroneiki, Karydolia, Manaki, Psiloelia, Prassinolia and Tsounati.

The better known include Amphissa, a grayish to dark purple variety with soft flesh, then Atalanta, which tastes salty but is very mild. After all, the Kalamaties from the south are among the best varieties. They are black and purple, large and have a sweetish-bitter and aromatic taste. Nafplion is a medium-sized variety that is dark green to brown; it is very flavorful. They belong to the table olives, whereas oil is often based on Koroneiki. On Lesbos mainly Kolovi, Ladolia and Adramitiani are grown, the latter comes from the west Turkish coast and is only found on this island in Greece. The fresh, one to two month old oil tastes a bit peppery. Ladolia also occurs almost exclusively here.

Koroneiki provides around 85% of the Cretan yields, but is also grown on Zakynthos and Messinia and produces an excellent oil.