Extra virgin olive oil: what it is and why it is important

Extra virgin olive oil means the result of olive processing, more precisely the result of pressing olives exclusively by mechanical means. There is also an acronym for this product, in fact EVO oil means this specific category of olive oil. Going a little deeper into the matter, we can also say that the word 'virgin' indicates precisely the naturalness of the process, i.e. the extraction of the oil by mechanical means without the use of solvents or chemical additives. This last point should not necessarily be seen as a negative aspect but rather as an element of difference to other products such as olive oil or seed oil.

For an oil to be classified as Extra Virgin Olive Oil, it must have specific characteristics, let us try to list them:

Acidity: (expressed as oleic acid and must be a maximum of 0.8 g per 100 g) is a property that is strictly dependent on the olives but it is a characteristic that is not perceptible to the taste.
Temperature: extra virgin oil is extracted cold, which means that the temperature at which mechanical extraction takes place must not exceed 27°C, beyond which some components would tend to change, altering the 'extra virgin' characteristic.
Quantity of peroxides: measured in meq (milliequivalents) of O2/Kg, this is a way of verifying the degree of oxidation. An extra virgin oil must not exceed 20 meq O2/kg.
Spectrophotometric indices (K232<=2.5, K270<=0.22 and DeltaK<=0.01) that provide information on the oxidative state of the product and therefore its degree of ageing
Sensory analysis (median of fruitiness > 0 and median of defects = 0) this means that the product has achieved scores in the sensory analysis that exclude any defects due to processing.

At this point this question really arises, we explained above what is meant by extra virgin oil so virgin oil means an oil that has a higher acidity in fact for a virgin oil the limit is 2 g of oleic acid per 100 g of product.

Olive oil, on the other hand, is a mixture of refined oil resulting from the use of chemicals for its extraction and virgin oil.

Extra virgin olive oil consists of approximately 98% fat, more precisely of:

monounsaturated fatty acids (63-83%), especially oleic acid
saturated fatty acids, of which 7-17% Palmitic Acid and 1.5-4% Stearic Acid
polyunsaturated acids, of which approx. 13% Linoleic Acid and approx. 1% Linolenic Acid.
The composition of these fatty acids depends very much on the variety of olives (the cultivar) and also on the climatic conditions and to some extent on the agronomic practices that are implemented for cultivation.

That said, it is important to answer the question of why is extra virgin olive oil good for you? Unsaturated fatty acids are the type of fats that produce positive effects in our organism. Monounsaturated fatty acids in particular are also a valuable ally in reducing oxidation processes. Special mention must also be made of the essential fatty acids Linoleic and Linolenic, which are called essential because they must be taken in with the diet.

These sensations associated with extra virgin olive oil are almost always a positive factor (if, of course, they are included in a gustatory framework of a certain balance). These sensations are due to the more or less marked presence of substances called polyphenols, responsible for around 2% of the composition of extra virgin olive oil. Polyphenols are strongly antioxidant substances, great allies of our organism and responsible for the structure of the oil in terms of taste. Polyphenols are a valuable element of an extra virgin oil and their concentration depends greatly on the cultivar and the environment in which the olives are grown.

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   Tenuta Levante

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   ULIVETI DI CARLO DOP VALLI TRAPANESI BIO olive oil

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   Selection of Sicilian extra virgin olive oils

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On our store you will find numerous high quality extra virgin olive oils to suit all tastes: from the elegance of Lake Garda olive oil to the extra virgin olive oil from Puglia, there is something for every taste and every recipe! You just have to take a look!