How to understand if olive oil is good: a practical guide. Extra virgin olive oil, present on all Italian tables, rich in antioxidants and with strong flavors, is the staple of our cuisine, but how to understand if olive oil is it good or bad?

Extra virgin olive oil is unfortunately the most counterfeit food in the world, as confirmed by the daily fact , of the many known adulterations I list only the most common:

• Blends of oils which are used to cover defects or simply to change the organoleptic profiles or to decrease free acidity and bring the product within the legal parameters.
• The use of seed oil colored with chlorophyll and flavored with beta-carotene;
• Pomace oil manipulated to hinder its analytical identification, to be used in subsequent blends;
• The deodorization of defective oils and then mixing them with extra virgin oils that give color and aromatic structure;
• Paper oil , the one that derives from the registration of non-existent olive production and from the black purchase of lots of oil that will be passed off as those that are not.

But how can you defend yourself?

Don't worry, I've written a mini-guide for you to recognize a good extra virgin olive oil.
Are you curious? Let's find out together!

How to understand if olive oil is good: practical guide

1. THE TASTE: how to understand if olive oil is good.

To understand if it's good, you need to taste it. If you notice a fresh fruity scent, a slightly bitter sensation in the mouth, tending to spicy in the throat, then it is good.

• Fruity is one of the most important parameters for judging an oil. The Extra Virgin must have a vegetal scent of fresh olive, hints of fruit from artichoke to apple, from almond to tomato.
• Bitter is the perception linked to the presence of phenolic compounds, important for the organoleptic and nutritional quality of the oil, and the preservation of the product over time.
• The Spicy is a very precious characteristic because it indicates an oil with a high content of polyphenols, fundamental, as already mentioned above, both for a long shelf life of the product and for its healthy properties.

The real quality extra virgin olive oil must have all the aromas contained in the freshly ground olive, the gustatory characteristics that make it unique must be balanced, such as the fruity, spicy and love, must be pleasant on the palate and enhance the tastes of the dishes.

In order to have the most balanced oil possible, our production specification "Ancient Method" provides for an annual pruning of the trees and the transformation to the right degree of ripeness of four varieties of olives from our region.

2. POLYPHENOLS

Polyphenols are antioxidant substances capable of guaranteeing a real therapeutic action.
These components of the oil protect it from oxidative damage to ensure that oil does not go rancid.
The minimum content of polyphenols for a quality extra virgin olive oil must not be less than 200 mg / Kg

3.PEROXIDES

The peroxides are generated when the oil comes into contact with oxygen , and represent the degree of oxidation of the oil, it is very important for the classification of a good quality oil
Extra virgin olive oil, by law, must have a number of peroxides
less than 20 mcq, the value is judged good if below 12, excellent below 7.

4. ACIDITY | How to understand if olive oil is good: a practical guide.

Acidity is a parameter expressed as a percentage of oleic acid and represents the content of free fatty acids in olive oil.

For extra virgin olive oil the limit of acidity level is set at 0.8%, but if we want to buy an excellent oil, make sure it does not exceed 0.3%.

acidity is not perceptible to the palate or smell but can only be measured through chemical analysis.

5. COLD EXTRACTION

An extra virgin olive oil is cold extracted if the extraction process takes place at temperatures below 27 ° C.
The phenolic content and the aromatic components, which represent the quality of the product, would be lost with increasing temperature.
The advice is to choose products that bear the label "cold extracted".

6. 100% ITALIAN | How to understand if olive oil is good: a practical guide.

The ranking of the best oils in the world states that
100% Italian extra virgin olive oil is the best.
We must be careful to read the label, it must bear the words “Produced in Italy " otherwise The oil could derive from the mixture of EU and Extra EU oils;
The origin of the product is mandatory for an extra virgin olive oil.

7. FLUIDITY

The degree of fluidity must be medium-low.
Swirl it in a glass and observe, if it is too fluid it means that it contains too many polyunsaturated fatty acids such as seed oil.

8. THE COLOR

Generally we are used to associating a good oil with the green color, In reality the color is not a parameter to rely on to establish the quality of the oil (in fact it depends on many factors such as the ripeness of the olives, their type, aging, etc.)
There can be very bad green oils (perhaps obtained with the addition of synthetic chlorophyll or with the "greenfinch" of second pressing oil) and very good golden-yellow oils.

9. DARK CONTAINER

Prefer oils in dark glass bottles which protects the contents from direct light and slows down the oxidation process and therefore rancidity. Once purchased, store the oil away from light and heat sources.

10. THE PRICE

Beware of a very low cost oil. An Extra Virgin Olive Oil cannot cost less than 9/10 euros per liter.

How to understand if olive oil is good: a practical guide.

By following these simple rules you are able to understand if the oil you have on the table is good or poor and you will be more relaxed when you make your next oil purchase.

By the way, if you intend to taste the pure extra virgin olive oil produced through the production specification you can connect to our online shop