Understanding Olive Oil_Part 2

Composition of olive oil

The Olive-Oil contains the following :

1. Vitamin E (3-30 mg)
2. Provitamin A (carotene)
3. Monounsaturated fatty acids (oleic) 56-83%
4. Polyunsaturated unfatty acid (Linoleic) 3.5-20%
5. Polyunsaturated fatty acid (Linoleic) 0-1.5%
6. Saturated fatty acids 8-23.5%, 9 calories per gram
The olive is a very healthy oil. Every right and balanced diet should include olive oil
in its daily program. The aroma and taste that it lends to all dishes in unique and
incomparable.

As all other oils, olive oil contains fatty acids, which are divided in 3 types:
saturated, mono-unsaturated, and poly-unsaturated. Animal fats mainly contain
saturated fatty acids, seed-oils contain poly-unsaturated, while olive oil contains
mainly mono-unsaturated fatty acids in as much as 83%. Oleic acid, olive oils
main ingredient, represents such a mono unsaturated fatty acid.

Fats can be divided into two broad categories: Saturated and Un-saturated.
Saturated fats, like butter and lard, are solid even when they are at room
temperature. On the other hand, unsaturated fats are liquid when at room
temperature and have a lower cholesterol level because of the low density of
lipids.

Olive oil is extremely high in Mono-saturated fat and very low in Saturated fat. It
has been shown not only to lower cholesterol, but to protect against heart disease.
The people who live around the Mediterranean basin use olive oil as the fat and
they are known to have very low rates of coronary disease. Of course, the fact that
the Mediterranean diet is rich in fruits, vegetables, grains and relies on meat in
very small amounts, accounts for a great part of its healthfulness.

Olive oil, (which is 76% mono-unsaturated fat), is appreciated for its health
benefits: good for the heart and circulation, a liver healer, bowel regulator and
maintainer of sexual health.

Grades of Olive Oil

When choosing an olive oil, it is imperative that one buys only Extra Virgin Olive
oil, rather than Virgin or Pure Olive oil.

Extra virgin is the oil from the first pressing; it uses top grade olives with less than
one percent acidity and has the highest nutritional value and the best taste. It is
the oil with highest nutrient value.

Virgin olive oil is also mechanically pressed, but with olives that may not be top
grade and are from the second or third pressing.

Pure olive oil is a marketing term. This oil comes from the third or fourth pressing
and has been refined in a variety of processes, all using extreme heat and
chemicals to extract the oil from the remaining pulp.

There is no standardization of terms, so the consumer is confounded by such

phrases as Cold Pressed, First Pressed, Expelled Pressed and Mechanically
Pressed. As the goal is to have as little heat applied as possible, one would think
that cold pressed would be best.

Some cold pressed oils could be the third or fourth pressing, refined with heat and
chemicals, which strip olive oil of its nutrients and rich, fruity taste.

Olive oils are as diverse as Wines. There are 700 cultivated varieties of Olives. The
oils derived from them can be anywhere from Mellow yellow in color, to Jade
green. The taste can be Peppery, Sweet, Buttery, Nutty, Grassy or it can taste like
green apples.

As Olive oil is such an important component to a healthful diet, We prefer Lorenzos

Oil, Tehama Gold which we feel is an excellent product. It is grown organically in
California. Rather than the younger green olives, the mature fruits are harvested,
which results in a creamy, buttery flavored extra virgin olive oil. In addition, the
manufacturing process uses a dual-phase and tri-phase decanter for extracting
olive oil, which does not add warm water to extract the oil. This is key, because
heat alters the chemical makeup of olive oil, and severely depletes its vitamins.

Olive oil is a fruit-juice. Olive oil is cold pressed olive juice and olives are fruits.
Thats why it's so healthy and is used in the finest cuisines all over the world. Cold
pressed means that the olives are picked and squeezed and are not boiled before
squeezing.

Extra-Virgin olive oil is considered by many health experts, including Dr. Andrew
Weil, to be the best all purpose eating and cooking oil. This healthy oil is
traditionally first cold pressed and unrefined.