Olive Oils ** Was ** Oil Base

[Guest guest]

Howdy Christa,

 

Below is some info from a long post I wrote back around 1996 .. I now see

that multiple sources on the Net have copied a lot of my post.

 

> What about olive oil? What's the shelf life on that?

 

Depends on the type of Olive Oil .. and that will be driven by whether or

not its American or European. Europeans use the standards of the

International Olive Oil Council (IOOC), which defines quality standards and

monitors authenticity. The USA is the ONLY major Olive Oil producing

country in the entire world that is not a member of the IOOC. America uses

the USDA system for our California Olive Oil. USDA does not distinguish

between Virgin and Extra Virgin Olive Oil .. not in the best interest of

consumers .. its but one of the many shortcomings in the US Gummit control

system. California Olive producers have long tried to lobby to get the USA

to recognize the IOOC system.

 

To get to your question .. USDA Virgin and IOCC Virgin and Extra Virgin can

not be refined .. must be produced by manual means .. no chemicals are

allowed in the production. These two oils will have an expected shelf life

of 2-3 years if properly stored. Proper storage does NOT mean

refrigeration .. it means caps on tight, outta the light and treat it

right. Dark bottles is the best way to store it.

 

Folks who don't really like the taste of Olive Oil will prefer the refined

Olive Oils .. they have been chemically treated to reduce the strong Olive

taste and to lower the fatty acid content .. they are cheaper and of far

less quality and the shelf life is undetermined though there are many claims

that run from 1 to 2 years.

 

By IOCC rules Extra Virgin can not have more than .08% per volume of free

Oleic Acid .. Virgin can have as much as 2.0% .. there is no standard for

" Pure Olive Oil " .. its made by adding a bit of Virgin or Extra Virgin to

refined Olive Oil to put back some of the taste lost in the chemical

processing. I won't go into how this percentage affects shelf life .. but

please accept that the higher the percentage of Oleic Acid the lower the

quality .. and therapeutic value. Oxidation of Oleic Acid affects quality

and shelf life .. a lot. Most folks in the USA buy California Olive Oil

(some of which might be called Virgin or Extra Virgin in total disregard to

the useless USDA standards) .. or they buy the cheaper Italian Riviera ..

which (in my opinion) is not even fit for making soap .. Olive Oil Pomace is

even better than Riviera for this purpose. Also .. Italian Riviera might

not be Italian .. even if it says " Product of Italy " that could mean it was

just bottled there .. not illegal this.

 

I love Extra Virgin and drink a couple of table spoons of it daily now for

cholesterol .. plus its the only veggie oil we use in my home.

 

Let me warn y'all of some other branding games.

 

If you see 100% Olive Oil on the label .. beware .. it will be the lowest

quality and it could even mean its NOT ALL Olive Oil .. read the back label

closely .. it might say " 100% Olive Oil in a mixture of This or That Other

Oil " . This is NOT illegal in the USA .. unfortunately.

 

If it says Refined Olive Oil .. I would highly suggest you NOT buy it.

 

If it says Virgin or Extra Virgin .. read the nutrition block .. it should

show the maximum level of Oleic Acid .. or Free Fatty Acid .. or maybe some

other catchy terminology .. make sure it is what it says it is .. sometimes

it will not be.

 

Back when I could get the Turkish First Pressed, Early Harvest Extra Virgin

it was the hottest selling oil of any type .. few old members of this list

will have forgotten that oil. The Oleic Acid content was .06% .. olives were

harvested while still green .. before the brown spots of maturity began to

show. Its not been available for many years now but I am even now in the

process of negotiating for some .. and I might get lucky but even if I do it

will be 4-5 months before it is in stock. I am not counting on gaining the

best wishes of a producer .. its a political game I am into on this because

Turkey has not been exporting it. I used to have a list of links to proven

health bennies of Olive Oil but I let it slide when I stopped offering it ..

there are many more now .. even the FDA and AMA (reluctantly?) recognizes

some of them.

 

Years ago I imported 5 metric tons of Turkish First Pressed, Early Harvest

Extra Virgin Olive Oil .. it was not cheap but it sold FAST. If I can get a

large quantity again then many folks will smile .. if its a small quantity

then I will notify my long term and best customer base and give them first

shot before I even announce that it is available. Loyalty deserves loyalty

... and all that good stuff. ;-)

 

I took a long route to answer a simple question .. but I think folks need to

know more than just the answer to that question.

 

> Christa

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

>.. or they buy the cheaper Italian Riviera ..

> which (in my opinion) is not even fit for making soap ..

> Olive Oil Pomace is even better than Riviera for this

> purpose.

 

[Dave]: Thanks for the good info on American vs European olive oil. Made

me go look in my soaping cupboard to see what I had. Usually I use pomace

oil even though I know it's hexane-extracted. I'm not real happy about it

but I don't think any solvent residue in a wash-off product is going to be

really significant - and it's upwards of $28 a gallon at a restaurant

supply. But it makes a great soap! Lately I've had all the EVOO and

coconut oils I can use because we've had a few cases come in with leakers.

What I have on hand is Spectrum Organic Cold-Pressed Mediterranean OO, which

according to the label is a product of Tunisia, and I have Bella Italia

Organic EVOO which has an address in Napoli on the label and carries both

the USDA and the Euro BioAgriCert organic labels. I have a big bottle of

estate-bottled organic EVOO too, but I'm cooking with that.

 

One thing I find very confusing is the variety of organic coconut oils

available and the huge disparity in price from one brand to the next.

 

 

 

" No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he only had good intentions.

He had money as well. " --Margaret Thatcher

 

 

 

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