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That’s worth knowing! .. (second part of 3) ·
The sentence “olio di oliva” (without the words “vergine” or “extra vergine”), and the word “raffinato” mean that a chemical process has been used for
extracting the last residual fat
from the olive paste (sansa), or for correcting the high levels of
acidity and peroxides, that are characteristics of an aged or bad olive
oil, or to eliminating unpleasant smell and taste (generally they are
symptom of a chemical degeneration of the fat). · The word “raffinato” remember the people who selects the
most expensive and elegant things. But in the case of the olive oil, that
word means that the process used is like to the extraction of gasoline from
crude oil. That process could be
done carefully, with any or very few residual, but it destroys the small quantity of aromatic
components - coming mainly from the green olive skin – that give the virgin olive oil the taste, the
perfume, the flavour and help to
delay the chemical reactions responsible of premature aging and
degradation. These components are very useful also for the health because
of their anti-oxidative properties ·
Don’t be surprised finding very cheep bottles of so called "olio di oliva extravergine" :
they surely contain a well done blend of a number of low quality and
imported vegetable oils. The blend can be so well done that the most common
and easy analysys (acidity and percent of peroxides) aren’t able to reveal
the fraud. To be sure, about twenty
complex chemichal and physical analysys should be done! The bottles
with the sentence PRODOTTO IN ITALIA or MADE IN ITALY offer a first level
of guarantee. If you requires more
guarantees, ask for the D.O.P. : in these cases, the history of the product, from the olive-yard to the bottle, is documented (“tracing”), all the process has been
performed in a specific geographical area, a complete set of chemical and
physical analysis have been successfully performed,and the Panel Test said that it is a
pleasant extravirgin olive oil with the characteristics flavours ot its
D.O.P: area. If there is I.G.P. instead of D.O.P, only the final phases of
the process have surely been performed in the geographic area, but the
olives could have been produced in other part of Italy. If you find a bottle of organic extra
virgin olive oil, (“da agricoltura biologica”) there are some guarantees
about the hystory (not fully traced
as the case of the D.O.P:), none of the classical analysis have been
done but – that is important! – the
analysis searching residual of pesticide in the soil and in the product have been succesfully performed. cancello dell’aziendarate qui
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