Southern Olive Oil(ambrook.com) |
Southern Olive Oil(ambrook.com) |
But then one day I realized that I live north of the alps and that I should therefore use virgin rapsöl instead. "Virgin Rape" in English. They re-marketed it as canola in America for obvious reasons but their version also has a couple of mutations that make the flavor milder. Virgin rape is different than processed rapeseed cooking oil - processed has no flavor while virgin tastes nutty.
Farmers have been growing it north of the Alps for thousands of years all the way up into Scandinavia. The fields of yellow flowers are everywhere.
One nearby farm that I buy it from, it tastes like hazelnut. At another farm it tastes like sunflower seed. It's softer than olive oil and doesn't have that bite at the back of your throat.
It makes beautiful mayonnaise - a nice rich yellow color and faint nuttiness - you can't use olive oil for mayonnaise because of the sharpness in olive oil.
It’s true that Italian olive oil has traditionally had a lot better marketing. When we talk about p70 and p80 olive oil quality, Spain wins hands down over Italy and other producers. Don’t get me wrong, Italy and Greece have excellent olive oil too, but it’s much harder to find and usually a lot more expensive. If you’re at a supermarket and have to decide between Italian and Spanish olive oil, chances are that the Spanish olive oil will be much better and, sometimes, even cheaper. A common practice in Italy, even though they don’t like to admit is, is that they import Spanish olive oil, relabel it, and sell it as their own.
One thing Italy, Greece, and other parts of the Mediterranean have is different and more diverse olive tree varieties. Frantoio is a good example.
The most important thing when buying great extra virgin olive oil is to buy straight from a well-known producer. If you buy from an intermediary, the chances that they’ve cut the EVOO with other oils (a common practice in markets outside of Southern Europe, like the US) to cheapen them is high.
The tolerable daily intake of erucic acid is 7 mg per kg of body weight and the legal limit for erucic acid in canola oil is 2%. This means that an average adult (70 kg) could hit that intake with 24.5 grams of canola oil, which is less than 2 tablespoons for the non-metrically inclined.
There's multiple kinds of olives, each producing different kinds of oil. The processing used also affects the end result (extra virgin olive oil comes from the first press, less quality oils from successive processing).
* Picual is the most popular one. It has a strong taste, that "bite" that you mention, and a long shelf life. This means that it is the most exported one. That is probably why you (and others) have associated olive oil with that strong profile. It is however not the only kind out there!
* Cornicabra is the second most popular one. It is milder than Picual in taste, but still strong and durable. You might find it in some specialist shops.
* Arbequina has less of that "bite" that you mention at the end. Unfortunately it has a shorter shelf life as well, which means that it also tends to be exported less.
Because of this is unlikely that you will find it outside of Spain. At the same time it would be the best kind for making mayonnaise, especially if you don't like the bite at the back of the throat (that some people actually enjoy).
And these are just the 3 more popular varieties. There's many more local, smaller ones.
Also rapeseed oil doesn't have all the benefits extra virgin olive oil has but its a healthy choice too. It seems more temperature stable so doesn't burn as easily as EVOO so maybe better for various cooking.
You don't ever want to utter or write the words "virgin rape"
looks like the A&M Agrilife extension has a pretty good reading resource: https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/wp-content/upl...
I lost some neurons trying to understand the locution, then it talked about texas.
yeah... so it not from the "south of the americas" (think brazil, urugay, argentina...) but "the south of the u.s.a."
not really clear from someone from the other part of the atlantic
When the olives ripen and fall, it creates a big mushy mess all over the yard and sidewalks, so there are services that go around and spray olive trees with a growth regulator to prevent fruiting.
I always felt the whole thing was a bit wasteful and they should have been turned into oil but I suppose harvest isn't practical at scale.