Olive oil is magic in the food world. It is like a colour in the flavour palette. We can mix and match different ingredients so that it can brings the dish with more subtle flavours.
Olive represents purity and peace. It is not only used in different religious rites, but also a gift offered by Athene, the Goddess of Wisdom in the Greek mythology of the gifting from Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, and Poseidon, the God of the Sea. In the story, Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom gave an olive tree to mankind as a gift. Olive oil enriches the taste of food and has great health benefits. Olive oil has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It can prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and other diseases. What a Wonderful Gift! Magical Olive Oil
Olive oil is categorised by the acidity of the olives or/and the ripeness of the olives.
Category by Acidity
The quality olive oil is with a fruity aroma. The higher quality the olive oil, the less tolerable to acids. In addition, whether the olive oil can be eaten depends on the acid level of olive oil. On the other hand, whether the olive oil can used in cooking just depends on the smoke point of the olive oil. Hence, this is the relationship between smoke point and cooking temperature. If the oil is cooked at higher than it smoke point, the oil nature will be changed badly.
At supermarkets, we usually see 4 types of olive oil on the shelves. They are refined olive oil, pure olive oil, virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil.
Category by Ripeness
The taste of olive oil is affected by several factors, such as olive maturity, olive variety, soil, and the weather in which it is grown. There are 3 different types of olive oils – green olive oil, ripe olive oil and black olive oil. Their difference is the production of the olive with different ripeness of the olives
Last but not least, we’d better place the olive oil in a dark-colour bottle and store it in a cool, dry, dark place so as to keep the great quality of the oil.
