The Basic Facts about Olive Oil

Three recent stories in the Windsor Star, one about the new Windsor Farmers' Market, another about Locavore, a group promoting the importance of fresh local products, and today's story announcing provincial government support for the local food industry, got me thinking about "healthy food products".

As some of my readers will know, I was born in a small mountain village, in the central Italian region of Abruzzo. The village is near the city of L'Aquila, which sustained terrible earthquakes just this past April. Probably because of my heritage, I am a big fan of olive oil. Not only is this a healthy food product, it is also very tasty. Hey, so let's learn a little more about olive oil, and let's use it with freshly grown Essex County products.

The olive is a fruit produced by a Mediterranean evergreen tree. This tree spread from places like Syria and Iran to Southern Europe about six thousand years ago, and is one of the oldest cultivated trees in the world. The Romans loved olive oil, and as they spread their domain, they brought the olive tree with them. In my travels through Spain, Greece, and Italy, I loved driving past olive groves--the trees looking majestic and the farms well cared for. My favourite olive groves were in the Italian region of Puglia, just pure music.

My youngest daughter Bianca spent about six months in Italy some years ago, attending a private school in the beautiful city of Lanciano, in Abruzzo. One of her fondest memories is attending an olive farm, and watching the production of olive oil.

Greek mythology tells us that Athens is named for the Greek Goddess Athena who brought the olive tree to the Greeks as a gift. If it is good enough for a Greek Goddess, it should be good enough for us.

Olive oil is like wine: it comes in many different types of bottles, different varieties and different pricing. You can go upscale very fast: $30 a bottle is common for very good olive oil, but there is lots of good stuff at $12. Although olive oil can be broken into many sub-categories, for my personal use, and ease of explanation, I find the main types are:

• Premium and Extra Virgin - is oil from the first pressing and with very low acidity at 0.8% or less. It is fruity and with nice flavour. This oil should be used on salads, fresh Essex County tomatos, as a condiment, or for dipping bread, which you can buy fresh every morning from the bakeries on Erie St. in Windsor.
  

• Virgin - also from the first pressing, must have good flavour and the acidity rate must be less the 2%. This oil is also good for uncooked foods.

• Pure or Plain Oil - is a blend of Virgin and refined oil. Refined means it has gone through a chemical process. It is low in acid but has very little if any flavour. This oil is good for cooking.

• Light or Extra-Light - does not refer to calories or fat content. These oils are refined and should be used for cooking only.

Finally, olive oil should always be stored in a cool, dry, dark place and should last for up to one year.

Oh, and don't forget, it should be used primarily on Essex County products.