The Many Shades of Olive Oil
Growing up with an Italian mother, imported olive oil was a staple in our kitchen. We even went so far as to fry our eggs in it—a food tradition I still continue to enjoy—with one small, but important change. You see, the olive oil my mother used in her cooking was golden in color and had a very light scent of olives, whereas today, the olive oil I use has a greenish hue and a much stronger olive flavor and scent. Unfortunately, though, it does come with a higher price tag.
Why the departure from my Sicilian family’s tradition of golden yellow olive oil? Because I discovered that many of the properties which make olive oil such a wonderful fat to consume are actually lost during the manufacturing processes which give rise to the more traditional, light-golden colored oil.
There are two important features to look for when choosing an olive oil. The first is that is has to be cold-pressed. This means that the oil wasn’t subjected to any chemical processes or high heat which can literally “cook” the nutritional goodness (antioxidants, vitamin E, Omega-9’s) right out of your oil.
The second feature to be on the lookout for is that your oil is labeled extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), as opposed to simply virgin. This tells you that not only was the oil extracted during the first pressing, but that it was processed quickly before its health-breeding fatty acids had much of a chance to break down. EVOO has been shown to lower the inflammatory markers in the blood (which provides protection against cardiovascular disease, arthritis, certain cancers, and dementia) in contrast tojust virgin olive oil which came up empty handed in research studies.
Want to add more of this powerful nectar to your diet? Dip your whole grain bread in it, drizzle it over hearty soups, fry your eggs in it (I use an oil sprayer to avoid overuse), or add some extra cold-pressed, EVOO to your pasta sauce just before serving.
Mangia!