When it comes to the healthiest option in cooking oils, consider olive oil is the best thing you can get. It contains vital nutrients that you cannot find in any other edible oil. Even doctors recommend olive oil in your regular diet because of its nonesuch erected fats and a large amount of antioxidants. Moreover, oil of olives is also known for its anti-inflammatory properties. As people are becoming more aware of health concerns, the demand for olive oil is increasing globally. If you have recently heard about the health benefits of this oil, it is important to understand that all variants you can find in the market cannot serve the purpose as expected. For making olive oil as an integral part of your kitchen, it is advisable to sain some crucial information about its different variants.
Types of olive oil
1) Extra virgin olive oil
If you want to buy Italian olive oil in its best possible form, we recommend going with the option of extra virgin. The oil is extracted by cold pressing method without exposing it to high temperatures. It helps in retaining maximum possible nutrients in the oil while processing. You will get the original natural aroma and flavor of olives in this oil. The cold pressing techniques insurers lower acidity content which makes it suitable for consuming roar without even mixing with other ingredients for cooking. The extra virgin olive oil is mostly used in repairing salads and seasonings.
2) Virgin olive oil
For cooking purposes, we recommend virgin olive oil because it's temperature resistance is better than extra virgin olive oil. It is available in an unrefined form and extracted by a cold-pressing method. However, the acidity content in this variant is slightly higher than the previous one. Talking about the flavors, it has a milder taste and retains most of the aroma while processing.
3) Refined olive oil
For high-temperature cooking, refined olive oil is the best option. It has a higher acidity level and is extracted from black ripe olive fruits. Refined oil also contains the wellness properties like one saturated fat but the healthy elements reduce. Unlike de Cecco extra virgin olive oil, we cannot use it for seasoning or drinking orally.
4) Pure olive oil
Pure olive oil doesn't mean that it is 100% pure. This variant is a combination of extra virgin, virgin and refined oils extractive from olives. The main purpose of pure olive oil is to provide natural flavors in refined oil. However, it is a much better option than refined oil from the perspective of nutrients. Along with cooking, we can also use pure olive oil for preparing other herbal oils and body massage.
5) Olive pomace oil
This is one of the cheapest options of olive oil available in the market. Olive pomace oil is also extracted from olives but has inferior quality as compared to all other options. It also contains harmful polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The promise variant is extracted from the residue of processed olive fruits. The residue of olives after pressing still contains some degree of water and oil. This extract is further mixed with virgin oils to improve the aroma and taste. However, we don't recommend it for cooking. Still, in some restaurants, it is used for high flame cooking.
Olive oil significance in Italian cuisine
You can find numerous brands of Italian extra virgin olive oil online. In Italian cuisine, olive oil is among the integral and traditional ingredients. Not only for cooking but they also used it for preparing authentic Italian salads and seasoning. For all popular cooking types in Italy including baking, grilling, frying, sauteing and marinating olive oil is considered as a primary ingredient. We can experience its presence in almost every Italian cuisine from a normal pizza to traditionally baked food products.
If you are a health-conscious person and want to add olive oil in the daily diet, we recommend only virgin and extra virgin variants. For deep frying, it's ok to go with the option of pure olive oil.
