Best Italian Olive Oil

Both EVOO and Virgin olive oil are extracted by mechanical procedure. An extra-virgin olive oil must have a pH between 0.1 and 0.8 while virgin oil has a pH between 0.8 and 2.0. Above 2.0 pH the oil is inedible. Nutritional properties of virgin olive oil are not comparable with those of the EVO oil. The reason can be for example that the olives used to produce the virgin oil were old and ruined before pressing them. Instead the EVO oil is usually made from olives that have been picked from the tree in the last 24 hours on average.

The pomace is the residual part of the olives used to produce extra-virgin olive oil. This residual part can be used to fertilise trees or pomace can be used to produce olive oil by refineries using chemical procedures. The pomace oil which is not edible is refined with chemical solvents and then mixed with a small amount of extra-virgin olive olive to obtain the edible olive oil

Olive oil is very different from Extra-virgin olive oil. The olive oil is produced in refineries with chemical processes, and contains large amounts of saturated fatty acids, which are harmful to health if consumed in high quantities. While high quality extra-virgin olive oil, shortened EVOO, is produced in “oil mills” and is rich in neutracets

All olive oil used for preserving food is made of 98% of oil from refinery and 2% extra-virgin olive oil. The olive oil is produced in refineries with chemical processes, and contains large amounts of saturated fatty acids, which are harmful to health if consumed in high quantities.

The maximum pH for an oil to be edible is 2. An oil with a pH higher than 2 is called lamp oil and it’s used to fuel lamps.

The quality of the extra-virgin olive oil decreases in time and the pH of the EVO oil increases in time. Therefore an EVO oil that is too old can become inedible. If you let the virgin oil or EVO oil age, it’s pH will increase and it will become Lamp oil.

Extra virgin olive oil can last for up to 2 years but in fact it should be consumed within 18 months. After that time it will loose its nutrients and freshness. Extra-virgin olive oil is not like wine, It does not improve with age. Every autumn new extra virgin olive is produced therefore it’s better to buy the new olive oil when it’s freshly pressed.

Olives are harvested in autumn, in Italy the new EVO oil is produced at the end of October and November. The best time to buy the extra-virgin olive oil is few weeks after the pressing, to give the oil mills time to complete the production process. That makes the months of December and January the best months to buy fresh extra-virgin olive oil in Italy.

Bacause it’s not mandatory to write the pH on the extra-virgin olive oil bottles you need to look at other information to understand if the EVOO is an high quality EVOO:
1)    Date of harvest, it must be less than 18 months old.
2)    Producer, who made that oil. Check out their website and gather information on the producer
3)    Certifications e.g. organic certification and presence in International guides. There are some international guides on high quality extra virgin olive oil for example Merum and
4)    Awards winning oil. There are specific awards for high quality extra-virgin olive oil, e.g. Leone D’Oro, Japan Olive,

The price of extra-virgin olive oil varies according to the quality and the format of the container. The 1 liter can of high quality extra-virgin olive oil should cost around 14-15 Euros. Instead a glass bottle of 0.5 liter of the same oil can cost up to 25 Euros per liter. This is because the glass container is more expensive and because the smaller the quantity you buy the higher the cost.