EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL BUT...HOW IS IT BEING MADE?

 

How is extra virgin olive oil being made. It is necessary to underline that we purposely deal with virgin and extra virgin olive oil, for only these two types, according to law, can be obtained through a mechanical “pressing” of olives.

All other types, including the one simply called “olive oil”, undergo chemical treatment, normally called “refining” treatments.

 

Everything starts with the olives                     

 

 

Of course, it all starts with olives, people could say!

Yes, its’ true, however in times of frauds, food sophistication of all sorts, it is good to remind ourselves that extra virgin olive oil can be obtain only and exclusively from olives!

There are so many different types of olives. Every type can produce a different kind of oil with a specific character and “personality”. In technical slang language it is called “fruttato” (flavor) and there are many kinds, but here in “Oliving” we prefer using the word emotions: every olive gives a different emotions!

This historic fruit, throughout the centuries, has entered into the most different Italian regions and has adapted itself to all types of climate and conditions. The ripening process of olives reflects the great variety of existing types.

Some olives are ripe by the end of August, others in September, and still others in October, November and December. There is no precise rule to determine when the olives are ripe to the right point. When the process nears the external peel of the olive gets quickly darker> It is a process called darkening. It is not a rule, however the best quality of oil is obtained when the olives are picked at the beginning of the darkening process.

 

Unfortunately it corresponds to the moment when the yield is the lowest, if compared to when the olives are very dark (almost black).
We already stated that the quality of oil does not correspond to the quantity!                          

 

 

Harvest and storage 

                                        

There are different ways of picking the olives: by hand, with instruments facilitating the collection ( a sort of automatic rake), shakers (machines which shake the tree causing the olives to fall on the net).

 

Except from the picking by hand which remains undoubtedly the best method ever, yet, unfortunately, the most costly, it is quite difficult to define which are the actual disadvantages of other methods. To try understanding the critical points related to the collection of olives we propose a test which you can easily make at home.

 

Take a ripe apple, press the peel with one of your fingers. Sometime later you will notice that where you pressed the apple with your finger the color will darken. It is due to the fact that by pressing the skin of the apple you have accelerated the chemical processes of decay of the apple. Exactly the same happens with olives.

 

The more the collecting method mishandles the olives, the more they will reach the olive mill in poor conditions. This, coupled with the time of storage may have a bad influence on the quality of oil.

However, it cannot be said that only by hand picking the olives good quality oil can be produces! If the collection is carried out by using the brain on top of the use of hands … it is possible to obtain some very good quality of oil also with other methods which rely on some mechanical devises.                                 
                                    

 

Storage

After the harvest and before being crashed, olives must be stores in some appropriate containers.

The storage is definitely one of the most critical passages of the entire process. Even when olives are of the best quality and have been properly picked, a bad storage could totally compromise the quality of the oil by introducing a series of defects which can be easily perceived even by people who are not expert in the field.

 

The reason which lies at the bases of this critical moment is quite simple: olives start to decay (oxidation, fermentation, etc.) from the first moment following the harvesting. This decay process increases with the passing of hours, with the change of temperature, and the pressure suffered by olives stored in large quantity. The following are some of the rules which producers of high quality oil normally follow:




1. Avoid storing olives for a period longer than 24 hours ( high quality oil producers normally press the olives within 12 and 24 hours from harvesting time)

 2. Avoid using containers which are too tall so as to eliminate the pressure exercised by olives on top on olives at the bottom.

 3. Keep containers on a ventilate, cool area and very protected from the light.

 

Defoliation and olives washing

 

At the oil mill, olives are first of all cleared from all leaves. Actually, not all leaves are left behind while picking olives. This is by no means a problem, since leaves in small quantity contribute to the color of oil and also to its aroma.

 Nevertheless, some producers particularly “obsessed” with quality reach the point of selecting every single olive which enters the mill eliminating whichever residue which may even slightly compromise the high quality of oil.
It becomes clear that an extra virgin olive oil of this type will unavoidably be very expensive ( however, most likely, very good also!)

 

Crushing 

                                                                              

After having been washed, olives are ready to be literally crushed.
In people’s imagination this is the moment when oil is actually produced. Yet it is not so. In this phase olives are only crushed (pulp and seed) so as to facilitate the extraction of oil which will take place in following phases.

 

In the picture you see what is perhaps the most ancient method of crushing: the grindstone.
Nowadays such methods still exist, however it has been substituted by and large by other mechanical systems such as hammer crushers, or blade crushers, etc. But it is nice to stay with the ancient and more poetic method of the grindstones. The goal remains always the same; crushing the olives.

 

Kneading 

                                                                                                       

What is left with olives after the crushing is a kind of dough which has precisely to be “blended” (kneading) in such a way that separation of molecules of water from those of oil may be favored ( they were mixed in the previous phase). This is a fairly long part of the whole process; it ranges from forty minutes to an hour.

 

The dough must be kept at a stable temperature of approximately 27 Celsius degrees. It is this phase which gave the name “cold pressed” to the oil. The expert eye of the mill operator will determine when the dough is ready and that is when on top of the dough he starts seeing tiny drops of oil which can become visible.

 A curiosity: there are producers who collect ( with difficulty) the oil which appears on the surface of the dough. This type of oil is therefore called “protruded” . Few produce it and it is obviously most expensive, nevertheless it is definitely worth the expense!

One last thing: if anybody happens to stop at an oil mill while the dough is being processed, most likely they will be quite reluctant to show it to you … Not for lack of kindness, but simply because in all the different moments of the processing of oil, contact with air should be strictly avoided.

 

Extraction 

                                                                                                                    

Once the dough is ready it enters inside a “decanter” that has a centrifugal force which separates the solid elements (sansa) from the liquid ones (water and oil). The sansa is often used to obtain another kind of oil through a refining process ( sansa oil) or made into fuel.

For curiosity sake it must be also said that the centrifugal system is not the only one to get the oil out of the dough.

 The ancient way was that of inserting the dough inside containers shaped as discs, made with vegetable or synthetic fibers. Then, with great pressure the oil was squeezed out of the containers. It has become very rare to still find such system.

In order to bring the process of extraction to completion it is necessary to totally separate water from oil. To do it, another type of vertical-axis centrifugal force is being used.  Thus oil is being finally obtained!

It won’t be limpid and clear as we are accustomed to taste it.
Indeed there will still be some minute particles of solid matter which have not totally eliminated in the previous phases. It is enough to allow the new oil to rest for some days so as to allow these particles to be deposited at the bottom of the container.

For purely esthetical reasons, however, oil is normally being filtered in many ways so as to make it clear as we are accustomed seeing it.

 

Storage 

                     

 

Concluding, oil is being stored in stainless steel containers which is perhaps the most suitable material to guarantee its conservation.

These containers will be of different sizes according to the need.

 

Those producers who choose a quality wise objective normally substitute the amount of air remaining between the cover and the oil with some inert gases such as nitrogen.

This way the oxidation process is avoided. In a second moment oil will be bottled in a more or less automatic way, according to the volume of production.

 

 

 

 

 

OLIVE OIL AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

It has also been demonstrated that olive oil plays an important role in the immune system.

What is the immune system?

The immune system defends the body against invasion by foreign substances (toxins, microorganisms, parasites, tumour processes, etc.) by coordinating specific and non-specific mechanisms.


The non-specific or innate defences are the front-line protection against microorganisms. They are made up of the skin, mucous membranes, the complement system (the complement, a group of some 20 proteins manufactured in the liver, helps to destroy micro-organisms) hormonal factors, etc. and their action is not affected by prior contact with the foreign substance.


Specific mechanisms occur following exposure to the substance and they require the involvement of the B-lymphocytes (humoral system) and the T-lymphocytes (cell system).

Innate immunity responds in a similar way to the majority of microbes whereas the specific immune response varies according to the type of microorganism in order to eliminate it as effectively as possible.

Olive oil and the immune system

It has been documented that olive oil intake bolsters the immune system against external attacks from microorganisms, bacteria or viruses.
It has been known for some time that mineral and vitamin deficiencies can have an adverse effect on the immune system.

Recent research has concluded that the fatty acids in the make-up of olive oil are good allies in lowering important immunological parameters such as the proliferation of lymphocytes induced by specific mitogens of both B- and T-cells.


These fatty acids have been reported to play an important part in various immune functions. They are involved in regulating inflammatory processes and they may be effective in the treatment of some autoimmune diseases and in the regulation of the immune system in general.

Olive oil and rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory immune disease of unknown causes that affects the joints. Genes, infective factors, hormones and diet have been suggested as possible associates in its onset. Although some studies had suggested that olive oil could help to alleviate its symptoms they did not provide confirmation of such a protective effect.


Now, the results of a recently published study suggest that regular consumption of olive oil may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
According to the authors of the study, the people on diets containing high levels of olive oil had less risk of suffering this disease. The study found that the people who consumed less olive oil had 2.5 times more possibility of developing rheumatoid arthritis than those who consumed it more frequently.


Although the mechanism involved is not yet clear, antioxidants are suspected to exert a beneficial effect.

OLIVE OIL AND CANCER

Cancer is one of the chief causes of death in the developed countries, and its incidence is on the increase.

It is now conceded that there is a relationship between diet and the development of a large number of malignant tumours. Cell oxidation is one of the major risks in the formation of cancer: the more susceptible the cell is to oxygen, the greater the risk of cancer.

The types of cancer most closely associated with diet are colon-rectal, prostate and breast cancer.
Recent research has revealed that the type of fat seems to have more implications for cancer incidence than the quantity of fat.

What is cancer?

A tumour is an abnormal swelling or enlargement of a part of body tissue. Tumours may be benign or malignant.

Benign tumours are tumours whose cells remain at their original site. They form a localised cell mass which, when it grows, encapsulates and very rarely causes death.

Malignant or cancerous tumours, on the other hand, invade the tissue where they grow. Often they pass into the bloodstream and the lymphatic system, forming secondary tumours at other sites known as metastases. The speed of growth and metastasis varies according to the type of tumour.

Various environmental factors (physical factors: radiation; chemical factors: certain constituents of foods) and genetic factors are at play in the formation of tumours. In most types of cancer, environmental factors are most important.

Olive oil and cancer

Epidemiological studies suggest that olive oil exerts a protective effect against certain malignant tumours (breast, prostate, endometrium, digestive tract, …).

A number of research studies have documented that olive oil reduces the risk of breast cancer.

Eating a healthy diet with olive oil as the main source of fat could considerably lower cancer incidence. The reason is that the cell mutations caused by cancer are partly due to toxins which, when consumed through the diet, attack DNA.

On passing through the liver, these toxins produce free radicals that then attack DNA. To combat such free radicals, the body needs vitamins and antioxidants like those contained in olive oil.

It has also been reported that an olive-oil-rich diet is associated with reduced risk of bowel cancer.

The protective effect of olive oil is irrespective of the amount of fruit and vegetables eaten in the diet.

Recent studies have demonstrated that olive oil provides protection against cancer of the colon. Lately, research has been looking into the metabolic implications of fats, more specifically the protective role of olive oil in chronic liver disease and in the disorder of the intestines known as Crohn's disease.

Results point to beneficial effects of olive oil on pre-cancerous lesions. After analysing three types of diet, research scientists arrived at various conclusions. The olive oil diet reduced the number of cancerous lesions; the number of tumours that developed was clearly and significantly low; and the tumours were less aggressive and had a better prognosis.


This beneficial effect could be related to oleic acid, the predominant monounsaturated fatty acid in olive oil. It has been observed that this fatty acid lowers the production of prostaglandins derived from arachidonic acid, which in turn plays a significant part in the production and development of tumours.

However, it is not excluded that other constituents of olive oil, such as antioxidants, flavonoids, polyphenols and squalene may also have a positive influence. Squalene is believed to have a favourable effect on the skin by reducing the incidence of melanomas.

Olive oil also adds to the taste of vegetables and pulses whose benefits in cancer prevention have been amply proved.

Some very promising, current research is centred on the protection provided by olive oil against child leukaemia and various cancers, such as oesophageal squamous cell cancer.

Much has still to be discovered about how olive oil affects cancer and concrete data are still lacking on the mechanisms behind the beneficial role it plays in the prevention or inhibitionof the growth of different types of cancer.

However, according to the information available at present, olive oil could actsimultaneously during the different stages involved in the process of cancer formation.

OLIVE OIL DURING PREGNANCY AND CHILDHOOD

Olive oil plays a key role in foetal development during pregnancy and a shortage may have pernicious effects on the baby's subsequent development.

It has been demonstrated that the post-natal development of babies of mothers who consumed olive oil when pregnant is better in terms of height, weight, behaviour and psychomotor reflexes.

The foetus needs vitamin E to grow. The newborn baby also needs a store of vitamin E to fight against the oxidative stress caused on entering an oxygen atmosphere. Although not very abundant in olive oil, it is present in sufficient quantity thanks to the resistance of olive oil to oxidation.

So, both the amount and the type of food consumed in the diet during pregnancy play a key part in the metabolic adaptations that occur in the mother and in her functional relationship with the foetus.

Olive oil and breast feeding

During labour, the vitamin E in the mother's blood is concentrated in the breast glands and so, during breast feeding, the mother continues to supply vitamin E. It is essential to maintain the levels of this vitamin during breast feeding.

Vitamin E is also recommended for premature and new-born infants with kidney or pancreas failure because of the favourable effect it has on the hepato-biliary system.

But olive oil not only provides enough essential fatty acids for the development of the new-born child; its ratio of linoleic acid to linolenic acid (essential fatty acids) is similar to that of breast milk.

The beneficial effect of oleic acid lasts beyond pregnancy. Besides its documented effectiveness in preventing hypercholesterolaemia and atherosclerosis, which is a process that can begin in childhood, oleic acid also appears to exert a positive influence on growth and bone mineralisation and development during infancy.

Dietary requirements

During pregnancy and breast feeding it is advisable to consume more fat, primarily monounsaturated fat, while reducing saturated fat and cholesterol as far as possible. General dietary guidelines should be followed and calorie intake should be controlled to avoid excessive weight gain.

Under-three-year-olds have different dietary requirements to children over this age. Forty per cent of the energy they consume comes from fat, whether it be in breast milk or any other kind of milk. It is recommended to maintain this dietary pattern and to ensure that energy and nutritional intake cover the developmental requirements of the child.