Tips on buying, storing, and using extra virgin olive oil at home.

What to look for when buying extra virgin olive oil.

First thing to look for on the label is the wording “extra virgin olive oil. The health benefits of extra virgin olive oil are due to compounds naturally found in the oil called “phenols” and the phenol content depends on the olive used to make the oil, how the olive is grown and harvested, and then how the olive is made into the oil. There are chemical and sensory tests that can be done when the oil is produced that would test if the oil meets the standards for “extra virgin”. The chemical tests are done in a lab and to see if the oil contains or does not contain certain compounds. The sensory tests are done by people trained to know what good quality extra virgin olive oil should smell and taste like. To be “extra virgin” the olive oil has to be first press and cold press, so those are just marketing terms. The bottle should also post a date for when the olives were harvested / made into oil. If you are in the United States, there are many excellent extra virgin olive oils from California. Look on the extra virgin olive oil company’s website to see if they list the time it takes for their oil to be made from the time the olives are picked. Less than eight hours is the best.

How to use and store your olive oil to maintain the health benefits.

The phenols in the extra virgin olive oil are lost with oxygen, light, and heat, with oxygen causing the most lost.¹ To avoid excess exposure of the oil to oxygen, make sure you replace the cover on the bottle as soon as you use it. Any damage from light is greatly decreased by buying olive oil in a bottle that is not clear glass. The issue of heat pertains to cooking with extra virgin olive oil. It is a myth that you cannot cook with extra virgin olive oil. The early studies used a fry temperature (170°C) and boiled the oil for hours. Several of the studies did not even test extra virgin olive oil, but listed “refined” olive oil in the study Methods. In addition, it somehow became part of this myth that when testing the oil you bring the oils to smoke point; but we don’t cook at smoke point so that is not a helpful test. I think many people are beginning to realize that this is erroneous information but you may still hear someone who does not know the literature say you shouldn’t cook with olive oil. Yet not only can you cook with extra virgin olive oil, it has been shown to be the healthiest oil to cook with. A study that compared cooking with high quality extra virgin olive oil to other common oils found that the high quality extra virgin olive oil was the safest oil to cook with as it produced the least amount of harmful particles when heated.² The study showed that the least healthy oil to cook with was canola oil as the heating led to a rapid production of polar compounds, which are unhealthy to consume. I occasionally have patients mention the cost of extra virgin olive oil. If you compare the price of extra virgin olive oil to a seed oil, or refined olive oil the extra virgin olive oil will always cost more, but not that much more. I suggest that patients consider the cost per tablespoon of the extra virgin olive oil.

Example:

A bottle of extra virgin olive oil that has 25 tbs (375 ml bottle) and costs $12.00 would be: $12/25 tbs.= 0.48 cents per tbs. For this example, you would be spending about a dollar a day to realize some impressive health benefits.

Summary:

• Look for the wording “extra virgin”, seals that are from the California olive oil industry, and a “best if used by date” that is as far out as possible.
• Look for extra virgin olive oils that the company website provides how long it takes them to turn the olives into olive oil. Use ones that are less than 8 hours.
• Use at least 2 tablespoons of olive oil per day to receive the health benefits.
• Use the olive oil mainly to prepare your vegetables and use at least one tablespoon of olive oil per cup of vegetables.