Extra virgin olive oil is an essential condiment in the Mediterranean diet because it is rich in numerous nutritional and health-promoting properties. It is a valuable condiment with an ancient tradition, already widespread in Greek and Roman times, which is still made by harvesting and pressing olives, without undergoing invasive processes or the addition of other substances. It is therefore a truly healthy and genuine product which, despite often being treated in the same way as basic ingredients such as sugar and salt, is the spokesperson for Italian gastronomic culture. Golden or greenish, aromatic or delicate, bitter or slightly spicy, herbaceous or fruity, each EVO oil has unique properties and characteristics, conferred by the cultivar(s) used, the place of origin and production techniques.
Extra virgin olive oil is an essential condiment in the Mediterranean diet because it is rich in numerous nutritional and health-promoting properties. It is a valuable condiment with an ancient tradition, already widespread in Greek and Roman times, which is still made by harvesting and pressing olives, without undergoing invasive processes or the addition of other substances. It is therefore a truly healthy and genuine product which, despite often being treated in the same way as basic ingredients such as sugar and salt, is the spokesperson for Italian gastronomic culture. Golden or greenish, aromatic or delicate, bitter or slightly spicy, herbaceous or fruity, each EVO oil has unique properties and characteristics, conferred by the cultivar(s) used, the place of origin and production techniques.
Extra virgin olive oil is always present on every Italian table. Thanks to the massive presence of monounsaturated fats, many studies have shown that it is a healthy product which, if consumed in small doses (3-4 tablespoons a day), can bring great health benefits. This is why it is a key ingredient in the famous Mediterranean diet. While no one can argue with its gastronomic importance, one often wonders why such an important, unique and historic product has remained in the shadows for so long. If, for example, every nuance of wine is studied and all its production steps are listed, it is only in recent years that more attention has been paid to Italian olive oil and an understanding of its true value.
Italy has a unique agricultural heritage in terms of olive production. It is sufficient to think that there are more than 500 different types of cultivars growing in totally different areas. However, faced with an exponentially prospering industry that relies on economic practices, as well as an increasing number of parasitic diseases that have infested and devoured centuries-old olive trees in recent years, it is difficult to maintain the integrity of a healthy and authentic product.
Callmewine has chosen to safeguard our centuries-old Italian culture and has decided to support small and courageous Italian olive growers, such as the Valentini farm, in order to offer a sought-after selection of extra virgin olive oil online. Discover the catalogue and allow yourself to be advised by the technical sheets created by our sommeliers.
With their twisted trunks, gnarled branches and bushy foliage covered in small silver leaves, the olive tree is one of the most fascinating evergreen trees to inhabit the Mediterranean basin. Probably originating in Asia Minor or Syria, Olea Europea L., which is very different from the wild variety known as oleaster, which has a thicker crown and more trunks, has found its ideal location and favourable climatic conditions in the countries along the Mediterranean coast in order to give birth to its precious fruits. Today it is mainly found in Italy, Spain, Morocco, Greece and, to a lesser extent, France, Turkey and Portugal, but it has also found a home in other countries and continents, partly as a result of global climate change. The plant has been appreciated since ancient times for its great longevity and for its products, from which the Greeks already extracted the precious oil. It can reach gigantic dimensions, reaching 20 metres in height with trunk diameters of up to 2 metres. However, in order to facilitate the manual harvesting of the olives, an extremely delicate and important process for the final quality of the extra virgin oil, the foliage is constantly cut and kept at a height of 3-3.50 metres.
The drupe fruit of the olive tree is clearly the olive. It has an oval shape with a smooth, thin skin, called the epicarp, a fleshy, oily, soft flesh, called the mesocarp, and a woody stone containing the seed, called the endocarp. Olives tend to have a bitter taste and are therefore pickled, particularly the green varieties, or crushed to add flavour and make them ready for consumption. Being an oily fruit, it is largely composed of fats (20-25%), water (50%), sugars and other substances. The latter, although in small quantities, are alcohols, hydrocarbons, chlorophylls, polyphenols, antioxidants and vitamins, and determine the colour, aroma and taste.
Extra virgin olive oil is often confused with simple olive oil. There is a huge difference between them in terms of cost, quality and production process.
Unlike EVO, the latter has a lower commercial value because it is obtained from less refined and pure processes, according to a mixture of oils.
Extra virgin oil, on the other hand, has a much more detailed and careful process, which allows it to have organoleptic characteristics that are certainly more valuable. Health legislation has established these parameters to define the quality level of an extra virgin oil:
oils it must not exceed 1%, for EVO it cannot be more than 0.8%.
that indicate oxidative change. The limit is set at 20, but an excellent product can
easily reach values below 10.
should not exceed 250 mg per kg, otherwise it could be thought of as the addition
of pomace oil, a by-product made up of skins, pulp residues and stone fragments.
If a product respects the chemical parameters and the final sensory analysis, it can "boast" the qualification of being extra virgin olive oil.
Elements that can also contribute to the final quality are the climatic conditions of the olive tree, the type of cultivar used, the time between harvesting and transport, production techniques and storage.
In order to understand how an EVO oil is produced, it is necessary to analyse each production stage in detail.
The first stage is the olive harvest. A process that may seem simple, but which is very important for the final quality of the product. The choice of harvest must take into account certain aspects, such as the type of cultivar and the season. Each olive has its own ripening period, which is normally between October and March, and is determined by the change in colour of the skin (veraison), which changes from green to darker colours tending towards black or purple. At this stage, before the flesh also turns dark, the fruit has the highest percentage of oil.
In most cases, harvesting is done by hand. In this case we speak of "bacchiatura" or beating, when the branches are moved by sticks to make the olives fall on the nets placed on the ground, or of "brucatura" or stripping, when the fruits are selected and collected directly from the branches. In the case of mechanical harvesting there is a first phase of shaking, when the branches are moved by mechanical arms to help the olives fall, and a phase of combing, which, as the name suggests, consists of combing the branches to detach the last remaining cultivars.
The second stage is transport to the oil mill, which involves moving the olives as quickly as possible (within 24 to 48 hours maximum) to the oil mill in ventilated crates so that they do not crush and cause unwanted fermentation or mould. It is important that the olives are stored in the dark, in dry places and away from heat sources.
The third step is defoliation and washing. This is done for both quality and hygiene reasons.
This is followed by milling, the process of breaking down the cell wall by mechanical means and allowing the liquid to escape. This creates a semi-fluid raw paste, which is normally obtained from two types of systems:
- The classic one, which involves the use of grinders, wheel-shaped millstones made of
columbine stone that rotate on the fruits and break them
- Crushing, which is carried out using rotating hammers that break up and emulsify the
extract at greater speed.
Then comes the kneading, a slow stirring that has the task of breaking up the emulsion with the water and facilitating the aggregation of smaller droplets into larger ones, to separate them definitively from the paste and the water.
Extraction is the next stage, which produces a fluid very similar to that found on the market. It can take place by pressure, centrifugation or percolation.
Extraction by pressure is the most classic method and involves pressing the liquid with hydraulic press columns to separate it from the pomace, an extract which can be treated and refined as pomace oil or simply used as fuel.
Centrifugation is the most economical, modern and fast solution, which through a continuous process allows the three elements to be separated immediately according to their specific weight. Finally, the percolation system involves the use of steel blades which, thanks to the different surface tension, become wet with oil, which is then collected by dripping. This is only a partial process and therefore a second centrifugation phase will follow.
After the chemical controls have been carried out in accordance with legal regulations, storage and bottling operations are carried out. The product, which is cloudy and has solid residues, is decanted and naturally filtered. Finally, trying to minimise contact with air and light, it is bottled and corked, or placed in antioxidant containers.
The public is then ready, once it arrives on the market, to buy the extra virgin oil.
Callmewine, your trusted online wine shop, has reserved a rich and varied selection of extra virgin olive oils on offer at the best prices. Order it online and receive it conveniently at home.