Cooking with Olive Oil

About Olive oil

The olive tree is a crop native to Asia Minor which spread to the rest of the Mediterranean, plus Iran and Palestine around 6,000 years ago. It is one of the oldest cultivated trees and has been growing long before the written language existed.

There are many uses of olive oil. Not only is it a gourmet cooking product, it also has a series of health and beauty benefits. The polyphenols which is found in olive oil has been shown to slow down the process of aging. Studies have also shown that olive oil offers protection against heart disease and also has the ability to reduce the effect of oncogene, the gene which turns a host cell into a cancer cell.

Flavours of the olive can depend on a range of factors including the type of olive, the ripeness of the harvest, riping conditions, crop maintenance and how the olives are handled. When tasting, much of the oils characteristics are perceived through the sense of smell. A trained taster can identify negative elements within the oil.

Cooking with Olive Oil

Some olive oils cannot stand the heat of the pan. Some types have a low smoking point and if they reach this point it means that they lose their unique flavour. Standard oils and pure olive oil are suitable for frying. Unlike extra virgin olive oil, they have been created by a refining process which strips out most of the unique flavour which can be found in extra virgin olive oil and is therefore, it available at a cheaper price.

On the other hand, extra virgin olive oil needs to be cooked with care. It is the highest grade of olive oil so if it is heated to a high temperature it loses its flavour straight away. It is more frequently added to meat or fish which is already cooked or made into marinades, dressings and just purely drizzled over fresh pasta, salads and bread.

Another delightful dish including classical Mediterranean ingredients includes olive tapenade, a flavoursome dish which can served with bread or crudités to finish. Please see recipe below:

Olive Tapenade

Ingredients include:
2-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Handful of parsley
300g pitted black olives
6 anchovy fillets
3 tbsp chopped capers
1 juice of a lemon
1 garlic clove
Seasoning

A simple process: just mix of the ingredients together and add enough olive oil to create a paste. If you require a smooth texture use a blender to combine the ingredients. Again add more oil if you for more of a paste texture.

Olive oil should be stored in a dark, cool place and not in the refrigerator as it will eventually solidify. It should be kept in an odourless container and stored in cupboards that are not exposed to strong smell otherwise the oil will absorb the various smells.

If it is properly stored the oil can last of at least two years, however it has the best flavour in the first two months of opening so use it as much as you can then!

Olive Oil – Part of the Greek Culture

Greeks are to olive oil that Texans are to oil

Greeks regard olive oil as valuable as gold, their fortune is centred around it as an important ingredient in Greek culture.

The olive tree has been grown in Greece for thousands of years and the oil is used by millions worldwide as a food as having medicinal, cosmetic, lighting and sacred uses.

History of Greek olive Oil

According to Greek mythology, the goddess Athena caused the olive tree to spring up so that she could win the favour of the inhabitants of Acropolis. Hence, the Acropolis is always depicted with an ancient olive tree growing on it.

The olive oil tree is not unique to Greece, both the Armenians and the Egyptians knew about it, however it was the ancient Greeks who were first responsible for large scale cultivation of olives. Somewhere between the seventh and third centuries BC ancient Greek philosophers, physicians and historians decided on its botanical classifications and referred to the curative properties of olive oil. This knowledge is being revived as modern day scientists research why the Mediterranean diet is so healthy.

The love of the Greek olive-grower for the olive tree is often passed on from generation to generation and from family to family and with every birth, an olive tree is planted which will grow and develop along with the child – when the child starts school at the age of seven, the olive tree is ready to produce it’s fruit.

Food Gifts: Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegars and More!

With an increasing amount of food programmes now appearing on our screens and with people’s expectations of food increasing, food related gifts are becoming more and more popular. Great gourmet gifts can include olive oil, olives, balsamic vinegars and gourmet food hampers. Such items are products which you are not necessary going to find on the high street which makes the gift more unique to the recipient.

Olive Oils
Olive oil has many benefits. Other than providing a fabulous flavour in cooking, olive oil (particularly pure extra virgin olive oil) has many health benefits, from preventing heart disease, cancer and heart disease to providing beauty benefits for the hair and skin.

There are many varieties of olive trees and therefore the olives and olive oil that are produced. From French, Greek, Spanish and Italian olive oil they make the perfect gourmet gift for the ultimate foodie. The main types of olive oils are:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Obtained from high quality olives, this oil has a strong aroma of the fruit and has less than 1% acidity.

• Virgin Olive Oil: It is made from olives that are slightly riper than those used in the production of extra virgin olive oil.
• Refined Olive Oil: Olive oil known as "refined olive oil" is made by refining the virgin olive oil. The final product is basically a tasteless olive oil.
• Pure Olive Oil: Pure olive oil, usually called just olive oil, comes either from the second cold pressing or the chemical extraction of the olive mash left over after the first pressing. This grade is also called commercial grade oil.
  

Infused oils are also very popular and offer an alternative to the usual types of olive oil. Try varieties such as chilli and garlic, citrus, rosemary, Mediterranean and Spanish thyme infused extra virgin olive oils. Extra virgin olive oils have the most distinct flavour and offer the better health benefits. Therefore, they are considered a luxurious cooking product in any household.
Why not combine an oil drizzler with your chosen olive oil to create the perfect gift. Oil drizzlers come in a range of styles and sizes.

Balsamic Vinegars

There are three types of balsamic vinegar: commercial grade balsamic vinegar, Condimento grade products and authentic artisan balsamic vinegar. Balsamic vinegar is perfect used in salad dressings, dips, marinades and to enhance the flavour of steaks and even strawberries!

There are a range of varieties of balsamic vinegars including fruit vinegars and sherry vinegars which are perfect for adding the ‘wow’ factor to a meal or as a gourmet gift.

Traditional balsamic vinegars such as red label balsamic vinegar of Modena is slowly aged in oak casks and has a full mellow flavour. Il Borgo del Balsamico’s Modena Vinegar Yellow Label is carefully aged with a classical, slightly pungent flavour, making it ideal for salad dressing and a product designed for the family’s everyday use.

So there are a number of types to choose from – if you did need more information on the best type to go for make sure you enquire before you buy as such specialist retailers are very knowledgeable about their products and would assist in every way.

Special Foodie Hampers

For the perfect Christmas gift or birthday present why not create your very own individual foodie hamper, full with gourmet goodies. You could fill with specialist balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, dried herbs, an olive oil drizzler and even some specialist pasta. What’s more you could even customise your hamper in terms of regions or countries add a couple of recipes or cook books for that extra special touch.

Il Borgo : ‘Love for the real things of life and the priceless treasure that is time’

Il Borgo del Balsamico Vinegar is produced at Botteghe di Albinea, a small hamlet near Reggio Emilia, in central-north Italy. The old farmhouse and gardens of the Borgo del Balsamico estate speak of age-old traditions and craftsmanship that live on today. Here the rolling countryside of the Emilia Region meets the gentle slopes of the Apennines in an area famous for its Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, salami and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar.

The Borgo del Balsamico concern was started by Cristina and Silvia Crotti’s father - as a hobby that became a real passion. Today the two sisters are continuing the business. Cristina looks after the marketing side while Silvia deals with administrative matters.

“It may sound corny”, she says, “but Borgo del Balsamico all started thanks to our father’s genuine passion for traditional vinegar-making. At the time our family was in the fashion business and my father bought a series of old vinegar-making casks as a hobby. In those days, it was only close friends and relatives who benefited from what he produced. But even then, the product won a series of prestigious awards.”

“Love for our land and the traditions of our forebears; love for the real things of life and the priceless treasure that is time. These are the values that underpin everything we do at Il Borgo del Balsamico. We are firmly resolved to safeguard the authenticity of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar and at the same time make available other products of excellence that are part of Italy’s famed gastronomic traditions.
Our aim is to safeguard the way in which traditional balsamic vinegar is made, broadening appreciation for this product of excellence. At the same time we have developed other quality products that will allow the discerning public to benefit from Italy’s tradition of fine food and wines on a daily basis.”

This is how Cristina Crotti describes the family business. Together with her sister Silvia, Cristina has made it her mission to take one of the marvels of Italy’s gastronomic traditions out into the world, doing so with intelligence, skill and enthusiasm – essential attributes when you take on the world.

The vinegar produced by the Crotti family has been commercially available only since 2004 and we are thrilled to be bringing such a fabulous product to our customers.

Get Oily Stock a huge range of olive oils, buy Il Borgo del Balsamico Vinegar here.

Tasting Olive Oil

With so many olive oils on supermarket shelves, a good and curious cook
might want to compare various types. In additions, a good cook may wish to try to identify their characteristics in order to decide which olive oils are best for cooking, salads, drizzling on dishes or dunking with bread.

There is a wide range of flavours found in extra virgin olive oils. Flavours are determined by several factors including type of olives, ripeness of olives, growing conditions, and oil storage:

• Mild and buttery: These are subtle oils, good for mild dishes such as a simple fish or salad dressing. They tend to be light golden-green.

• Fruity and spicy: You can smell the herbs in these green oils. They are delicious with cooked vegetables and seafood and are easy to love.

• Fruity and peppery: These will get your attention with a long peppery finish. Their assertive flavours are good companions for sandwich fillings, drizzled on garlicky dishes such as pastas, or grilled meats. They are often dark green-gold in colour.

• Full bodied and earthy: Like a big wine, these are big olive oils. Rich mouth-feel with a full flavour characterizes the golden oils.

Tasting olive oil…

Here are some tips on how to taste olive oil:

Firstly, pour a little olive oil (approximately 1 tablespoon) in a small glass. Cover the glass with one hand, shake it delicately with the other until the oil adheres to the entire inside surface. Warm oil in the glass with your hands until it is close to body temperature.

Lift the glass to your nose and sniff rapidly and deeply three time (raising your nose up and away from the oil between each sniff). Olive oils have aromas just like wine. We then tried to analyze the aroma. There really is a difference in aromas!

Tasting: Take a sip (approx. 10 drops into mouth). DON'T SWALLOW! Roll the olive oil around in your mouth for approximately 6 seconds and then spit it out. The oil should touch all areas of the mouth so that the various tastes and sensations can be noted. Then it is spit out.

Between tasting each kind of olive oil, drink lots of water and eat a small piece of bread to cleanse your palate. No wine - just water.

10 Facts about Olive Oil

Olive oil is a fabulous ingredient with many uses, from medicinal purposes such as preventing heart disease and cancer to beauty benefits such as providing anti-aging properties, amongst the most popular form which is using in cooking and baking.

1. History

The olive tree is a crop native to Asia Minor that spread to Iran, Syria, Palestine and the rest of the Mediterranean basin around 6,000 years ago. It is among the oldest cultivated trees in the world and began growing long before the written language existed.

2. Family

The olive family, also known as the Oleaceae family, comprises of 600 species and which are situated on all continents.

3. The Olive Tree

There are many variations of olive trees which have many similarities and equally a lot of differences. Growing characteristic and appearance vary, as well as the size, taste and quality olives that they produce.

4. Harvesting

One of the most debated questions among growers is when to harvest. Harvesting can be done in many different ways, from hand-picking to completely mechanized harvesting.

5. Maturity Stages

Immature olives are green and quit firm – they produce oil that is bitter and grassy. These oils are high in anti-oxidants. When the olive fruit matures, it turns yellowish and starts to soften and then the skin turns re-purple in colour (veraison). The olives are often considers to be at their peal for olive oil production. A the fruit completely matures, the skin turns from purple to black – oils produced from these olives usually have a shorter life span and are often described as sweet oils.

6. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil is the highest grade olive oil. It is made without the use of chemicals or excessive heat. High quality oil is ideal as a condiment - whether it’s drizzled over meat, fish vegetables and as a dipping sauce for bread.

7. Flavours

Flavours of olive oil depend on range of factors including the type of olive, ripeness at harvest, growing conditions, crop maintenance and the handling of the olives. When tasting olive oil, much of the oils characteristics are perceived through the sense of smell. A trained taster can identify negative elements within the oil which can be a result of improper handling, poor storage, and wet and weather conditions.

8. Beauty Benefits

The polyphenols found in olive oil have also been found to slow the process of aging and help prevent degenerative diseases. When used on the hair or scalp, olive oil can be used as a deep conditioner and a dandruff controller.

9. Health Benefits

Studies have shown that olive oil offers protection against heart disease by controlling LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, while raising HDL (good) levels. No other naturally produced oil has a large amount of monounsaturated as olive oil. Olive oil has also the ability to reduce the effect of an oncogene- a gene that will turn a host cell into a cancer cell.

10. Storage

Olive oil should be stored in a cool, dark place and not in the refrigerator as it will become cloudy and will eventually solidify. If it’s properly stored it can keep for at least two years, however, it has it is most flavourful in the first two months.

The History of Olive Oil

The olive tree is a crop native to Asia Minor that spread to Iran, Syria, Palestine and the rest of the Mediterranean basin around 6,000 years ago. The olive tree and its fruits have ancient roots connected with the history of man. Much more than mere food to the people of the Mediterranean; it has been used as an external ointment, a medicinal product and also in religious ceremonies.

The olive tree is among the oldest cultivated trees in the world, being grown long before the written language was invented. It was the symbol of abundance, glory and peace and the olive tree branches were given to crown the victorious in friendly games and bloody war. Olive crowns and olive branches, known as emblems of benediction and purification, were ritually offered to deities and powerful figures - some were even found in Tutankhamen’s tomb.

Phoenician civilisation spread the olive to the Mediterranean shores of Africa and Southern Europe and it has been found in Egyptian times since 2000 BC. As the Romans extended their domain, they brought the olive with them and over the past several hundred years the olive has spread to North and South America, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. There are over 800 million olive trees in the world today with more being planted every day. Much of the commercial cultivation of olive oil is still centred in the Mediterranean region in such countries as Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Turkey.

Cultivation of olives

Olive tree cultivation and olive oil production has been with humankind since time immemorial, according to evidence that provide the artefacts and archaeological remains of our most ancient civilisations. Olive tree cultivation was empowered and considered highly beneficial in Greece. In Athens, the olive tree was so sacred it became the symbol of the city.

Olives are harvested in the autumn and winter and green olives are picked at the end of September to about the middle of November. It is the green olive that produces the oil and as with wine, the flavour, colour and consistency vary due to different olive types, location and weather. In order to obtain the finest quality olive oil, the fruit must be harvested at its full ripeness and pressed within 72 hours. The best harvesting method is hand picking but this is labour intensive and therefore, reflected in the price.

Mythology

In Greece, olives were said to have been created by the goddess Athena who brought the olive to the Greeks as a gift and it was considered that only ‘virgins and chaste men could tend the groves’. Athena planted the original olive tree on a rocky hill, which we now know today as the Acropolis. The olive tree that grows there today is said to have come from the roots of the original tree.

The belief that olive oil conferred strength and youth was widespread. In ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome it was infused with flowers and with grasses to produce both medicine and cosmetics. Both scriptural and classical writings refer to both the oil and the tree as symbols of goodness, purity, peace and happiness.

Key to the Mediterranean Diet's Ability to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

Olive oil may be the key reason that eating a Mediterranean diet reduces breast cancer risk, suggests a laboratory study published in the Annals of Oncology. Oleic acid, the main monounsaturated fatty acid in olive oil, has been shown to reduce the expression of the Her-2/neu oncogene, which is associated with the aggressive growth of carpet cleaners helston breast cancer tumors. High levels of Her-2/neu are found in one-fifth of breast cancers, especially those that are resistant to treatment.

In this study, when Menendez and his colleagues from Northwestern University in Chicago exposed two strains of aggressive breast cancer cells to oleic acid, levels of Her-2/neu dropped 46%. When they combined oleic acid with lower levels than are normally used of Herceptin, a drug used to treat breast cancer, oleic acid greatly enhanced the effectiveness of the drug, dropping Her-2/neu expression as much as 70%. The end result: oleic acid promoted the apoptotic cell death (suicide) of aggressive, treatment resistant breast cancer cells.

A human study adds to the evidence that olive oil is a key factor in the lowering of breast cancer risk associated with a Mediterranean diet. Results of this two-year long study involving 755 women in the Canary Islands suggest that monounsaturated fat and, specifically, olive oil exert a protective effect against breast cancer.

Study participants consuming the most monounsaturated fat were found to have a 48% lower risk of breast cancer compared to women whose intake of monounsaturated fat was lowest.

Among women consuming the most olive oil, specifically, the risk of breast cancer was even lower. Compared to those consuming the least olive oil, women whose daily intake of olive oil was at least 8.8 grams, the equivalent of just .65 tablespoon/day, had a 73% lower risk of breast cancer risk!