"Extra virgin" is a characteristic used to indicate the quality of olive oil. It is based on determining the value of one of the main parameters of this useful food product - acidity.
Extra virgin oil
Olive oil is a valuable food product that contains a large amount of useful unsaturated fatty acids. Scientists argue that their regular use in food helps to activate cleansing processes in the body, lowers cholesterol levels and thereby prevents the development of atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases.
However, it should be borne in mind that not all olive oil has such properties. The fact is that today there are various technologies for its production, including those in the process of using which olive raw materials are subjected to heating, exposure to chemicals and other factors that significantly reduce the usefulness of the finished product.
Therefore, in order to be able to distinguish between olive oil varieties created using different technologies, the international community of producers has developed special names for each of them. Thus, the cheapest and lowest-quality oil is made from olive oil cake, which has already been squeezed once: it is customary to denote it with the marking “Pomace olive oil”. Refined oil, designated "Refined", undergoes additional chemical treatment, so that it can be used for frying, but it loses some of its useful properties. The highest quality and healthiest olive oil produced from olives by the method of the first cold pressing is called "Virgin": during its production, the raw materials are never heated above a temperature of 27 ° C.
At the same time, the “Extra virgin” marking is assigned to those varieties of Virgin oils that meet the strict expert requirements for the acidity of the finished product: the acid content in Extra virgin olive oil must not exceed 1%. Some companies, known for particularly stringent requirements for the quality of their oil, set a limit value for the acidity of the oil at 0.8%.
Oil varieties "Extra virgin"
At the same time, oils of the "Extra virgin" category can also differ from each other. So, on the label of such an oil, you can see a mention that it is single-grade or blended: this means that such oil is made from olives of the same or different varieties, respectively. At the same time, the best oil in the "Extra virgin" category is considered to be a product with the D. O. P. (denominacion de origen protegida). This marking is used to designate a product produced in a specific region, and in this case the oil is pressed directly at the place of collection of olives, which are not subject to damage during transportation.
