Extra Virgin Olive Oils
A few words about Extra Virgin Olive Oils (EVOO) ...
The term "Extra Virgin" simply means that the olive oil has 1% acidity or less (expressed in terms of oleic acid). Generally this should mean the best quality olive oil, but not always. Much depends on the price (all good or superior quality extra virgins have prices to match), and of course the reputation of the producer.
Not surprisingly at the low end of the market dubious practices are not uncommon, particularly the addition of alkalis to inferior oils simply to reduce the acidity level. Beware, that bargain "extra virgin" oil is probably cheap for a reason!
All of our oils are Extra Virgin and are first pressing, also know as cold pressing, which means that the oil is obtained by the first pressing of fresh olives at the oil mill. It is the standard method to make all extra virgin oils of quality.
Pre-pressing - the naturally surfacing oil from the mashed olives paste, is highly prized for its freshness, but expensive because there is little of it.
PDO/DOP - ‘protected denomination of origin’. It shows that you can be confident that the oil’s name and local provenance have been certified and protected according to EU regulations. Again the origin of much mass-market olive oil is also open to abuse - you can't always believe where an oil originates as often the country of origin is just the country where it was finally bottled or canned. For example, oil being sold as Italian might be a mix of oils from several countries.
