This is perhaps my favorite article to write for this blog. Not because I love oil and drink it for breakfast, but more that oil is so misunderstood, and it’s always a pleasure to write about something new and provide the reader with concrete information they can use right away.
It is no exaggeration when I say, every person I run into announces with so much pride and glee that they only cook with olive oil. The promotion of the Mediterranean diet has elevated the reputation of olive oil to new heights. Many scientific articles are published about the health benefits of olive oil. For me, it’s a food, a seasoning, a medication, and a memory of a time colored with sunshine under the shade of an olive tree. Olive oil is home.
You can imagine my disappointment and irritation at the rise in fame of avocado oil. It has been in vogue for the past 15 years or so. Canola oil, on the other hand, has been vilified for decades and is avoided by the health-conscious, avid healthy-cooking moms and health coaches with no nutrition education. In an effort to use the best oil whose reputation has not yet been tarnished, people are turning to avocado oil. While peanut and corn oil are popular in Europe, I have yet to encounter an American who cooks with either of them.
Before we delve into the intricacies of oils, let’s start with what happens to oils when exposed to dry high heat (roasting, frying, grilling).
What Happens to Oil When It’s Fried?
A French chemist, Louis Maillard, discovered in 1912 that when food is cooked in oil at high temperatures, sugars link to amino acids (protein) in a non-enzymatic reaction. You have certainly observed this reaction when sautéing onions or grilling meat. This reaction is what gives grilled meat, toasted bread, and fried onions their appetizing smell, palatable texture, and savory flavor. But there is a catch. This chemical reaction also leads to the creation of free radicals (unpaired electrons that destabilize molecules and are responsible for disease initiation).
For many years, it was believed (scientific studies showed conflicting results and weak evidence) that cooking in olive oil, which is rich in phenolic compounds, reduced the formation of the toxic compound acrylamide. “Contradictory evidence is available on the fate and role of PC in oil and food during oil cooking procedures… Some studies indicate losses from both food and oil, whereas others suggest some migration between oil and food. A partial explanation is that experimental cooking conditions, mimicking home ones, are hardly repeatable in and comparable between laboratories. Moreover, most works have studied the effects of heating at very long durations (repeated for even days), which are poorly representative of domestic conditions (short and unrepeated heating).” (1)
But the reality is way more complex. Cooking induces many chemical reactions, depending on the water evaporation from the vegetables, changes in their biological structure, type of fiber, temperature level, and duration of cooking. All these factors can alter, for better or worse, the amount of antioxidants in the fried/sautéed food.
While some studies still maintain that extra virgin olive oil retains some of its antioxidants even in deep frying conditions (results are from lab simulations), it’s not enough to waste olive oil on cooking. Extra virgin olive oil is expensive and rich in antioxidants with a delicious flavor. Once cooked, the flavor changes and becomes less appetizing and a lot of the antioxidants are lost. So, it’s best to cook with a more affordable oil such as canola or another vegetable oil.
Olive Oil in the Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet is credited with the use of olive oil and praised for its therapeutic properties. The information missing is how people on the Mediterranean peninsula use this oil. True, they do cook everything in olive oil because it’s readily available. But they put it on everything well. Soups are served with a drizzle of olive oil; fresh bread is dipped in olive oil, serving as snacks, meals, or appetizers in restaurants; salads are always served with olive oil, herbs, and balsamic vinegar; pasta dishes are always tossed with olive oil. In Portugal, they roast potatoes or cod and serve them topped with fresh olive oil. It’s the best potatoes I’ve ever had. So, even though they cook with olive oil, they also consume a lot of it uncooked. In other words, cooking with olive oil is not enough to enjoy all the micronutrients in this wonder of nature.
How about light olive oil? Many of my clients cook with light olive oil in the hopes of reaping the health benefits without the flavor. Light olive is highly processed, refined, and filtered to remove most of the antioxidants that promote better health, but also give it its distinct flavor and deep color. Remember, light olive oil doesn’t mean low calorie. There is no such a thing as low calorie oil. If it’s a fat and liquid at room temperature its calorie content is the same as any oil.
How to Buy High Quality Olive Oil
You may not be able to recognize real olive oil from an altered one if you are not familiar with real it. The only way to find out is to learn what the real thing looks and tastes like. There are many tasting events in stores that import their oils directly from their producers in Italy, Greece, or Turkey. Attend those events and sample different oils to familiarize yourself with the taste of different olives and learn the nuances of olive oil flavor. After all, olive oil is like wine. It has texture, flavor, and color. Unlike wine, it doesn’t improve with age, but if kept under proper conditions, it will not change.
You may also visit different Mediterranean restaurants, such as Lebanese, Greek, or Italian and sample what’s on their menu. Although I had olive oil in an Italian restaurant that was altered. The color was transparent and it tasted no different than Canola. So be cautious and try several before you form an opinion. If you have a friend from a Mediterranean country and they happen to bring some from home, that would be the best sample. Once you are exposed to these flavors and have identified your favorite, you will be less likely to fall victim to an altered version.
Remember, each variety will have a different taste, depending on where the olive tree lives, the types of olives (dark green, light green, black), the shape and size of the olive, and the time of harvest—how ripe the olives. Some olive oil has a light flavor, others may be more pungent, and a few even bitter if they left a little of the olive juice in the oil. This isn’t a bad thing, just a taste preference. I happen to like olive oil with good robust flavor but without bitterness.
However, if this is an option for you, to become more familiar with the different flavors of oil extracted from olives, visit one of the countries around the turquoise blue pound. I suggest Portugal, Italy, or Morocco, Tunisia, and better yet, Kabylia, the Northern region of Algeria, in the Atlas Mountains bordering the Mediterranean Sea. This region produces the best-tasting and unaltered olive oil.
How to Store Cooking Oil
This is true for any cooking oil. Always keep it in a dark glass bottle away from the stove and sunlight. A kitchen cabinet on the other side of the stove is the best place to store your cooking oil.
Start shopping today for your favorite olive oil and drop us a line if you have any questions.