The Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the main ingredient of the Mediterranean diet, it is used either raw, in salad dressing, on meat or on the so renowned caprese (tomato and mozzarella salad), or to prepare the soffritto giving to meals that unique flavour, which only the extra virgin olive oil and the other kind of oils you can find on sale.
The first one it is extracted by the squeezing of healthy olives, without chemical additives and the measured degree of acidity must be no more than 0,8% for 100 grams; the virgin olive oil is a good oil but second-class oil with a degree with a degree of acidity between 0,8 and 2% for 100 grams. The lampante olive oil is not good for food consumption and its degree of acidity is above 2% for 100 grams and it is extracted using a mechanical method. The refined olive oil it is obtained through the rectification of lampante olive oils with physical and chemical methods and its acidity it’s not above 0,3% for 100 grams.
The extra virgin olive oil has multiple properties: thanks to its mono-unsaturated fats decrease some chronic diseases, increase the HDL cholesterol, the so-called good cholesterol and contains antioxidants, flavonoids, polyphenols and squalene.
Italy is full of olive tree varieties from the North to the South and from each variety comes from an extra virgin olive oil with a different perfume and taste. And there is a very simple explanation for it: it’s because of the different characteristics of the territories where the olive trees grow up. Nearly each region has its own DOC extra virgin olive oil, and by means of an organoleptic test, each one is different from the other one. The olive tree was and it is a symbol for all the civilisations that grew on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. About it, indeed, the olive tree has been in the symbolism well as in the myth since prehistoric times: Homer was quoting the olive trees in his poems, in the ancient Greece it was a holy plant, for the Romans, according to legend, Romulus and Remus were born under an olive tree. For Christian religion the olive tree has many symbolisms and also for the Jewish tradition it has a special place.
If you want to try some varieties of Extra Virgin Olive Oil we recommend the tour Greeks and Romans coast to coast to taste the production in Gioia Tauro Plain or the tour Lake tours to taste the Northern Lazio oil.
