How do you know what to look for when selecting olive oil for recipes? Flavour, smoke point, nutrtitional value, grade, and variety are all deciding factors.
Flavour ? The wonderful flavours of olive oil are what set it apart from all other vegetable and seed oils, but will an unfiltered extra virgin olive oil be over powering in the dish, or will it compliment and bring out the flavours of the other ingredients? Are you going to be using it as a condiment and want that olive flavour, or would you prefer not to taste the oil at all?
Try to match the olive oil to the other ingredients when selecting an olive oil for recipes. Keep in mind that an extra virgin olive oil will have a stronger flavour and is best suited for use with other strong flavoured foods. You may want to choose a late harvest extra virgin that is made using ripe olives. The nutritional value is lower, but the flavour is mellow. Use it with fish and other delicately flavoured foods. If you are using the oil to dip bread into, dress a salad, or drizzle on vegetables and pasta, you will want a flavourful olive oil.
If you love butter as I do, try oil that has a buttery flavour characteristic. The Arbequina olive variety or a later harvest oil produces a buttery more mellow flavour. I found just such an olive oil made by Can Solivera and several others from Spain at La Tienda.com - a great site for Spanish food, ceramics, gifts, wine and more. Click here to visit their food page. You'll find a link to olive oil in the left margin.
Olive oil makes an excellent substitute for butter , margarine and other vegetable oils in baking. You will use less oil than butter, so there will be less fat in the final product and olive oil is high in monounsaturated fats, lower in saturated fats and loaded with antioxidants. Bread has been made using olive for centuries it can be used for muffins, cakes or any baking really. If you?re concerned about the strong olive flavour, again maybe a later harvest olive or arbequina variety would work well.
Smoke Point - Will you be heating the olive oil? Which method of cooking are you planning to use?
The smoke point is another consideration when selecting olive oil for recipes that involve heating the oil. The International Olive Oil Council states that the ideal temperature for frying is 180?C (356? F) and olive oil has a smoke point of 210?C (410?F). Refined olive oil (pure, light or extra light) has a higher smoke point. It would be an expensive waste to use a premium extra virgin for deep-frying since the heat causes it to lose flavour and nutritional value. It may still be more expensive than other vegetable oils, but the vitamin E and antioxidants offer more stability and it can be re-used up to four or five times. Olive oil can be used for deep-frying, grilling, broiling, saut?ing, stir frying, and baking. If flavour isn't a factor and you prefer not to use olive oil at higher temperatures, try coconut oil. I read about it at eat-it-healthy.com - great informative site, here's the link: Healthy Oils
Nutritional Value ? The number one reason I use olive oil is for its health benefits. It is a rare occasion when I deep-fry, so most of my family?s olive oil consumption is in dips, dressings, mixed with butter as a table spread or on popcorn. The very best olive oil you can choose is organic raw (unfiltered) extra virgin olive oil bottled in coloured glass and purchased within a year of harvest. I have read on some websites that heating olive oil does not affect its nutritional value. Sorry, I don?t believe that and the sources I have found to be most credible don?t agree either. I?ve also read that refined olive oil contains the same health benefits as extra virgin. Wrong again! For one thing, extra virgin contains between 50 and 80 parts per million polyphenols, where as refined oils only have about 5 ppm. And that?s just the polyphenols! There are a lot more vitamins and antioxidant compounds that are surely lost in the refining process as well.
I recommend choosing extra virgin or virgin olive oil when selecting olive oil for recipes. There are plenty to choose from, try different varieties within these two olive oil grades. They say olive oil is like wine in that quality makes all the difference and once you?ve tasted the good stuff, you won?t want to go back.
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