Regular Olive Oil and Its Uses

Would I Lie To You, Baby?

Okay, I have just one complaint about this olive oil thing. Why can’t all the producers in all the countries call it the same thing and have some kind of uniform labels where all the terms mean the same?

I’d decided I was going to make my mom’s Fresh Apple Cake. This is a dense, moist cake that weighs a ton, and it’s totally delicious. I got her recipe, but then I was stumped. It called for a cup of cooking oil. A whole cup!

Well, I didn’t want to use my imported olive oil that I order online. Besides, I didn’t think the wonderful taste that I love so much would transfer well to a cake. I thought about all the oils at the supermarket. I didn’t want to spend all day standing in the aisle and reading labels.

I knew there must be an ideal olive oil for cooking, even for baking, so I decided to research. I discovered the subject is even more confusing than I’d imagined. But I’m going to try to sort it out for you.

The thing to remember is that some word on the label might have to do with production methods, some with chemical analysis, and some with marketing–depending on the country the oil is from. How the label reads might reflect the terminology of the olive oil governing association of the producing country not the contents. So “extra virgin” on the label might mean nothing depending on the country where its bottled and sold.

Let’s see if I can clear this up.

There are 24 major olive oil producing countries in the world. Twenty-three of these belong to a group called International Olive Oil Council (IOOC). The United States does not. Why? Because the quality of all our food products is governed by the Department of Agriculture. Now, I’m not saying those learned men and women don’t know anything about olive oil, but their regulations for olive oil were established in 1948.

All imported olive oil has to conform to IOOC standards so let’s talk about that kind of oil since most of the producing countries of the world follow its strict rules and regulations. I have to tell you that the IOOC standards are complex, and sometimes sound confusing.

For example, the term virgin oil referring to production is different from Virgin Oil on a label. The production term means it was produced by physical means with no chemical treatment. “Virgin Oil” on the label however refers to the acidic level. The lower the acidic level, the better quality the oil.

However, all I needed was a bottle labeled olive oil or pure olive oil. So more exploring. The first thing I learned is that the term “pressed” refers to how the oil is obtained from the olives. This archaic term may not mean anything any more since many producers use centrifuges now, not presses. So the imports that say pressed and guarantee it, mean it really was obtained the old-fashioned way.

The important word, usually associated with press, is cold. You want the production to be a cold process because heat changes the chemical composition of olive oil.

Like I said the grading of olive oil is based on acidity. Plain old olive oil, the kind I was looking for to use in baking, is usually a blend of virgin olive oil and refined olive oil. It’s the cheapest olive oil you can buy, and the acidity level results from combining two different olive oils. Usually these two oils are virgin olive oil, not meaning the production term, a low acidity oil with a good taste blended with refined virgin oil, meaning they took out the defects by a chemical process or by filtering or maybe by both methods. The end product, what we call regular olive oil, ends up with a relatively low acidity of 1.5% but is definitely lacking in the strong flavor and aroma of a pure oil that has 1.5%.

Sheesh. I hope that’s clear, but I have to admit. It does sound confusing.

So you see how this works? The percent acidity is one of the important factors in grading the oil. The higher the percentage in pure oils, the cheaper the oil. Blending of oils produces a cheaper oil even though the acidity may be lower than expected. Clear as mud, huh?

The term regular press may be tacked on, but as I’ve said, don’t obsess about that word because high quality olive oil comes from centrifuge also. The flavor and fragrance will be mild to non-existent so it’s a good choice for baking or frying or generally any other cooking.

So I ran to the store and found a bottle of regular olive oil. I’ll save my special olive oil and use it when I want to have the taste of the oil as a characteristic of the food.

I was ready to bake. I had the oil, the apples, the brown sugar, the dates. But it called for a bundt pan. A bundt pan? Of course. My mom’s cake always had this fancy ripple design. This cake baking is complicated.

I didn’t give up. I bundled up the regular olive oil I’d bought and all the other ingredients and headed to my mom’s.

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