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To know what's going on to olive oil market...
“Olive oil is magical to me. When you taste a
great olive oil it’s something you get hooked on,” says chef Christine
Cushing, who has been producing olive oil from trees grown in a remote
area of Greece for a decade.
While Greece, the third-largest producer in
the world, had a superb harvest last year, Spain and Italy, the No. 1
and 2 producing countries, were hit by frost. Then moisture and humidity
in the summer, when the trees prefer arid conditions, gave rise to the
olive oil fly, a pest that burrows into the fruit.
“A lot of Italian producers didn’t even
press,” says the Toronto-based Cushing. “They just left the olives to
rot. It was that bad.”
And civil war in Syria, another large producer, has affected that country’s output.
Although the industry is regulated, the rules are often broken and it’s becoming more challenging to catch offenders.
“I liken it to athletes who are trying to take enhancing drugs,” says Cushing.
“You have to be one step ahead of them to be
able to detect those drugs. So it’s the same sort of thing in olive oil.
You have to be one step ahead of the guys who are analyzing because
they have big bucks and it’s a big industry. So wherever there’s the
ability to make millions of dollars there’s going to be fraud, right?
“I say people have to learn for themselves
what a great olive oil tastes like and the characteristics, more
importantly, of a bad olive oil.”
In scanning store shelves, if you see a litre of olive oil labelled extra virgin for $3.99, pass it by.
“I don’t care if it says ‘the holy father’s extra-virgin olive oil,’ it’s a lie. It cannot be,” says Cushing.
“Good olive oil has never been cheap, just
because of the way it’s produced. But I think again, North Americans are
not understanding of what a good olive oil is.”
The average Canadian consumes 1.5 litres of olive oil a year, while Greeks consume 26 litres or up to 125 ml (1/2 cup) per day.
Many producers hand harvest or use nets to
catch the ripe fruit, which should be taken directly to be pressed.
Olives that are overripe or left on the ground too long with leaves and
moisture before being pressed will yield an oil with a rancid odour and
greasy taste.
The first pressing, which results in
extra-virgin olive oil, cannot involve any application of heat or
chemicals. The next pressing is virgin olive oil, also cold pressed or
extracted, using a temperature no higher than 27 C.
“As you press more and more times, less oil is
going to come out, so they heat it to a super-high temperature to
extract every little droplet of oil that’s in there — virgin, then pure
olive oil. Pure is actually the lowest grade,” she explains.
The worst enemies of olive oil are heat, light
and air, so look for oil in a dark bottle with a best-before and/or
harvest date. A good-quality olive oil will be sealed.
You could also check for a sticker indicating PDO, or Protective Designation of Origin, a European Union assurance of quality.
As with wine, olive oils have different
characteristics and aromas — fruit, pepper, tomatoes, almonds —
depending on the cultivars and terroir. Some stores have tasting bars
where you can sample the oil.
Buy what you think you’re going to use. Use it
up and buy it again so you can have it at its best, says Cushing, who
does cooking segments on “The Marilyn Denis Show.”
“Don’t save it for good. Everybody’s worth a great olive oil.”
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