How to recognize really good quality olive oil?
There are many olive oils on the market. But how to recognize the really good ones? Ones that benefit your health the most and at the same time their production does not unnecessarily burden nature? Let's say it briefly.
Olive oils of the highest quality are always extra virgin. But even between them there are many differences. Follow our list and you won't miss out!
1. Always buy organic olive oil
It's simple: pesticides do protect olives against insects and thus promote their growth, but at what cost? They are definitely not good for nature or human health. Moreover, olives that are not naturally exposed to insects are "weaker" than olives that "fight and win".
When you buy organic olive oil, your body and nature will thank you.
2. Bottled in dark glass bottles
Extra virgin olive oil is sensitive to light and its quality deteriorates rapidly in light or transparent bottles. And you should definitely buy it in glass, not plastic bottles. Artificial microparticles called monomers are released from it, which penetrate directly into the olive oil and you then drink them. Glass bottles are therefore kinder to nature and your health, and in addition, such oil tastes better.
3. Low level of acidity
By law, the acidity level of extra virgin olive oil must always be below 0.8%. The lower the acidity level, the less free fatty acids it contains. This means better taste, smell and quality.
What increases the acidity level – late harvesting, using damaged olives or pressing the olives too late.
The best extra virgin olive oils have an acidity level of 0.25% or even lower. With such high-quality oils, you get a bonus: you can heat them up to 180 °C without losing their health-promoting substances.
For example, the Musai BIO extra virgin olive oil sold by us has an acidity level of an excellent 0.2%.
4. Low wax content
The high wax content of the oil indicates that one 2x pressed olive oil was mixed with another cold pressed one. And that's not good.
The wax (from the trees) is found in the skins of the olives and mostly disappears with the pulp during the first pressing. In order to squeeze out more olive oil, sometimes even this pulp is pressed again. Therefore, it can happen that more wax gets into the oil.
Therefore, extra virgin olive oil has a legal maximum wax content of 250 mg/kg. There are even olive oils with a wax content of only 125 mg/kg.
5. Low peroxidation
Peroxidation is a quality parameter that indicates the extent to which olive oil is damaged by oxygen. Top quality olive oils are exposed to oxygen as little as possible during pressing and storage. Their storage tanks have hermetically sealed lids up to the level of the oil during pressing. These olive oils have a peroxidation lower than 10. The maximum degree of peroxidation allowed by law is 20.
You can buy olive oil with extremely low peroxidation (5.3) from us. Take a look at Musai BIO extra virgin olive oil.
6. Purity
You may have already seen the abbreviation "K 270" on labels. It stands for Kappa 270 and is an indication of the purity of the olive oil. That no twigs, branches, leaves or other things that do not belong are pressed into it. The lower this value, the better the oil. The legal maximum for extra virgin olive oil is 0.20. The best quality extra virgin olive oils even have values less than 0.12.
7. Perfect olive oil is harvested, pressed and bottled in the same place
The longer the time between harvesting and pressing, the lower the quality of the resulting product. The highest quality olive oils are usually produced by medium-sized family businesses or cooperatives. These are harvested, pressed and bottled in the same place or in the same area.
They can perfectly plan every step, from harvesting to bottling. Olives, for example, do not have to stand (or rather lie) somewhere for a long time before the press is available. This could fundamentally reduce their quality and therefore the overall quality of the olive oil.
Since we ourselves love quality olive oils, we decided to bring one all the way from Albania. We've tried a nice line of oils, but Musai BIO Extra Virgin Olive Oil blew us away. We have not yet found such a good and high-quality oil.
We will be happy if you try it and then let us know how satisfied you are. 🙂
Alexandra