Olive Oil Lesson #7

Viral Olive Oil Content Transcribed

Olive Oil Point #1: Traditional Hanukkah Candles use Olive Oil

On the Jewish Holiday of Hanukkah, Orthodox Jews use Olive Oil to light their candles as they've done throughout history. This Olive Oil is known as Lampante and not meant for human consumption. Best for the “Lamp.”

Olive Oil Point #2: High Quality Oil is very difficult to produce

Olive Oil is extremely fragile and so many things could go wrong in production. After learning about other food products like Honey and Balsamic Vinegar, I have gained even more respect for farmers that consistently produce high-quality Olive Oil. Honey and Balsamic also require great attention to detail but the differences between producers don’t seem to be as great. Honey is a simpler product once off the comb and balsamic is a pretty simple formula that requires time and proper elements. Olive Oil involves many machines, quick movement, intense organization, continuous innovation, and so much more.

Olive Oil Point #3: Kalamata Olive Oil doesn’t make economic sense

Just my theory: people ask all the time if there is Kalamata olive oil. Yes it exists, but the Olive itself is large enough for table olive use & has the name Kalamata olive - justifying a higher price point. I haven't crunched the numbers but it seems like keeping the olives whole would make the most sense per olive economically. On the other hand, many olive varietals are tiny and would never work as a table olive - Koroneiki being the example in this region. If I were a farmer of both Kalamata and Koroneiki, I would never use the Kalamata for olive oil unless unsuitable for table olives (would be low grade olive oil sold to big oil corp).

Clarification of a previous blog post

This past week, I spent a couple days at my lovely grandparents’ house in upstate New York. There was a rumor being spread, and we need to dispel it.

In a previous blog post, I may have alluded to certain oils to buy and avoid. Some people may have interpreted a takeaway to avoid buying extra virgin olive oil.

I never said that.

Extra Virgin is meant to be the creme de la creme. Within Extra Virgin, there are different characteristics one could look for like an early harvest date or a low Free Fatty Acid Count, which are associated with higher quality oils.

I may have stated avoid “Virgin” or “Extra Light” olive oils, but I never said avoid extra virgin olive oil.

As always please comment any questions about this article or about olive oil in general.

If you think this article was useful for you, please share with a friend or on social media!

I’ll drop another lesson next week.

-Jack (@extravirginguy)

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