How To Select And Use Olive Oil

Green olives are actually unripe olives, picked early from the tree. At that stage of growth the fruit has not set its full oil and mineral content; therefore, they do not contain as many of the superior nutrients. Freshly picked green olives are also high in tannic acids; because of this, most are treated with lye (a harsh alkaline chemical). Only a few varieties of green olives exist that are not treated with lye. These are available several months of the year.

—How to Select Olives—

Olives, as they naturally ripen under a tree, are perishable. They ripen irregularly. In their natural state, one really has to know how to select properly ripened olives. They are difficult to harvest and distribute in their natural state. However, this can be done. Special olive varieties are packaged this way. These olives are naturally ripened and remain free of any kind of treatment.

In most cases, however, to be able to uniformly distribute them and ensure quality, olives are typically either water-cured, salted and/or altered in some other way. The best way to adjust the ripening process is to water-cure the olives in salty water and/or sun-dry.

Vinegar-pickled olives are fine; they are acid-forming in the digestive process, even though technically not cooked. This may actually be beneficial to some people, as the vinegar acids assist the stomach acids in the digestion of food.

Canned black olives have been pasteurized (cooked) and soaked in ferrous gluconate (an iron compound that darkens them) and should be avoided. The only cured olives I recommend eating are either done with vinegar, or they are “water-cured” or “sea-salted.”

Olives greatly enhance salads and raw-food cuisine of all types. They also make great snack foods and party appetizers with vegetables. Olive oil lubricated the machines of the Roman Empire all the way into the Industrial Revolution. Olive oil illuminated Mediterranean homes well into the nineteenth century.

Hippocrates, the most famous Greek physician of ancient times, recommended olive oil for healing ulcers, cholera, and muscular pains. In more recent times, the health and beautifying benefits of olive oil have received considerable attention.

The primary fatty acids in olive oil are oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acid. Oleic acid is a beautifying monounsaturated fat and makes up 55–85% of the oil. Linoleic is polyunsaturated and makes up approximately 9%. Linolenic, which is polyunsaturated, makes up 0.0–1.5% of the oil.

Olive Oil Lowers Heart Disease Risks

Many widely published studies reveal that the consumption of olive oil by Mediterranean peoples is a major reason why they have a far lower incidence of heart disease than Americans.

Investigators at Harvard conducted a survey of Greek women to determine if their abundant consumption of olive oil could also increase cancer risk. Their findings indicated that olive oil had an opposite effect. They concluded that the breast cancer risk for women who consume olive oil more than once per day is reduced by 25% when compared to women who consume olive oil less frequently. “Our work shows an association between consumption of a type of fat and reduced risk of breast cancer,” said Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, director of the study. “These findings suggest that the type of fat source one consumes may influence breast cancer risk in opposite directions.”

For cooking purposes, olive oil is better than polyunsaturated vegetable oils (corn oil, canola oil, safflower oil, etc.) and margarine. It is, however, still susceptible to heat-caused oxidation that changes the chemical structure of the oil into harmful trans-fatty acids. The best choice for a cooking oil is coconut oil.