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MEDICAL EVIDENCE PROVES MEDITERRANEAN OLIVES AND OLIVE OILS CAN INCREASE YOUR LIFESPAN recommended i
Added: (Sun Jan 18 2004)
It has been said that there are approximately 350,000 olive trees in Catalunya, which produce a variety of olives – to include the classic Olives d’Arbeca or Arbequines ‘de les Garrigues’ and ‘del Camp de Tarragona’ also Morrudes, Fargues etc.. Olives are a fruit and cannot be eaten straight from the tree – too bitter, they have to be soaked, cured and fermented before they can be eaten, the oil that is produced from the fruit is extracted either mechanically in modern factories or physically in the age-old tradition.
The best olives come from the area where we are situated –El Baix Ebre (the Ebro river region) also the Prioritat and Les Garrigues and the best oil is made from the Arbequines variety, almost all the oils made in Catalunya have at least a base of Arbequines, which themselves are a tiny grey /brownish fruit.
Olive oil evolved as a cooking oil through the lack of grazing land for animals throughout much of Spain, which meant a lack of animal fats and has been used as a flavouring and in cooking since at least Roman times. The Spanish word for oil, ‘aceite’ comes from the Arabic language meaning ‘juice of the olive’.
Our own labels 'OLI MEDITERRANIA' and 'MAS RIOLA' combine the very best available fruits to make a smooth rich oil that can be used straight from the bottle for dressing foods or in cooking.
When heating olive oil, Jaume Ciurana, writes in his very authoritative book Els Olis de Catalunya (The Oils of Catalunya) that a good oil will retain all of its flavours and nutritional benefits to a temperature of about 100°C /210°F and remain completely usable to a temperature to 177°C /350°. He states that extra- virgin oil keeps its characteristics more than lower grade oils and recommends that hot oil be stirred with a wooden spoon to avoid ‘hotspots’ on the bottom of the pan, where toxins may form.
By international agreement extra-virgin olive oil must have less than 1 per cent acidity, most Catalan oils do not exceed 0.4% to 0.5%. Olives themselves, are an age old food, enjoyed by many over the centuries with a flavour and taste that is difficult to describe being a total mix of the earth, vegetables, herbs, salty, sweet and sour. There is a tale told amongst the older folk regarding the method of obtaining the absolute perfection of salinity for the olive- curing brine (the liquid into which the olives are immersed), this was to crack a freshly laid (that morning) egg into the pot (terracotta only) of water then add salt little by little until the egg floats to the surface. Olive oil extracted from the fruits by mechanical or physical process can be consumed without any further refining – it is a completely natural product.
Medical studies have reported ‘the Mediterranean diet’ as being amongst the healthiest in the world, with recent studies revealing that olive oil, which is a mono-unsaturate, may be better for the human body than polyunsaturated oils as it helps to flush out potentially harmful low-density lipoprotein cholesterol whilst boosting the beneficial high-density lipoprotein cholesterol – another good reason, aside from the taste, for using it in your daily life.
Olive oil, although widely available in plastic bottles, should be stored in either glass or metal tins, tightly covered and protected from light and heat (do not refrigerate).
For more information: www.geocities.com/n5groupicm/catalunyacollection
Tel: 00 34 630 500 356.
David Mottram.