Howdy Christa,
Below is some info from a long post I wrote back around 1996 .. I now see
that multiple sources on the Net have copied a lot of my post.
> What about olive oil? What's the shelf life on that?
Depends on the type of Olive Oil .. and that will be driven by whether or
not its American or European. Europeans use the standards of the
International Olive Oil Council (IOOC), which defines quality standards and
monitors authenticity. The USA is the ONLY major Olive Oil producing
country in the entire world that is not a member of the IOOC. America uses
the USDA system for our California Olive Oil. USDA does not distinguish
between Virgin and Extra Virgin Olive Oil .. not in the best interest of
consumers .. its but one of the many shortcomings in the US Gummit control
system. California Olive producers have long tried to lobby to get the USA
to recognize the IOOC system.
To get to your question .. USDA Virgin and IOCC Virgin and Extra Virgin can
not be refined .. must be produced by manual means .. no chemicals are
allowed in the production. These two oils will have an expected shelf life
of 2-3 years if properly stored. Proper storage does NOT mean
refrigeration .. it means caps on tight, outta the light and treat it
right. Dark bottles is the best way to store it.
Folks who don't really like the taste of Olive Oil will prefer the refined
Olive Oils .. they have been chemically treated to reduce the strong Olive
taste and to lower the fatty acid content .. they are cheaper and of far
less quality and the shelf life is undetermined though there are many claims
that run from 1 to 2 years.
By IOCC rules Extra Virgin can not have more than .08% per volume of free
Oleic Acid .. Virgin can have as much as 2.0% .. there is no standard for
"Pure Olive Oil" .. its made by adding a bit of Virgin or Extra Virgin to
refined Olive Oil to put back some of the taste lost in the chemical
processing. I won't go into how this percentage affects shelf life .. but
please accept that the higher the percentage of Oleic Acid the lower the
quality .. and therapeutic value. Oxidation of Oleic Acid affects quality
and shelf life .. a lot. Most folks in the USA buy California Olive Oil
(some of which might be called Virgin or Extra Virgin in total disregard to
the useless USDA standards) .. or they buy the cheaper Italian Riviera ..
which (in my opinion) is not even fit for making soap .. Olive Oil Pomace is
even better than Riviera for this purpose. Also .. Italian Riviera might
not be Italian .. even if it says "Product of Italy" that could mean it was
just bottled there .. not illegal this.
I love Extra Virgin and drink a couple of table spoons of it daily now for
cholesterol .. plus its the only veggie oil we use in my home.
Let me warn y'all of some other branding games.
If you see 100% Olive Oil on the label .. beware .. it will be the lowest
quality and it could even mean its NOT ALL Olive Oil .. read the back label
closely .. it might say "100% Olive Oil in a mixture of This or That Other
Oil". This is NOT illegal in the USA .. unfortunately.
If it says Refined Olive Oil .. I would highly suggest you NOT buy it.
If it says Virgin or Extra Virgin .. read the nutrition block .. it should
show the maximum level of Oleic Acid .. or Free Fatty Acid .. or maybe some
other catchy terminology .. make sure it is what it says it is .. sometimes
it will not be.
Back when I could get the Turkish First Pressed, Early Harvest Extra Virgin
it was the hottest selling oil of any type .. few old members of this list
will have forgotten that oil. The Oleic Acid content was .06% .. olives were
harvested while still green .. before the brown spots of maturity began to
show. Its not been available for many years now but I am even now in the
process of negotiating for some .. and I might get lucky but even if I do it
will be 4-5 months before it is in stock. I am not counting on gaining the
best wishes of a producer .. its a political game I am into on this because
Turkey has not been exporting it. I used to have a list of links to proven
health bennies of Olive Oil but I let it slide when I stopped offering it ..
there are many more now .. even the FDA and AMA (reluctantly?) recognizes
some of them.
Years ago I imported 5 metric tons of Turkish First Pressed, Early Harvest
Extra Virgin Olive Oil .. it was not cheap but it sold FAST. If I can get a
large quantity again then many folks will smile .. if its a small quantity
then I will notify my long term and best customer base and give them first
shot before I even announce that it is available. Loyalty deserves loyalty
.. and all that good stuff. ;-)
I took a long route to answer a simple question .. but I think folks need to
know more than just the answer to that question.
> Christa
Y'all keep smiling. :-)
Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com
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