The spanish word "aceite" (olive oil) comes from the Arabic name “az-zait”, which means “olive juice”.

Virgin Olive Oil is extracted exclusively by mechanical procedures or other physical means under conditions – especially thermal – that produce no alteration in the oil, which has experienced no treatment other than washing, decanting, centrifugation and filtering. The health of the fruit and adjustment of all the operations involved from harvesting to the finished product that arrives at our table are, therefore, extremely important.

It is practically the only vegetable oil that can be eaten uncooked , fully maintaining all its vitamins, essential fatty acids and other highly important dietary products. However, large quantities of virgin olive oil have to be used for refining (virgin lamp quality) due to the deterioration of their organoleptic or physical-chemical characteristics.

Virgin olive oil is a natural product . It is alive, it matures and it changes colour. It must be conserved away from the light and heat and stored in sealed containers. In an open container, it will absorb external odours.

The arbequina olive produces fruity oils, with colours ranging from green to yellow, and with apple and soft and sweet fresh almond aromas. They are very mild, being neither very bitter nor spicy.

Virgin Olive Oil

Virgin olive oil is the oily juice extracted by cold extraction or pressing of the olive, the fruit of the olive tree; it is golden or green in colour, is thick and has a perfumed aroma. Its green colour is due to the residues of chlorophyll and the golden colour, the carotenoid pigments.

There are as many varieties of virgin olive oil as there are varieties of olives (picual, cornicabra, arbequina, hojiblanca, empeltre, etc.).

Each variety of virgin olive oil has its own organoleptic characteristics, but may have the same QUALITY (physical-chemical and sensory parameters).

Based on variety, we can talk about:

Single variety virgin olive oil , which is virgin olive oil produced from a single class of olive . It has the fruitiness of the olive from which it is produced.

Blended virgin olive oil , produced from different varieties of olives or olives from different geographical areas .

Blending : it is not a mixture of different qualities of virgin olive oil , but a mixture of virgin olive oil extracted from different classes of olive to create an olive oil that maintains its organoleptic characteristics year after year.

All the varieties have the same classification (Extra Virgin, Virgin, lamp quality, etc), because this is done using standard parameters for virgin olive oil in general, which define the characteristics required for classification. Different classes of olive oil have different qualities.

The Quality of olive oil depends on a combination of factors such as the type of soil in which the olive tree grows, the characteristics of the land in which it is established, the circumstances in which the olives have ripened , the care with which they have been harvested and milled , as well as the climatology of each harvest.

The discriminatory criterion for quality in virgin olive oil, is organoleptic. The consumer also discriminates when making his choice based on his taste preferences.

 

Diferentes clases de aceite de oliva tienen diferente calidades:

Aceite de oliva virgen: Calidad Extra, Virgen, Lampante Refinado de oliva: Lampante + proceso quimico + Virgen extra o Virgen Aceite de Orujo de oliva: Es el subproducto de la extracción dThe Oil virgen, tratado en una orujera (cocido y refinado)

 

Diferentes variedades de aceite de oliva tienen la misma calidad:

Calidad Virgen extra: Aceite de oliva virgen de aceituna picual = Aceite de oliva virgen de aceituna arbequina