How Real Olive Oil is Made - How To Spot Fake Ones

Did you know that over seventy percent of olive oils are fake?

What Makes Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Olive Oil So Special?

Extra virgin olive oil is one of the healthiest oils you can eat. Sadly, most of the claimed olive oils you find on supermarket shelves are fake. So how do you know which ones to buy? In this video, I visit an Australian plus an Italian olive oil farm to get some insight into what makes good olive oil and what to look for when buying some. Plus to learn how this liquid gold, "first cold press virgin oil" is made from start to finish.

Olive oil is a type of vegetable oil that is extracted from olives, the fruit of the olive tree. It has been used for centuries in cooking and as a key ingredient in cosmetics and soaps. Olive oil is made up of different types of fatty acids, including oleic acid, which is responsible for its healthy properties. Olive oil contains high levels of monounsaturated fats, which have been shown to lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease. In addition, olive oil is rich in antioxidants, which help to protect the body against cell damage.

The process of cold pressing olives helps to preserve these healthy compounds. As a result, extra virgin olive oil is considered to be the highest quality olive oil available. It has a fruity taste and a slightly bitter aftertaste. It is also more expensive than other types of olive oil but worth every cent.

👉Special thanks to Vincenzo, the Italian olive oil producer from from Terra Di Cicerone.

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00:00 Introduction
00:45 How it all started
02:02 How olive oil is made
06:19 How to tell a good olive oil
10:09 Organic Farming
11:18 Cooking with olive oil
13:52 Choice Gold Award
14:48 The legacy
15:30 Conclusion Outro

[guittadabe]

You promised to show how to spot the fake ones. You failed to deliver on that. Instead it was a long commercial for this particular olive oil, and a bit of information about differences, but nothing that the regular consumer could check (such as how long the olives spent being transported). At the beginning you showed 3 olive oils you deemed "fake" as you were pouring them. So the expectation was that one could recognize fake olive oils by sight.

[RESMITHcarpentry]

25 years ago I was living and working in Portugal and they kept all their cheeses in their local olive oil with some peppercorns and a few olive leaves. You would use the oil for salads and spreads. It was semi solid even at room temperature with chunks of olive fruit and had a fruity quality to it. You simply can not get an olive oil like that here in Canada..
Olive trees were plentiful around everyone's home. When the olives were ready to harvest they would lay cloth under the trees and beat the olives off the branches with a stick. They would pick out the bulk of the twigs and leaves, then take it to the local press where each family's harvest would be weighed. They had ancient old stone presses to make the oil, and all the olives would go in. The resulting oil would be distributed per weight to each family in accordance with the weight of olives they had brought.
I still think about that olive oil and how delicious it was.

[foxman]

Good information! I have a little olive grove in southern Italy with 40+ trees. Cockatoo sounds great and looks like they make a lot. I was bit taken aback by the waste of the pulp as I am sure they could get more oil from the pulp but maybe they have a really good system. From my trees, I can get maybe 200 litres on a good year with the traditional cold press. My local press guys really do the traditional method. The olives are crushed by big stone wheels and then the pulp is pressed between hemp type disks by a hydraulic press. Then separation of oil and water by centrifuge. Two points in the video not so clear; The criteria for Extra virgin olive is the acidity. Other factors are not really taken into account. But if you have followed the rules: 1) clean olives 2) Greenish not overripe olives 3) No damaged or diseased olives 4) The minimum time from picking to press <12hrs 5) measures at the press to reduce time and temperature in (cold) processing. 6) Storing in a full airtight container to reduce oxidation. All these will ensure that what you have at the end is the best there is. Just to point out prices: 2022: I need to sell at £10/12 euro a litre to make it worthwhile doing. Usually, with transport or delivery it is more. Small producers struggle because you have good years and bad. 2nd point: Cooking VS Raw - to get the best out of quality oil, drizzle it over your food. Cooking destroys some of the nice things. Edit: I love making the oil and really could go on and on 🙂 we work in a team and it is hard but rewarding work (The money that I might make is not even for the costs!) Anyway; another point I want to add was about taste. There are many different tastes as there are many types of olives. I have a mixture of olive trees but sometimes only one is good that year. Some olives are better for oil (mostly about quantity of oil) and others are better for eating (typically larger in size). People often ask me about the colour. All olives start green and mature to black but may fall of the tree before maturing and this means some varieties you only see green ones in shops (again typically for eating). Oil can come in many colours from pale yellows to dark greens. It depends on the type of olives (and to the method of pressing). Bitterness is not a bad sign, Apulia is famous for the stronger peppery tasting oil for example. Oils from northern Italy are typically lighter in colour and taste.

[helenapalla]

Here in Hellas we have the best authentic extra virgin olive oil, as well as the most delicious olives.
My husband has his own land with so many beautiful olive trees.
Thank God this year's harvesting was awesome.
Literally, we feel blessed.

[svenlabots]

Nice reportage. I'm from Belgium but i lived and worked in the Catalan region of Spain for 11 years, in a region (El Priorat), where it's mainly wine and olive oil production, so I'm quite familiar with it. The harsh truth shone through in this little documentary here, just as it is worldwide; you almost have to know the farms themselves in order to know if it's the real deal or not, just like with wine, the same. All the rest is blah blah blah marketing strategies, unless, just like this family, it's done by heart, dedication, honesty and hard labour.

[mariamshehab]

I use to live in libya and we were grab our olive oil from local farms in october every year, it was realy fresh and unique 🤗

[Leena]

There is nothing more beautiful to see in Europe than a vast area of olive trees full of olives

[Leptospirosi]

Something to be taken into account is that, like wine, Olive has different breeds and the flavour can change. Really expensive olive oil, are usually pressed from a single breed of olive and the same farm can produce several types of olive oil. For cooking these are usually different by intensity, flavour, bitterness and consistency, adapting to different types of foods

[magnumopus]

I'm Italian, born and raised in Milan, but my grandparents have a house in Umbria (central italy) where we have a couple dozens of olive trees. Every year we produce our own oil (for the personal consumption of the family), just like the majority of the neighbors there (a lot of people have vines for grapefruit and to produce wine instead of having olive trees).

That oil is more viscous, it's of a bright green color and it's a lot tastier (even a bit spicy) than the regular oil you might end up buying at a supermarket.

That type of oil is called "green gold" because of how valuable (and expensive) it is.

[Dang_Lin-Wang]

Wonderful to hear Vincenzo speak about his craft. It's impossible to hide true passion, which this guy clearly has... I wish him, his family and business the very best wishes for the future.

[Garapetsa]

My all time favorite is kalamata olive oil.
What you have to watch for folks is oil that is a mixture of different olive oils.
What you want is 100% oil from one area.

[toddstropicals]

Great video Joel, this is also an important video! We need to start demanding higher quality standards with all foods globally.

[nikinikolakaki]

I'm so blessed to live in Greece. Also blessed as we have our own olive trees in Crete!! Can't imagine cooking or using any other oil than our own olive oil...when fresh, it is divine...always test it on freshly baked sourdough bread with some flaky sea salt!!

[konstantinosbosmos]

The producer in Italy mentioned that some Italian merchants buy olives from Greece, which they then press in Italy, resulting in poor quality olive oil. I'm from Greece and all I know is that Italians buy olive oil from Greece, not olives. Plus, Greece produces excellent quality olive oil.

[trex]

Bravo, the ONLY oils I have in my kitchen are OLIVE OIL and Coconut Oil. Been on Olive Oil for many years. Love it.

[melindafarnsworth]

Excellent! I truly appreciate the time you have taken to inform your viewers the difference in quality vs commercially produced olive oil. Our “hearts” health thank you. 😊

[storiesfromasuperhost]

When I was in Italy we would stop at roadside boutique stores and I found that Lemon cello, wine, olive oil and other specialty products were really expensive. Then I would go to the grocery store and find the same brands at a fraction of the cost. When overseas, always go to where the natives shop for their grocery's

[Rachels]

It’s frustrating olive oil is not labeled honestly. All our politicians grandstanding daily, and we cannot get simple consumer protections on the food we consume.

[AlexHemarios]

I produce my own family’s olive oil in Corfu Greece, in our organic farm using a cold press process. The resulting olive oil is SUPERB! Thanks for this video sir! PS: is there a chance you know the maker of the canopy/conveyor harvesting equipment? It’s really impressive to say the least! Thanks!

[eknuds]

I began cooking with Olive Oil a few years ago after house sitting in Spain in a rural home among Olive groves.
It makes my food savory and there's the health benefits too.