Many of you have probably never thought about the choice of olive oil in the store. The most important indicator that you have always paid attention to is that olive oil should be Extra Virgin and first cold pressed. You can easily find this in non-specialized retail chains. But all this oil is blended. Blended olive oil is an oil grown and processed from several varieties of olives. For the manufacturer, this is the easiest and not particularly expensive way to get oil from a blend of olives.
Most farmers grow several varieties of olives on their plantations at once. Accordingly, there can be no question of any selective blending. All these different varieties of olives are collected simultaneously and immediately processed. Another case is to make oil from one particular variety of olives. In this case, farmers have to spend much more labor and effort to collect and process single-grade oils. At the same time, the production of single-grade oils exceeds the cost of blended oils. Farmers strictly look after that no other varieties are accidentally processed for single-grade oil. The end justifies the means! Single-grade oils at the output are more bright and fragrant.
Here are just a few examples of single-grade oils from different countries that I met in specialty stores. From Spanish oils, I mainly tried single-grade olive oils of the Picual, Hojblanca, Arbequina, Picuda varieties. From Greek-Koroneiki, Manaki. And of the Italian Ones, I love the bright Coratina.
All these single-grade oils are so different, however, I'm more interested in the more tart and flavorful single-grade oils. That's why I always try to make my choice among bright Italian and Spanish oils. Although as far as I know, the majority of Russian consumers prefer Greek oils. After all, they absolutely do not want to feel the bitterness. And about 80 % of the Greek oils in our specialty stores are just like that.
Therefore, if you have never had the opportunity to get acquainted with single-grade oils, then be sure to do it! You will surely find the oil from that variety of olives which will be of your liking!
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