Olive Oil

Welcome to Olive-Oil.co.uk

Olive oil is the traditional Mediterranean condiment that is produced through the treatment of the olive fruit. Hugely popular across southern Europe, this global product has many uses in cooking, medicine and cosmetics.

Olive oil is made through the cultivation of olive trees. Although the final product is used throughout the western world, olive farming takes places predominantly in Mediterranean countries, with all but 5% of production taking place in Greece, Spain and Italy. Greece, in fact, sets aside around 60% of all farmland to the increased development of olive trees, making it one of the key national industries.

Due to its mass consumption, there have been many adaptations of olive oil, to cater for a wide range of varying tastes. This has resulted in the formation of several different bottles, which you can often see displayed in supermarkets or food outlets. The two most common of which are probably virgin oil and refined oil. Virgin oil is the term applied to any substance that has been produced entirely organically, withholding any chemical input. Refined olive oil is quite the opposite; it has been chemically treated to alter its taste and production cost. All other assortments of olive oil are usually an adaptation of one of these two. For example, pure oil, which has a rather misleading title, is a type of refined oil and will usually be one of the cheapest bottles available. Of course these types only refer to the olive oil used for culinary purposes, there are also varieties such as Lampante oil, which is used in old lamps as a burning fuel.

As briefly mentioned above, olive oil has a multitude of uses, and is not just at home in the kitchen. Of course, it is most widely consuming in cooking and food preparation. It is most popular in the Mediterranean states of Spain and Greece where it has been used for decades as an accompaniment to salads or cold foods to modify the taste. It is also the premier source for grilling or frying raw meat, again to heighten the flavour of the meal and prevent the outer skin or layers from sticking to the pan. Olive oil is also popular in cosmetics, as an archaic remedy for skin irritations. The inbuilt thick lacquer acts as natural moisturiser for the areas like the face and hands. It is also used in medicine as a cure to acute allergies as well as aiding the process of constipation, due to its laxative qualities. Finally, it has been used historically as a fuel for oil lamps, however this practice is becoming more obsolete due to the dangers involved.

Olive oil is not only a tasty accompaniment to a great selection of meals, but it also has a superior health advantage to other high fat alternatives. There has long been a suggestion that there is a correlation between monosaturated fats and the prevention of heart disease. The high population of elderly people in Mediterranean countries has helped back this up further.