What you get for your 5 bucks: Olive oil refining explained
admin | February 4, 2010Perhaps the most frustrating part of selling extra virgin olive oil is when a potential customer says “why is your oil so damn expensive. I can buy olive oil at my local supermarket for $5” . Almost certainly they are referring to the stuff sold as “Olive Oil” (or maybe “Pure” or “Light” olive oil) . Of course what they fail to realise is that the oil they are referring to is a refined product. But what does refining involve? Here is the low-down on the refining process.
Step | Purpose/Effect | Notes
|
Dewaxing (optional) | To remove waxes to improve production efficiency. | The oil is cooled. The waxes solidify and they are removed by filtering. |
Degumming | Remove emulsifying agents to improve production efficiency. | Oil is heated to 60-85C and a small amount of concentrated phosphoric acid is mixed into the oil. |
Neutralisation | To remove the fatty acids. | Caustic soda is mixed in. It reacts with the fatty acids to produce soap which is removed from the oil by centrifugation. |
Washing and drying | To remove any remaining soap from the oil. | Soft warm water is mixed into the oil to remove any soap residues. The water is removed by heating under vacuum. |
Bleaching | To remove off flavours, residual soap, oxidising agents and nasties like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Bleaching also removes colour, good flavours and polyphenols | Clays such as bentonite and activated carbon are used. Many compounds, both positive and negative are absorbed onto the surface of the bleaching agents. Steam bleaching is also used. |
‘Sprucing’ (my term) | To improve the shelf life of the olive oil. | Artificial fat soluble preservatives are added to the oil to extend shelf life |
The end result is a bland oil with:
1) no colour, aroma, flavour
2) no healthy antioxidant polyphenols
3) a little bit of butylated hydroxyanisole or butylated hydroxytoluene in your diet (the fat soluble preservatives that are used to give the now antioxidant free oil some shelf life).
It’s worth noting that despite the pretty radical processes involved in refining there is no solvent extraction at any stage. That’s reserved for pomace olive oil, which incidentally is also refined after being solvent extracted.
Is it worth the five bucks now?
Post updated: 12/7/13
Richard,
Well I applaud your correctness and humor in this one! IT’S SO TRUE! How many times have been asked about why my Greek Organic EVOO isn’t just 5 euros like the supermarket junk…. I just sigh and explain it all over again!
Thank you for doing it for me this time.
Please keep up the good work,
Dawn