As George Costanza would say…
admin | February 26, 2011
I’m back Gerry I’m back!
I didn’t plan to review the current literature on EVOO for a whle but some really interesting stuff came out recently and I couldn’t help sharing (and of course commenting). In particular, the UC Davis consumer study on taste preferences in EVOO must have deflated a few good hearted people working hard to put good quality EVOO in US pantries, but my guess is that US consumers are only about 2 years behind what we’ve seen here in Australia. The more good oil that graces US supermarket shelves, the quicker consumer preferences will turn around. You just have to get your good stuff in place of the 0.75% FFA EU protogenoi that is widely available at the moment.
As a professional scientist I think that the bane of the modern industrial world, the omnipresent eostrogen like phthalates are no better or worse than ionic copper residues that organic and other growers flay around (coz the book says it’s ok). They are both totally non-biodegradable and suck when it comes to both human and environmental health. Copper is a strong catalyst for oxidation of olive oil and ionic copper has been demonstrated to effectivly kill soil micro-organisms and invertebrates in general. At least I can blame being surrounded by beautiful daughters on the phthalates.
So here goes.
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What are the preference drivers of Californians for extra virgin olive oil? Negative drivers are bitter and pungency. Positive drivers are rancid, nutty (synonym for rancid), tea (probable synonym for stale and dried), fusty, winey and butter. The purchase motivations of the same 110 consumers were health 74%, seen in a recipe 66%, introduced to EVOO when eating out 59%, flavour and used by parents (combined) 45%. http://bit.ly/gE8Hq0
Comment: If you were playing CA industry snakes and ladders this report is the equivalent of the fat ugly snake that lurks in the middle of the board and takes you down from 67 to 2. Paradoxically, Californian consumers seem to buy olive oil for health but prefer the taste of the least healthiest oils. EVOO marketers need a consistent message that gives consumers confidence that the EVOO that they are buying will add value to the food they are using the oil with. Make your food taste better, simply should be the message. And get some of that supermarket shelf real-estate!!!
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EVOO’s made from stone milled olives contained 20-30% less phenolics compared with oils made using a modern hammer mill. http://bit.ly/hb1InM
Comment: Not surprising as the modern way of crushing olives prior to extracting oil is mucch faster and less oxidative than stone milling. Oxygen eats up phenolics.
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Sparging (aka bubbling a gas through) EVOO with 1 volume of nitrogen just after extraction reduced dissolved oxygen by 54% and peroxide value by 1.1. However total flavor volatiles were reduced by 10% http://bit.ly/he0Vrw
Comment: The classic dilemma. Sparging reduces the potential to oxidise, but some flavour is lost in the process. Happens with wine. Happens with EVOO.
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The residual copper in soils resulting from spraying copper based fungicides does not degrade and is toxic to soil microbes at levels greater than 0.1g/kg (one teaspoon worth in 100kg of soil) http://bit.ly/fHkcwy
Comment: Copper based sprays are organically certified by all organic bodies on the basis that they are ‘traditional’, but the long term ‘traditional’ use of them has resulted in significant and widespread cases of copper toxicity in soils throughout Europe. Organic certifiers and those who use them should really confess that the practice that they condone is indefensible on all measures of sustainability. The argument that copper is a natural element totally misses the point. So is lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and Uranium 235. I don’t see anyone spraying them around. Their only natural when they’re down the mine.
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Olive oils stored in tin cans contain more oestrogen like phthalates than those stored in glass. Tinned EVOO’s contain 5.5 times more phthalates than those in glass http://bit.ly/fi7Y6E
Comment: Phthalates are one of the most widespread man made contaminants on the planet. Tin can linings are just one of many thousand sources of the stuff. As a consumer, I’d also like to see the levels of the ultra-potent oestrogen like compound bis-phenol A measured in tinned oils. Now that would make for interesting reading! Waiting for the horse head to show up in my bed on that one.
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New research on how the peppery phenol in EVOO oleocanthal kills colon cancer cells http://bit.ly/dFilqD
Good paper this one as it explores the ‘how’ rather than just the “it does”. Not for the faint hearted though.
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The copper level in pomace oil is 8 times higher than that found in EVOO. http://bit.ly/ifE0ul
Comment: The authors didn’t offer much of an explanation as to why but my guess is along the lines that the residual copper sprays on the skins of the olive may remain in the pomace (after all, pomace contains a lot of skins) and subsequent processing into pomace oil does not remove the residues. I appreciate that ionic copper is highly soluble so it should be removed during the refining process in theory, but there seem to be few other ways in which the copper could get in there at those levels.
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The process of malaxing olive paste under nitrogen increased total phenolics in EVOO but also resulted in a 16% reduction in total flavor volatiles and a 35% reduction in fruity esters. The authors concluded that the volatiles were only “slightly affected”. http://bit.ly/gMuTPy
Comment: Oh yeah? Esters are very important for EVOO complexity and differentiation. The conclusions are (how could I put it) ….Italian…. Aka Our oils aren’t that high in esters, so they’re not important. Jump in your Alpha, drive to Greece (it’s not that far) and taste some good Koroneiki. Then tell us that esters aren’t important.
One of my pet hates is when researchers put conclusions in the abstract (the summary that is made freely available) that fly in the face of the actual results which are squirrelled away in the text of the document, which (unlike the abstract) is pay for view and as such very few people will ever see the detail. Yes, it should be picked up in the review process but often it isn’t.
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The peppery tasting phenolic oleocanthal comprises between 7 and 13% of the total phenolics of EVOO. http://bit.ly/fVq5Ad
Comment: The remaining phenolics are mainly bitter, so make no mistake, total phenolics correlate strongly with bitterness of EVOO. As such, apply the simple principle – high phenolic EVOO’s demand to be used/matched/paired with strongly flavoured food. High phenolic oils on delicate/lightly flavoured foods is a recipe for disaster. Low phenolic oils on strongly flavoured foods is a bit of a waste of money.
