A couple of weeks back, I wrote about why Olive Oil is so good for health, so I thought it might be a good idea to share some quick tips for choosing and using Olive Oil that I read about recently. Is Olive Oil Worth a Splurge? asks Alexandra Guarnaschelli, a writer for Yahoo Food. In the article, she describes a few interesting buying and cooking tips for the miracle oil I write so often about.
The first two points are rightly devoted to choosing the right type of Olive Oil and as you can no doubt guess, the best variety (and also the most expensive) is the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). The reason this is so expensive is that the method used to extract the oil is quite laborious:
These oils are extracted by a centrifuge, which is an apparatus that rotates at high speed and, in this case, separates the oil from the olive paste using the laws of physics. This special process is done to get around heating the olives, which weakens their true flavor. [Yahoo Food]
Of ocurse, since the olives are not heated to extract the oil, this means that EVOO can boast of the most authentic and earthy oilive flavor of all the differnt oils available.
As fro cooking, as the article mentions, its best to use Olive Oil for drizzling right over foods like salads or breads and some light sauteing. For higher-temperature cooking, it’s probably best to use canola oil.
Got any other Olive Oil tips to share? Comment on your own experiences with Olive Oil!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I have used extra virgin olive oil to make popcorn in a heavy pot that I keep just for that snack. I drop two kernels in the pot turn it on high and the moment the two kernels pop I add the rest of the popcorn turn it down to medium high and there is no smoking or burning.
Stand over the pot and the moment it is done remove.
Popcorn is great.