Benefits of olive oil
The benefits of olive oil are countless. From the health benefits to its delightful uses in cooking.The main benefits of olive oil regards its help in lower cholesterol and prevents arteriosclerosis.
I began to appreciate a good extra virgin olive oil through input from some friends!
A friend had a restaurant where we used to sometimes go, on weekends, to have dinner. I clearly remember him serving us artichokes with a special extra virgin olive oil. I began to notice that oils were not all the same.
Then we spent some days in Tuscany, with another couple of friends, and they introduced me to the fruity kind.
Whoever has already visited Tuscany knows that olive trees are everywhere, contributing to its typical landscape.
What's the difference...?
Some of you may not have confidence when selecting olive oil and may be curious as to why I underline the long phrase extra virgin olive oil, and not just olive oil. It depends on how olive oil is made.
The extra virgin olive oil is the best quality oil because it is obtained by compressing the olives without heating, or using any chemicals. You will probably find many labels on which are the words, spremitura a freddo, which means cold compressing.
Most generic oils can be produced by re-using the olives initially used to produce the extra virgin type and adding chemicals or heat to obtain more oil.
As I mentioned above, the fruttato (fruity) is my favorite oil. It is prepared by always using the cold method, but the olives, instead of being harvested after falling from the trees, are harvested while still on the tree.
It gives the extra virgin olive oil a more robust taste and may cause the typical throat ’catch’, but I assure you it is worth the try!
How to enjoy...
The best way to enjoy (and evaluate) a good extra virgin olive oil, in my opinion, is with olive oil dip recipes. Place the oil in a small bowl, provide a basket of good, fresh bread, dip small pieces of bread into the oil and simply eat! As I have said before, in Italian cuisine the quality of the ingredients is very important so a good Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil will always improve your recipe, even if it's not the main ingredient.
Another simple recipe, that allows you to taste the oil, is the famous Italian Caprese salad. Use a good quality Italian mozzarella (yes, I stress Italian because other brands are often very different from Italian mozzarella), tomatoes, basil leaves, salt and a dressing of good extra virgin olive oil.
Beside the good taste, the many health benefits of olive oil lead us to use it more often. It is a raw, unsaturated fat and used daily helps lower cholesterol and prevents arteriosclerosis. If we want to live longer and better, it's important to follow some healthy eating guidelines.Deep frying with Italian olive oil is much better than using other kinds of oil, as its chemical structure does not change during heating, with no consequences for our digestive systems.
Some more benefits of olive oil? As moisturizer. It ts an ancient secret of Italian women. Well, I used it and had no stretch marks during my pregnancies.
Italy's best known and biggest production of olive oil comes from the Puglia region, but in smaller quantities, it is also produced in many other regions of Italy.
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