Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Liquid Gold
The history, health benefits, and how to find the best quality!
When you think of olive oil, what comes to mind? I bet most people reading this are probably picturing a sunny, picturesque landscape in the Mediterranean, with olive trees swaying in a gentle breeze. You would be spot on, as the oldest recorded use of olive oil came from this region! Archaeological evidence shows that by 6000-4000 BC, olives were being turned into olive oil in Judea, being traded as a major part of the Minoan civilization’s (modern-day Crete) economy, and being used by the Pharaohs of Egypt.
Fast forward to the Ancient Greek civilization, the culture most people probably associate with olive oil. Olive oil was of course an important part of the ancient Greek diet, but it goes so much further than consumption - Olive oil is more so a cultural heritage for Greeks.
For example, according to Greek mythology, the naming of Athens came to be because the gods were competing for patronage for different city-states. Posiden and Athena both presented the city with a gift, Athena’s being an olive tree and Posiden’s being a salted lake. Zeus determined that because the olive tree, the first ever according to mythology, could offer oxygen, food, olive oil, shade, and wood for the winter, it was the greater gift. Thus, Athena prevailed and the city was to be named after her. In fact, mythology says that the olive tree standing on the Acropolis today is the very same tree Athena planted.
The story goes on to say that every olive tree in the world is a descendant of this very tree. Now, of course, historical evidence proves otherwise, but it is interesting to see how highly the Ancient Greeks looked upon this tree! They had a wide range of uses for the oil produced by its fruit, including religion, trade, and skincare. The Greek physician, Hippocrates, known as the “Father of Medicine”, called olive oil the “great healer”. Homer, the legendary author who wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey would call it “liquid gold”.
As important of a role as the Greeks played in the history of olive oil, no civilization did more to spread it across the Mediterranean than the Romans. Once Rome had conquered Greece, Judea, and Egypt, the more traditional homes of olive oil, they began to spread olive trees throughout their Mediterranean empire, including to Spain, which today produces most of the world’s olive oil.
In modern times, olive oil is produced in Australia, South America, and the United States, but the top 7 producers still come from its traditional home countries in the Mediterranean. Maddie got to witness the importance of extra virgin olive oil (also known as EVOO) to these cultures firsthand as she attended some traditional Greek cooking classes and toured olive oil farms in Greece (more on that in future articles).
Health Benefits
When people argue about which diet is the best diet for humans, the usual suspect that rises to the top is the Mediterranean diet. It’s not a coincidence that the staple item in this style of eating is olive oil! While there is tons of literature and anecdote to back up the health benefits of consuming olive oil, going as far back as ancient times to the modern day, I wanted to highlight one part of olive oil that I feel is most important to talk about, because it touches on each benefit:
Olive oil is HIGH in polyphenols. These are bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties that are found in plant foods like fruits, veggies, and olives. Polyphenols benefit health, in part, because they combat oxidative stress. This is the type of stress in the body that can damage lipids, proteins, and DNA, causing heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and dementia.
For example, when it comes to brain health: Diets rich in olive oil have been shown in both animal and human studies to improve brain function and cognition and have been associated with longer life spans.
And regards to cancer risk, people in Mediterranean countries that consume large amounts of olive oil have a lower risk of some cancers. They theorize that the antioxidants in olive oil can reduce oxidative damage due to free radicals, which are believed to be a leading driver of cancer.
Keep reading and I’ll share with you the secret for finding extra virgin olive oil highest in these powerful polyphenols.
How to Source the Best Olive Oil
Okay, so you get the picture. Olive oil has a long, colorful history and it’s one of the best foods you can be consuming… Before you run out to your local grocery store and pick any random bottle out, you should know what to look for to make sure you are getting the best quality.
Step 1- Evaluate the bottle.
Find an olive oil packaged in a dark, glass bottle. Stay away from anything that comes in plastic or a clear container. Staying away from plastic should be obvious as microplastics can leech into your oil, but also avoiding a clear bottle is key. This is because direct sunlight or light can degrade your liquid gold, turning it into fool’s gold. This is also important for how you store your olive oil when you take it home - keep it away from any heat or light. I store mine in a cabinet away from my stove.
Step 2- Look for extra virgin.
Read the label and only buy olive oil labeled as “extra virgin”. Regular olive oil without the extra virgin label is usually refined either by heat or chemicals. These fraud oils lack the important antioxidants and anti-inflammatories that make extra virgin oil so special!
Step 3- Find the harvest date.
If it doesn’t have a harvest date, don’t buy it. This one is key if you live in the United States, as most olive oil has to endure a long boat ride from its origin country to arrive here. Unlike wine, olive oil does NOT get better with age. Even if it comes from California, it’s likely it had a long manufacturing, bottling, and distribution process before it made it to the grocery shelf, and ultimately, your home.
Olive oil will become rancid, so it’s best to buy olive oil that was harvested in the same year you buy it. Be careful to not accidentally mistake the use-by date, for the harvest date, as that only refers to when the oil was bottled. Shopping for extra virgin olive oil was a shocker to me after learning this, as most bottles on shelves either don’t have a harvest date or were harvested more than a year ago!
Step 4- Avoid olive oils that are made using a blend from different countries.
Stick to single-origin or estate-picked olive oil.
Step 5- Double-check the nutrition label to be sure there is no trans fat.
A lot of shady, money-hungry companies will cut their olive oil with canola oil in order to increase profit margins. Looking at the trans fat content can help you tell whether this has been done! Olive oil naturally has 0g of trans fat, so if you see 1g or more, than it is probably from an inflammatory oil like sunflower or canola.
You can also look to see if the bottle says 100% pure on it. Not all of them will explicitly say this but it is another thing to look out for.
Like most things, being an educated consumer goes a long way to not being duped by fancy bottles or marketing terms. If you follow the above steps you should be able to avoid bad oils.
Take Action: Check the EVOO bottle in your cabinet to make sure it checks the boxes above. If it doesn’t, toss it and go to the store right now to buy more! Life’s too short to use bad EVOO.
If you want to be really fancy, visit Olive Oil Hunter’s website and join his subscription service. I believe it’s around $120 a quarter for 3 large bottles, equating to around $40 a bottle. Expensive, sure - but he sends you the freshest and the most flavorful olive oil you’ll ever taste from different parts of the world RIGHT when it’s harvested.
I’m telling you, unless you’ve been to an olive oil farm, you’ll never taste better oil. He also includes a 20-page pamphlet with every order telling you about the farm each bottle is sourced from, flavor profiles, recipes, and how to consume each type. If you’re a nerd about your food like we are, it’s well worth the money!
If you enjoyed learning about the history of EVOO, its health benefits, and how to buy it, share this post with someone you think might want to invest in some better oil for their next gathering!
I’d also love to know if any of you have been to an olive oil farm or have a favorite region of olive oil. Leave a comment below!
- Sebastian