Olive Oil

[Grouser]

Pigs-miight -fly, where did you get this info about cooking with extra virgin oil being bad ? Is it temperature and time related or what?

[frank]

Grouser, this might help explain it.

Products labeled simply olive oil (once called pure olive oil) contain a combination of refined olive oil and virgin or extra virgin oil. The new light olive oil contains the same amount of beneficial monounsaturated fat as regular olive oil...and it also has exactly the same number of calories. What the term "light" refers to is that--because of an extremely fine filtration process--this olive oil is lighter in both color and fragrance, and has little of the classic olive-oil flavor. It's this rather nondescript flavor that makes "light" olive oil perfect for baking and cooking where regular olive oil's obvious essence might be undesirable. The filtration process for this light-style oil also gives it a higher smoke point than regular olive oil. Light olive oils can therefore be used for high-heat frying, whereas regular olive oil is better suited for low- to medium-heat cooking, as well as for many uncooked foods such as salad dressings and marinades. The International Olive Oil Institute recommends using pure olive oil for frying, since the flavor of extra virgin olive oil tends to break down at frying temperatures, making the added expense a waste.

[nevada smith]

in the words of nikos kazantzakis:
"clever people and butchers, they weigh everything"

[Grouser]

Very clear Frank. Thankyou

[frank]

Watched a Spanish cookery programme yesterday, and he was using virgin olive oil, but he was cooking using a cazuela, and he was testing the temperature of the oil with his finger, to ensure that it was not too hot to prevent him putting his finger in it! So really, that is not very hot at all, is it?. He was cooking rape and potatoes, and he kept singing the praises of low temperature cooking. It certainly looked the business!
'Vamos a cocinar' con José Andrés

[oliveview01]

With the price of a litre of Hojiblance 5.39€ I think I should go back to sunflower oil!! Wonder if the prices will fall back if coming years harvest is good?

[pigs-might-fly]

Oleo de Cazorla for us - bootiful!
Slightly peppery if you like that .Around 19 Euros for 5 litres these days
BTW I have heard that cooking with extra virgin aceite is very bad for you as it converts all the "good" cholesterol to the "bad" type. Advice given is either to use sunflower for cooking or cheaper olive oil. If you want the flavour add the good stuff at the end of cooking!

Hmm - I've now done some research and the claim that extra virgin is harmful when used in high temperature cooking is, frankly, spheroids!

I think it must originate from a very excitable lady cook on Majestic TV (qv if you are not easily bored!). Her program is "Cooking with Valli" and this spurious claim was made during her cookery "class" shown within the last couple of days. Knowing Majestic's repetitive programming I guess it's been shown a hundred times before

My price quote for Oleo de Cazorla has been overtaken by events - I saw it at around 25 Euros for a five litre can in a supermarket only this week!