Useful properties of olive oil, its types and best grades

People began to attach more importance to what appears on the dinner table, to show increased attention to the quality and properties of food, to try to make the most out of all that makes up their diet. Our kitchens are firmly established olive oil, which is sometimes rightly called "liquid gold."

Useful properties of olive oil have been used successfully in ancient civilizations, as evidenced by evidence from antiquity. Olive oil was produced in Ancient Egypt, Hellas, Israel and Phenicia. Today, the components that make up this valuable vegetable fat, as well as their effect on the human body, are well studied, and oil itself has taken one of the leading places in the category of dietary products. Useful properties of olive oil have turned it into an indispensable ingredient of many dishes of Mediterranean cuisine - Greek, Italian Spanish.

Olive oil is a mixture of organic compounds: oleic, palmitic, stearic, linoleic fatty acids with the predominance of oleic acid esters, which can reduce the content of "bad" cholesterol and maintain the necessary "good" level. Those who care about their health, the health of their loved ones, try to prevent diseases of the heart, blood vessels, digestive organs, without fail introduce harmless and unlimited oil to the daily diet from olive fruits. It has the most beneficial effect on the activity of the stomach, other organs related to the digestive tract, promotes healing of the stomach ulcer, has a slight laxative effect, and also choleretic action. Pointing to the useful properties of olive oil, it should be noted that the research of recent years has proved its immunostimulating effect.

The oil can rejuvenate, smoothing the already existing wrinkles and preventing the appearance of new ones. Contained by him, vitamin E and other antioxidants prevent the skin from fading, giving it elasticity, softness and velvety. The ability to soften the skin and prevent the cells from losing moisture is a useful property of olive oil, which is successfully used by owners of dry and sensitive skin.

Vegetable oils of the highest quality, which are obtained with the use of cold pressing the same day, when the olives were collected, belong to the category Extra virgin olive oils. Extra virgin oils have a fruity taste, a pleasant aroma and are the best. Fine virgin olive oil is an oil that is obtained by squeezing the fruit pulp one day after they are harvested. It also preserves the beneficial substances accumulated by ripened olives, but in less quantity than Extra virgin. Olive-pomace oil - vegetable oils, which are obtained as a result of treatment with solvents or using other physical procedures.

Above are listed types of olive oil. It is worth noting that the determining qualities of the oil - taste, smell, color - depend on the variety of olives, weather conditions, time of harvesting. The best varieties of olive oil from Spain and Italy - "Borges" (Borges) and "Monini" (Monin), respectively.