LOCATION AND CLIMATE

 

As you might expect, olives grown in cooler areas where there is more moisture (rainfall and dew) exhibit leaner, more restrained characteristics.  This doesn’t however mean that great oil can now be made in Iceland – you need a minimum amount of sunshine to make your Extra Virgin Olive Oil taste remarkable, similarly to tomatoes or stone fruit.

Olive trees are sensitive to winter freeze (the Casaliva cultivar is more resistant to cold, hence being grown in the Garda region).  It is also easier to farm organically where the climate is more stable and less chemical sprays are required to keep the trees healthy.

OLIVE MATURITY

 

Here’s the thing – all olives are green.  When they become fully mature, they turn black.
Olive maturity at the time of harvest is a major factor in flavour and quality: olives harvested earlier (green olives) feature more bitter, grassy characteristics, with lower yields and with the highest anti-oxidant content.  The oil is a much more intense green colour and has a longer shelf-life.  In terms of production, milling can take longer with green olives (a longer malaxation - the action of slowly churning milled olives to release droplets of oil - is needed and can be more complicated) but the results are far superior!  Don’t choose olive oil from over mature fruit: it lacks all the potential goodness and flavour.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL IN GROVE AND MILL

 

People who care passionately about what they make and follow it personally every day have the capacity to create products with far higher quality, with integrity, and that taste of where they come from.  They are also able to do this by caring for the environment they inhabit.

FRANTOIO DI RIVA BOX

This box contains 6 bottles of extra virgin olive oil made exclusively by Frantoio di Riva from groves on the banks of lake Garda.

Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO green label x 3 bottles (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO organic white label x 1 bottle (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO blue label x 1 bottle (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, ULIVA Garda Trentino DOP x 1 bottle (50cl)

Frantoi - oil smoke points
April 6, 2016 In Health

Cooking with oil, what’s the smoke point?

There has been plenty of media attention on the different smoking points of various cooking oils. You may find that this has driven you away from cooking with Extra Virgin Olive Oil – well, we are here to give you the facts so that you can decide for yourselves.

The smoke point of an oil or fat is the temperature at which volatile compounds emerge (typically you can see a bluish smoke coming off the oil) such as free fatty acids and bi-products of oxidation, which eventually turn into soot. The smoke point is an indication of the upper temperature limit to which a particular oil should be heated for cooking, above which it isn’t good for you.

 

As mentioned elsewhere, it’s pretty important not to burn your food in general, and this applies to all ingredients, including oil. It’s not always easy when we are cooking on gas in particular, but we seriously shouldn’t need temperatures to be so high – so it takes an extra 5 minutes to get supper on the table, no big deal, and you haven’t burnt anything by rushing!

 

The below chart summarises various smoke points of different oils/fats. The main point I draw your attention to is the quality column. It may surprise you to know that if you are buying unrefined Rapeseed oil for example, the smoke point is surprisingly low at 105°C. Unrefined Coconut Oil fares slightly better but is still perhaps lower than you would expect at 177°C.

 

The fundamental facts to take away with you are that if you need to cook at high temperatures, the highest smoke point is Avocado oil at a remarkable 270°C and highest quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil fares much better than many expect with a smoke point of 207°C – hot enough for almost all cooking needs.

Frantoi - smoke points