The story behind the scenes of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Posted by juliabennet on February 27th, 2012

Many a times when you think of premium cuisine you think Italian. Italian cuisine with its great variation, tradition and supreme quality has won the hearts of millions around the globe. Cuisines that once used to be delicacies among Italian families are now craved for by millions. The meats, the cheeses, the staples like pasta and pizza all have won special places in the hearts of food lovers. Once you mention these culinary excellences of Italy, how could you miss out on the most premium Italian cooking medium – the extra virgin olive oil!

Extra virgin olive oil is not considered as the core ingredient of finest Italian dining but is well respected for its high nutritional values. Think of having a bowl of green salad or some bruschetta or some cured meat or even some Italian staples like pizza / pasta – and think how some drizzling of extra virgin olive oil helps enhancing the taste of all those servings manifolds.

Premium quality Italian extra virgin olive oil is produced primarily in two production catchment areas – Olevano Sul Tusciano in Campania and Siena in Tuscany. The Italian variants of olive oil are primarily made up of the Frantoio, Leccino Pendolino, and Moraiolo variants of olives.

Virgin and extra virgin olive oil are produced by a mechanical grinding process when the most premium quality olives are ground using millstones and are kept compressed under the millstones for an optimal period of 30-40 minutes to create the mixture of oil and water. The oil is then separated by a natural process of separation using the gravitational attraction leading to the production of virgin olive oil. Virgin olive oil can be considered to be extra virgin olive oil only if it satisfies certain specific high chemical and organoleptic criteria

The speciality of extra virgin olive oil also lies in its rarity as it makes up only about 10% of oil in most of the major olive oil producing countries. However, the production percentage goes considerably higher in the Mediterranean countries like Greece, Italy and Spain

If this premium cooking medium, had impressed you with its unique and traditional processes of extraction and its high levels of purity and nutritional values, you must be wondering how best to get access to a source of premium extra virgin olive oil. With the concept of healthy eating catching up with the masses, at times you get baffled to see the variants of olive oil that are available at the supermarkets.  But if you are uncompromising on the quality and would like to have only the most premium quality extra virgin olive oil you should look into the online Italian delis.

There are a number of benefits of sourcing your products through these Italian online delis. Not only these niche Italian delis offer the most premium quality products, but they also ensure that these get delivered to you, right to your doorstep!

If you are in London and looking for the best quality extra virgin olive oil, delivered 6 times a week right to your doorstep, please visit www.nifeislife.com . This online deli offers more than 800 authentic Italian products that include the cheeses , ham , pasta , sauces just to name a few at prices that won’t make you think twice !