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Olive Oil: Decoded

People in Mediterranean countries (such as Greece and Italy) eat a rather high 40 percent of their calories as unsaturated fats, mostly in the form of olive oil. If you're committed to cooking with an unsaturated oil and you stand in the supermarket aisle eying the olive oils, it's easy to become confused. You see pure olive oil, extra virgin olive oil and light olive oil. What do all these terms mean?

Consider the process of extracting oil from the olive:

The picked olives are washed and ground up. The resulting mulch is slightly warmed and mixed with water. A hydraulic press applies over a ton of pressure. The runoff is centrifuged or decanted to separate the oil from the water. This is what is referred to as a "first cold pressing" and the resulting oil is termed "extra virgin." This is the darkest, most delicate and flavorful oil. It is also the most expensive, but as with many things, cost is not necessarily a true reflection of quality.

There's still oil in the remaining just-pressed mulch! As pressure is gradually increased further, the next oil that comes out is the "virgin" olive oil. It has less color, but still contains some of the olive's fruitiness. Now you have pure olive oil with a mild flavor. Virgin olive oil does not contain less fat, it is just lighter in color and is simply a highly refined olive oil.

Next time you are at the market, you won't have to stare blankly at the olive oils and wonder what's what. You'll be able to confidently pick the oil you want.