We don’t know the first who knew by intuition that from the
squeezing of the small drupes we could obtain oil, but certain
is the millenary knowledge of its cultivation, its utilization and
its properties since the Tertiary, Palaeolithic (about 35.000-
8.000 years ago), during the Bronze Age (1.500 – 1.000 B.C.),
until it appears in Mesopotamia, Egypt and in the Mediterranean.
Since that moment until today the olive-growing continued to
rise quantitatively and qualitatively in the whole world. It is
worth to spend some words about oil’s intrinsic quality. Studied
and revaluated by the nutrition science, the Extra-virgin olive
oil is a natural and wholesome food which brings fragrance
and taste to dishes, by exercising an action of healthy desirability.
It is a concentration of antioxidants, in particular of vitamin E,
that can contrast the oxidation of fats. We can have a right
balance when the relationship between vitamin E and linoleic
acid is above 0,79. In the seed oil this relationship is unfavourable
because it is under the limit, while in the olive oil it is equal
to 1,87, that is to say more than the double of the necessary
to safeguard the formation of endoperoxids which increase the
risk of thrombosis. Moreover the good relationship between
vitamin E and polyinsature acids fights the formation of free
radicals, which are responsible of the organism cells’ ageing
and degeneration, such as cancer genesis, hepatic damage and
arteriosclerosis. The olive, moreover, is a lucky fruit!... In fact
it is rich of an other antioxidant, the polyphenols, that play a
very important role in giving to the Extra-virgin olive oil a
sprightly, lightly bitter and spicy taste, useful in the nourishment,
by bettering the food’s desirability and digestibility. That’s why
it is suitable for children’s diet: it facilitates the absorption of
mineral substances essentials for the growth. Its components
are in fact in some parts very similar to that of mother’s milk.
Finally we have to remember that for its chemical composition
of fatty acids, olive oil is certainly the fat less subject to alterations,
so it’s the most suitable to cook and fry because it resists at
high temperatures. Its “point of smoke” is in fact higher than
that of the other fats…
…Thanks to Mother Nature for collaborating with us! |