The Italian Language

Learn about the Italian language, grammar, vocabulary and culture

There is a bit of confusion surrounding olive oil, because there are two types of Italian oil. I shall try to clear the confusion a bit.

Product of Italy: refers to olive oil bottled in Italy and produced exclusively with Italian olives. Just like wine, the quality and flavour tends to change depending if the year is good or not. Packed in Italy: refers to olive oil bottled in Italy, but which is a blend of oil from quality olives from selected producing zones, mostly Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Tunisia in that order. This produces the oil most appreciated abroad, as the flavour is not so pronounced at it tends to be stable over the years. Italy’s production is relatively modest. It is varied in flavour, not pleasing all palates. The main producing regions are Apulia, Liguria and Tuscany. Of all these Tuscan oil is considered the best, but it commands very high prices and not everyone likes it. Apulian oil is mass-produced and is not always considered as the best, though even there there are many quality producers.

An olive oil pourer

Italy is one of the word’s main exporters of olive oil, usually packed. The Spaniards, the world’s largest producer, accuses Italy of fraud, because the Italians buy Spanish oil in bulk and mix it with other quality oil from Italy, Greece, Tunisia and Greece. The result is a standard product, which taste varies very little from year to year and is normally preferred even to oil produced in Italy, while the Spanish product has a much smaller market.

Extra-virgin olive oil comes from the first cold pressing of olives and contains an acidity level of no more than 0.8%.

Virgin olive oil also comes from the first cold pressing of olives but it has a slightly higher acidity level, but always of less than 2%.

Pure Olive oil is a blend of 95% refined virgin oil, which is in itself tasteless, and 5% extra virgin oil for flavour. It contains at most 1% acidity.

Olive-pomace oil is a blend of refined pomace olive oil and possibly some virgin oil. It is fit for consumption, but it may not be called olive oil. Olive-pomace oil is rarely found in a grocery store, but it is used for frying in restaurants. It is considered the best oil for this cooking method.

Pomace is the husk of the olives, which remains after the pressing of oil. It must be refined in order to extract the remaining oil from it.

Lampante oil is non-edible olive oil, used mainly for the industry: for soap, etc. The word lampante comes from olive oil's ancient use as fuel in oil-burning lamps.

Other terms to be found on olive oil bottles are:

Imported from Italy usually means that the oil was packed and not produced in Italy. The same label will note that the oil was packed with olives grown in Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Tunisia. Since Spain produces 40% of the world's olive harvest, it is likely this oil comes from olives grown in Spain.

100% Pure olive oil is in fact a low quality product made mainly from refined olive oil.

Light olive oil suggests a low fat content, whereas in fact it refers to a lighter colour, as All olive oil has by definition 120 Calories a tablespoon (33 kJ/ml).

First cold pressing. The word cold is important because if heat is used the olive oil's chemical composition is altered.