Saturday 31 March 2012

The Extra Virgin Fraud

A sad development

The Guardian also reported on this fraudulent practice.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for this Jim. It set me googling Tom Mueller back to his article in the New Yorker. He's done a good job educating us.I've made an insert in my blog as a result of searching this http://democracystreet.blogspot.com/2012/02/normal-0-false-false-false-en-gb-ja-x.html
    The good stuff leaves a peppery taste in the throat. right? Or can that be faked?

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  2. "Further eye-opening tips included ignoring terms like 'cold-pressed' which apparently is redundant seeing as olives can only be pressed in high heat"

    Oh yes? And I suppose the ancient Greeks didn't produce their olive oil "cold-pressed".

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  3. For olive oil extracted where EU rules apply you can use the term 'cold pressed' so long as the the temperature during extraction remains under 27 °C. This involved using more modern grinding equipment of the kind they have in the two olive oil factories I've visited on Corfu - not mill stones. This film shows the kit I saw from 01.23
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-y_lQiLokI
    The reference to 'high heat' is confusing. High heat is used for lower quality oil - but removes aroma and other elements. Blimey I'm learning all the time.

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  4. By the way - this is available on BBC iPlayer until 7 April '12
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01dtdcb/Archive_on_4_Greece_An_Unquiet_History/

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