Olive You!

Most of us know the benefits of Olive Oil.  It's amazing for skin, hair, salad dressings, etc.  It has amazing flavor and it does wonderful stuff for your ticker.  But how do we know that we are actually getting the olive oil that we're paying for?  There are a lot of Olive Oil blends that are mixed with cheaper not so good for you vegetable and canola oils.  So how can we be sure that we're not inadvertently putting sub par, less than healthy stuff in our bodies?  No fear!  I found a way!

Olive oil is made from olives (duh), and like a lot of fruits it has a natural wax that helps protect it against insects.  This is important because this wax is the key to finding out how pure your olive oil actually is.  Like all waxes, this wax will become solid when chilled. 
Once I figured all this out I knew exactly what I needed to do to test my olive oil.  I'd simply put some in a small jar and put it in the back of the fridge.  If it turns solid, it's real olive oil.  If it remains liquid, it's some crazy hybrid where the manufacturer is using cheaper oil to stretch the olive oil and their profits. If it turns solid, when it returns to room temperature, it will once again be the dark liquid we all know and not have any clouding or floaters (unless your jar wasn't clean, but that's on you.  LOL)

I used an old pickle jar, poured in about 2 oz of oil, put it in my fridge and waited.  Actually, I put it in the fridge and forgot.  Yup.  Plum clean forgot.  Days later while digging for supper (I'm such a great planner...lol) I come across the jar and wonder what the heck is this solid odd light greenish colored greasy looking blob in a jar.  Ah Hah!  Olive oil!  *happy dance*  It worked and mine's pure.  Well, one brand, the other.... not so much.  I didn't really expect the other to be in all honesty.  As soon as I heard about this food industry dupe I knew that the olive oil I picked up from Big Lots would not make the cut.  But that was my fault. 

Good olive oil ALWAYS comes in a darkened bottle... green or brown.  The color should be very greenish golden  in color and it should smell and taste like olives.  Seems obvious, right?   This olive oil was more yellow and not much green, very thin (olive oil is NOT thin), and in a clear bottle.  But it was only $2.99 (another clue?), so I bought it anyway.  Yeah, to say the least it didn't pass the test.  In all fairness they do have some frying blends of Olive Oil that have a much higher smoke point.  I won't use it.  But you are welcome too
.  We're trying to eliminate vegetable oils, so we use coconut oil for all of our frying needs now. Now, Once again, in all fairness, the Felipo Berio (sp) has a clear bottle too, and it passed just fine.  Probably a manufacturer that is new to the whole Olive Oil thing...  I dunno.  I don't remember the name to the Big Lots brand.  It's label peeled off forever ago after the great olive oil disaster of February 2013.

The down side, there's not much of a recourse you can take when if your olive oil doesn't pass the test.  If you test it the same day you bought it and it's not solid in 24 hrs, then you can return it to the store you bought it from.  But both of mine have been around for a good minute and I can't very well return half used bottles of Olive Oil.  You can also always call or contact the company to complain.  And as far a olive oils go, Extra Virgin Olive oil is your best option.  It is not made using any chemicals and it is supposed to be the purest type of this delicious healthy fat.  That's all we buy. 

So today, test your olive oil.  Seems like a fairly simple little step.  We can't truly unprocess ourselves if we don't know if we are inadvertently putting processed in.  Knowing how to check these things is simply another way that we can protect our families and ourselves.  Let me know if your olive oil passes this test and what the name of the brand is...  and let me know if it fails too.  I'd like to keep a running Buy/Do Not Buy kind of list!  Don't worry, I'll share!  :) 

(sorry if today's post seems a little scattered...  I am writing it while playing Wii (a carefully measured and dolled out treat here) with my youngest daughter.  The oldest had a sleep over and we're enjoying some one and one time.  But she's so awesome she said I could write while we played!  I love my kids!)

Today I hope you find a sense of awe.