Olive You

Uncle Bubba was finally home for a weekend and he and Sweet Pea had an awesome Easter, just the two of them, together. While getting reacquainted with his community he came across an ad for a local olive orchard. He and Sweet Pea decided to take a short drive to investigate. Long story short, they wound up purchasing two olive tree saplings; a Greek variety Koroneiki olive, and a Spanish variety Arbequina olive tree.

This mission provoked research and gave enlightenment to Bubbie in the mysterious elixir of olive oil. Without a doubt the most important bit of knowledge that signor Bubbie can pass along is that good quality olive oil should have some cloudiness and even some sediment in the bottle. What most of us are purchasing here in the U.S. is a blended, reduced concentration of oil. We are being flummoxed. To explain this further, Uncle Bubba refers to an explanation of the term Extra Virgin.

"In Europe and many other countries, “Extra Virgin” is a narrowly defined grade of olive oil. Standards developed by the International Olive Council (IOC) require it to be produced entirely by mechanical means (no solvents) under temperatures that will cause no alteration of the oil (less than 86 degrees F). It must have a maximum free-fatty-acid level of less than 0.8 percent (a measure of the soundness of the fruit) and a peroxide value of less than 20 meq (a measure of oxidation). It must be free from defects when evaluated by a trained sensory evaluation panel and possess at least some degree of fruitiness.

Unfortunately, the U.S. government does not enforce IOC standards for use of the term “extra virgin.” As long as the product is made solely from olives, it can be labeled “extra virgin olive oil” in this country. A petition has been filed to adopt the IOC standards for “extra virgin” in the United States. In the meantime, the playing field is anything but level for the domestic producer of true extra-virgin olive oil who must compete with low-cost imports that could never to be sold as extra virgin in Europe. (hobbyfarms.com)"

In Bubbie's view, the failure of the U.S. government to adopt a higher standard in the grading of olive oil is the problem with the standard of the U.S. government across the board. We should be setting the standards to which the rest of the world aspires.