Here at Villa Campestri Olive Oil Resort we produce a high quality organic extra virgin olive oil that comes from our age-old olive grove and is the fruit of our passion. In this article we reveal what are the 3 tricks to have an extra virgin olive oil with low acidity!

The characteristics of quality extra virgin olive oil

Purity and freshness of olive oil are essential characteristics for a quality extra virgin olive oil.

The definition of quality in olive oil production is based on the provisions of Regulation (EEC) 2568 dated 1991. The text is currently the reference point for the whole oil sector.

According to the legislation, olive oil can be classified into:

• Extra virgin olive oil;
• Virgin olive oils;
• Refined olive oil;
• Olive oil;
• Crude olive pomace oil;
• Refined olive pomace oil;
• Olive pomace oil.

There are many parameters required by law to evaluate the quality of olive oil.

Among all acidity is a very important parameter that gives us information on the quality of the olives. Attacks of fly, poor conservation and other defects on the fruit affect this parameter. The extra virgin must have an acidity lower than 0.8% but oils of excellent quality have values not higher than 0.1-0.2%. This is why it is important to keep the acidity of the oil low.

But what are the recommended procedures for obtaining an extra virgin olive oil with low acidity?

The 3 tricks to have an extra virgin olive oil with low acidity

Acidity (expressed as oleic acid) is the fundamental parameter for determining the quality of olive oil, being the main indicator of its purity and freshness.

The quality of olive oil depends strongly on the degree of decomposition of fatty acids in the oil. In fact, the deterioration of fatty acids bound in free fatty acids causes an increase in the acidity of the olive oil, with consequent qualitative decay.

The quality of olive oil can be influenced by many factors, such as:

• The maturation process;
• Unfavorable environmental conditions;
• Incorrect treatment of olives during harvesting;
• Improper storage of the olives before pressing.

To obtain an olive oil with low acidity it is therefore necessary to follow indispensable best practices in order not to alter the quality of the product.
Although we call them tricks are instead suggestions that we strongly recommend to follow if you want to get an excellent product.

Here are the 3 tricks to have an extra virgin olive oil with low acidity:

• Collect the olives in advance;
• Process them immediately (do not wait even 5 hours from the time of harvest at the time of pressing);
• Avoid excessively long kneading.

These simple precautions that may seem so trivial are ignored by many olive oil producers, thus obtaining low quality productions.

If you want to find out more about the world of olive oil come and visit us in the heart of Mugello to admire our 7 hectares of olive grove and taste our organic extra virgin olive oil, obtained from a manual harvest and with olives processed the same day at the mill our company!