Olive Oil Applications: More Than Just Cooking?

Native in Mediterranean countries, olive oil has been used for various applications for centuries, before gaining public awareness in the last few decades. And now they’ve been a staple and commonly available for public consumption.

Read here: How olive oil is processed just like what you have in your meal?

Basic Olive Oil Applications

Olive Oil In Cooking

For a start, olive oil is used heavily for cooking. The oil contains notable health benefits and proven in a number of studies (a huge number, since this oil have gained attention for few decades) that regular consumption of olive oil does improve your well-being, outside and inside.

Alas, different types of olive oil is used, even when it comes to cooking. Extra virgin varieties are usually used as salad dressings or eaten with cold cut foods as it imparst stronger flavor. For mild cooking, a sauteing process is the best option for this type.

This is because the oil deteriorates as the temperature increases, compromising the taste (components that make up the flavor are burned). Hence, for high temperature cooking methods (baking, deep fry, etc), refined olive oil is the best choice.

Cold pressed olive oils have their own distinct flavor. Much like wine, the taste varies depending on the country producing it, the moment when the olives are harvested, and may be suitable for certain dish.

And keep it mind that the oil began to lose it’s quality after a year, where no matter what type of oil you’re having, that’s when it’s only suitable for high temperature cooking methods.

Olive Oil Applications In Non-Cooking 

Apart from cooking, olive oil is also commonly used in skin care and cosmetics, due to it’s health benefits, that can be seen even applied topically. It’s also can be used as a lubricant for machinery (green points here), as a main ingredient for soaps, as well as for oil lamps.

Further reading: Trends and forecast for olive oil. Expect to gain more awareness, even with coconut oil tails behind.

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