Olive oil
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Olive oil: what it is, extra virgin vs regular, uses in salads, sautés and finishing dishes, substitutions and storage.
Olive oil is the oil extracted from the fruit of the olive tree, a pillar of Mediterranean cuisine and increasingly present on the Brazilian table. With a fruity flavor and fresh aroma, it works both for cooking and for finishing dishes.
Characteristics
The main categories indicate quality and ideal use:
- Extra virgin: first pressing, with low acidity and intense flavor, ideal to eat raw.
- Virgin: good quality, with a flavor somewhat less marked than extra virgin.
- Regular olive oil (pure or blended type): milder and refined, suited for everyday cooking.
Good olive oils have fruity notes and a slight burn in the throat, a sign of freshness and of the olive's natural compounds.
Uses in cooking
It is irreplaceable in salads, bruschettas, caponatas, preserves and finishing pastas, soups and meats, where the flavor shows. It sautés vegetables, garlic and onion with a characteristic perfume and goes into marinades, sauces like pesto and vinaigrette, and breads like focaccias. The regular version handles everyday grilling and roasting well.
Substitutions
In sautés and roasts, vegetable oil replaces regular olive oil with no loss. But in salads and finishing dishes, where the olive oil flavor is the star, there is no direct equivalent — butter or oil with fresh herbs only come close. For deep frying, prefer refined oils, reserving extra virgin for raw use or moderate heat.
Fun facts
Olive oil fears three enemies: light, heat and air. Store the bottle in a cool, dark cupboard, away from the stove, and prefer dark packaging. Sediment at the bottom and clouding in the fridge are normal and do not indicate a flaw. When buying, check the bottling date: olive oil is like fruit juice — the fresher, the better the flavor.
Recipes with olive oil
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[ve_cards ids="1207,1201,1219"]- Origem do termo
- from Mediterranean cuisine
- Sinônimos
- olive oil, extra virgin olive oil