These are the signs that your bottle may not be extra-virgin, and the qualities to look for in a truly decent bottle. Most of us use olive oil every day, splashed in a pan, trickled over a dish of hummus, mixed into a salad dressing. No wonder - it’s not just delicious but good for you too.
Olive oil is the bedrock of the Mediterranean diet , the most scientifically backed eating plan for good health. A study in the US indicated eating as little as one teaspoon (five grams) of extra-virgin olive oil daily could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. But can you trust that the bottle in your kitchen is the real thing? It’s certainly costing enough .
Olive oil prices are soaring : they are up a third on last year alone, following a 36% drop in yields from the main olive-producing countries, chiefly because of the dual scourges of Xylella disease and heatwaves driven by climate change. All this has led to a rise in fraud in the EU. In July this year, £750,000 ($1.
6 million) worth of fake olive oil, suspected of being coloured green with chlorophyll and labelled as “extra-virgin”, was seized in Puglia, south Italy..
