qualitaly

DIC.-JAN. 2016

VIII

AT PAGE 24

Evo Oil: green gold

in the hands of the

chef

Know and understand the

characteristics and types of the

extra virgin oil allows to create the

right combinations of value and

preparations

By Anna Muzio

Ubiquitous, because it comes in most

traditional Italian recipes, but also

healthy, fragrant, various, element which

is not always given proper attention

but that is able to transform a normal

dish in one creative, or, conversely,

ruin a valuable ingredient, if is not

at the higher. Recently even suspect,

under investigation, falsified. We are

talking about extra virgin olive oil, the

most valuable oils. The result of the

first pressing of the olive “solely by

mechanical or other physical process

under conditions that do not lead to

alterations in the oil, which have not

undergone any treatment other than

washing, decantation, centrifugation

or filtration,” as Regulation (EC) No

1234/2007.

Recent investigations for commercial

fraud prosecutors in Turin and Florence

have cast a shadow on this high quality

production of Made in Italy, known

and exported all over the world. And

while it is true that, as Lorenzo Bazzana

from Coldiretti says, “Recent events

demonstrate that the controls are there,

we have the antibodies to identify these

critical issues” (in 2014 were seized

10 million euro of oil thanks to over 6

thousand controls), the operator of the

question as the man in the street food

arises: how to ensure the quality of the

oil that we use? We asked to who the

extra virgin olive oil it produces and

sells it for years.

ITALIAN PRODUCTION IS NOT

ENOUGH. In fact of olive oil Italy is a

country in deficit: we produce about

a third of the necessary because we

are great consumers as well as large

exporters. It is therefore necessary to

import large quantities of oil from the

Mediterranean countries, primarily in

Spain, but also Greece and Tunisia. This

is even truer in black years as 2014,

when from abroad 666mila tons arrived

against 300 thousand produced. And

the risk of lowering the quality has

increased.

“In Italy we have 590 varieties of olives,

42 PDO and PGI 2 and many small

producers. In Spain there are modern

plantations with very low operating

costs and good quality, but it cannot

compete with ours olives. They just

have 40 cultivars including the Picual

and the Arbequina. I call it democratic

oil” explains Gianni Tognoni, sales

and marketing manager of Olitalia srl.

Therefore it’s necessary to protect it,

this Italian quality, and maybe even

increase the cultivation areas. Not

surprisingly, two of the points scored in

the agreement signed recently between

various industry associations.

“Extra virgin olive oil is subjected to

strict controls, in our company we

have 96 controls per year, carried out

by different entities,” said Tognoni.

To be classified as “Evo” the oil must

pass two types of controls, chemical

and organoleptic. In the laboratory,

we perform chemical analysis (acidity

evaluation, spectrometric examination,

peroxides quantity, etc…) to determine

the quality. The organoleptic evaluation

is performed from eight panelists. The

combination of these two assessments

produces the classification of the olive

oil in extra virgin, virgin or glaring. The

panel test actually can downgrade an oil

that has passed the chemical tests, and

that’s what happened to the companies

surveyed, which have already requested

additional panel test.

DIFFERENCES OFTEN NEGLECTED.

In hospitality in particular, to choose

the right oil it’s essential because “a

few drops can totally change a dish -

Lucio Carli says, producer and president

ONAOO -. To combine high cost prawns

with oil that has defects is a mistake

that a chef cannot afford to do, but it

still happens in many restaurants.”

“If the chefs are artists, creative, the

oils are the palettes of colors that we

provide them- is pressing Tognoni -.

We just have to explain to them the

specifics of each oil, to them is to match

those oils in the right way according

to the note you want to give the dish,

sweet, fruity or bitter, spicy. For this

reason we believe that the concept of

pairing is been overtaken: the same

oil can fit on the fish or on the meat.

Also for this reason we have created

an exclusive line for the restaurant. We

consider it important to raise awareness

in hospitality to the qualitative aspects

of the oil, and this can only happen

through the tasting. The quality, it is

true, has a price: I think that a good

Aged oil cannot cost less than 14

euro per liter, but remember that in a

restaurant, where 60% of the cost comes

from labor, the cost of ‘ Oil accounts for

a small part.”

SAFETY FROM PDO AND PGI.

A guarantee of quality gives the

MAGAZINE