We need to talk about… acidity.

Genevieve, a friend of ours, was sampling one of our Olivver premium extra virgin olive oils a few weeks ago and wondered aloud about one particular brand she used to sometimes buy at the supermarket.
“Is it a good one?” she asked.
Totally fair question.
So what is the No 1 way to tell if that EVOO you’re thinking of buying is a good ‘un?

Acidity. 
Or Free Fatty Acids (FFA).

Neither are particularly glamorous terms, but if a bottle of extra virgin olive oil isn’t willing to confess its acidity, then it is almost certainly it’s a commodity oil channeled through the weird, compromised world of bulk edible oil products.
And likely very poor quality.

To recap on this acidity business, it’s essentially a measure of the defects in the olive oil. By definition, extra virgin olive oil must have an acidity of less that 0.8%. That means there’s less than 0.8% of free oleic acid in the product, or oleic acid that has become oxidised or compromised. (The oleic acid bound into the EVOO is a very, very good thing; unbound not so much.)

At Olivver.co.nz, the sublime EVOOs we stock are typically more like 0.1 to 0.3% acidity. Which is what you’d expect from a premium EVOO.
(Sometimes one of our small producers may not have the acidity on the label, but it is inevitably available under the product profile page on our website.)

Why does this even matter? Because there are EPIC amounts of poor quality olive oil out there, and some bulk producers hide behind slick packaging and large NIPs (that doesn’t read well at all!) or Nutritional Information Panels, which are of virtually zero use to the olive oil consumer.  (Why? Because aside from the fat profile which is fairly similar across all olive oils, being primarily healthy monounsaturated fat, EVOOs contain no sodium, protein, sugar or carbs.)

So think acidity. 

Ask the question: is the information there?

If not, why waste your hard-earned?

Get an EVOO you know is going to deliver all the health, taste and nutrition benefits that this divine substance, at it’s best, has to offer.

An EVOO that wears its quality loud and proud on its label.

A super quick FAQ:

Can you ‘taste’ FFAs?
No, you can’t taste if an oil has high free fatty acids and high FFAs are not involved in whether an extra virgin olive oil tastes good or bad.

What impacts the FFAs?
The acidity of olive oil can increase due to poor processing, handling and storage, plus exposure to heat, light, and air.

What about FFAs increasing when olive oil is stored?
Olive oil can be stored for at least 2 years without significant changes in its acidity level, if sealed well and stored in a cool, dark place.