WHY IS COLD PRESSED OLIVE OIL A BETTER OPTION?
Olive oil is often used as a way to step up your cooking game, it's is made differently than typical extra virgin olive oil, bringing a bounty of advantages in taste, function, and nutrition. Healthy for your body, and full of fresh flavors, cold pressed olive oil is a high quality ingredient for any recipe.
The Process
Cold pressing olive oil is a more involved and intricate processing task. Many tools and steps are required to cold press the olive oil.
Often, olive oil is pressed with high heat. Cold pressed olive oil is made with a hydraulic press that gently crushes the olives using cooler temperatures, which changes and improves the quality of your olive oil. The olives are reduced to a paste and then spread over mats. Mats are filters or pockets that are then stacked on each other in a hydraulic press. A liquid of both water and oil comes from the olive paste, then the liquid is recovered and the two liquids are separated. Only the olive oil itself is kept to be bottled. Castillo De Pinar’s olive oils are not factory produced but rather created with care and craftsmanship.
Castillo de Piñar Virgin Olive Oil
The Flavor
With a bright forest green, cold pressed olive oil has a pure color and has a different flavor profile than typically made olive oil. Often praised, as a more healthful, nutrient rich option, it has a fresh taste, like fresh fruit or herbs and is a healthier option compared to other olive oils.
The Polyphenols
Polyphenols are nutrients that benefit your body. Cold pressed oil has superior polyphenol content. Polyphenols are nutrients that naturally occur in plants. Many supplements or vitamins provide these nutrients for your body. You can also get polyphenols in your regular diet, in fruits, vegetables, and ingredients like Castillo de Pinar olive oil. These organic compounds are antioxidants, and provide anti-inflammatory benefits. Castillo De Pinar Olive oils are packed with these beneficial compounds with over 500mg/kg in our extra virgin olive oil and 300mg/kg in the virgin Olive oil. Anything over 250mg/kg is considered premium Olive Oil.
Our oils also contain Omega 3,6 and 9 fatty acids. The health benefits are astounding, in fact, Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a major component of the Mediterranean diet which is widely recognized as one of the world’s healthiest diets by leading health and nutrition experts.
How to know if your oil is cold pressed
The truth is cold pressed olive oil is only distinguished from other olive oils by the resulting quality of the olive oil. Color, flavor, and quality of the olive oil is the best way to tell if your olive oil is authentic. There are high standards for processing, with multiple guidelines that guarantee the quality and nutrients of the olives, ensuring that the olive oil is of the best quality.
Another great way to tell if a brand is authentic, is the packaging. Cold pressed oil should be stored in a dark glass bottle, away from heat and light. Exposure to these elements will degrade the nutritional content, as well as the flavor. Castillo de pinar uses only olives that are hand-picked and brought to the facility for washing and processing six hours after harvesting. The olives are pressed at the Castillo de Pinar facility, located near the olive tree grove. Our oil is made with picual olives grown in the ideal soil and climate in Spain.
Cooking
Cold pressed olive oil is regarded as a superior ingredient when it comes to cooking. A smoke point is the temperature at which an oil or shortening begins to burn and smoke, altering the flavors of the ingredients. The smoke point of cold pressed olive oil is higher than typical olive oil, meaning that it can withstand higher temperatures before burning or smoking, which leaves behind an unpleasant, burnt, and bitter flavor. Cold pressed olive oil is a higher quality ingredient used in baking, sautéing, pan frying, and many more.