Popular belief
The mention « virgin » means that the oil extraction was made without any chemical products and allows preserving all the characteristics of the product : TRUE !
A virgin oil is an oil for which the extraction processes used to extract the oil of the product (olive, nut, walnut…) are only mechanical (pressure for example) or physical (weight difference between the components). All the gustative and nutritive qualities are then preserved.
When the mention is not stated on the label, this means that the oil has been refined. This is often the case of sunflower oil, colza, peanut,…
The virgin oil the most widespread is the olive oil (virgin and extra virgin).
The olive oil is less fat than the other oils : FALSE !
All the vegetable oils are made of 99.9% of lipids, that is to say of fat. They are thus quite fat and present the same calorific contribution (about 900 kcal/100 ml). But their fatty acid composition (saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) as in minor components (phenol, vitamins, omega,…) is different depending on the raw material of which oil is coming.
The olive oil do not have to be heated : FALSE !
The olive oil can easily be used for cooking even for frying. Its smoke point is one of the higher for the vegetable olive oil with 210°C.To heat an olive oil is absolutely not harmful for health. But a high temperature causes a loss of some of the gustative qualities of the olive oil (aromas), it is better to use the terroir olive oils for cold dishes, short cookings (for fried eggs for example), on food absorbing aromas (ex. on fried potatoes) or to add them at the end of the cooking to benefit of all their aromas. Use a “daily” (classical) olive oil for cooking.
The olive oil can have different tastes : TRUE !
The olive oil is one of the rare vegetable oils which is not refined for consumption, it is “virgin” that is to say a pure fruit juice. Depending on the variety of which it is coming from but also on the terroir, climate,…. the oil won’t have the same taste.
The refining allows olive oils of a better quality : FALSE !
The refining is a process (physical or chemical) that removes to the oil, its taste, its colour and its smells, conserving only a part of the nutritional qualities (lipids,…). When oil is “virgin”, that is to say that it is not refined, it contains the gustative and nutritional qualities transmitted by the fruit or the vegetable from which it comes. This is not a question of quality but of naturalness and taste.
