Olive oil is widely used around the whole world, very common and easy to find in every homes. As health consciousness growing, most people prefer olive oil, avocado oil and grape seed oils when cooking. Thanks to benefits of olive oil, the demand of this special product has certainly grown as well.
The good news is we have various options when buying olive oil, but sometimes purchasing the ‘best’ can be a confusing ordeal.
Questions such as what kind of olive is better? How to choose the olive oil that is suited for my families tastes? What region of olive oil is best? And in this article it’s all about the latter, so without further delay, let’s get into it!
Top 5 Olive Oil Producing Regions
1. Italy
Italy is home to many excellent and honest producers that gift the world with high-quality Italian olive oil that is universally recognised as world-class in international quality competitions. But what makes Italian olive oil so outstanding?
The main distinguishing feature of Italian extra virgin olive oil plays in the country’s diversity in its Olives. Italy is home to over 350 different olive varieties, each of them with a unique and specific flavour and attributes. Italian oil experts then decide whether it’s best to enhance each variety’s characteristics in single-cultivar oils or if they should harmonise them to form superior blends.
The cultivation of olive trees and the production of oil in Italy remain in the hands of independent farmers as opposed to big money hungry companies. The farmers also practice traditional farming methods that date back centuries.
2. Spain
Olive oil production in Spain dates back to the second millennium B.C. Archaeological discoveries show that Andalusia region was the major olive oil producer for the ancient Roman Empire.
Almost every region in the country makes olive oil, but much of it comes from the south of Spain. Jaén, in northeastern Andalusia, produces more than 40% of the olive oil in Spain and about 20% of global export. Spain cultivates a variety of olive cultivars, but the most common varieties are Arbequina, Picual, Hojiblanca, and Cornicabra.
The olives go from the harvest trucks to the processing mill, where they are transformed into olive oil, then packed into the bottles in a matter of only a few hours. The state-of-the-art system that is used to produce the best oil possible includes carefully controlled temperatures and three-phase centrifugal decanters.
3. Greece
Olive oil has been part of Greek history since antiquity and regarded as an essential and irreplaceable nutritional component of the Greek diet. Today, Greek olive oil is considered to be the best in the world because its extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) comprises at least 80% of the overall olive oil which is considerably higher than Italy which is approximately 67% and Spain which is around 34%.
4. Portugal
Portugal is quickly gaining a reputation for producing a wide range of high-quality and full-flavoured organic olive oils, much of which turns out to be fresh and fruity with a delicious flavour and sophisticated taste. Many of Portugal’s olive groves are more than a hundred years old, with some individual trees found to be well over one thousand years old. Latest production methods and technology have reduced harvesting of more recently planted groves to three to seven years compared to more than ten to twenty years which was how long it took in the past.
Ideally, olives are gathered when the colour begins turning from green to black, and the texture’s smooth, but they not quite fully ripe. They are then dried in the shade for up to three days. The dry olives are then pressed lightly to yield oil of the highest quality (un-purified and known as ‘extra virgin olive oil’) and then pressed heavily to produce oil in far more significant quantities.
5. USA
The USA has been producing olive oil for more than 150 years now, yielding about 5% of all of the olive oil consumed in the country each year. It is also the largest consuming market of olive oil outside Europe. It is alleged the best olive oil in the USA is produced in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Texas and Oregon.
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Are you ready to explore the complete collection of products dedicated to the production of Balsamic Vinegars of Modena and condiments exclusively obtained from organic farming? We have them stocked now! You can download our full catalogue from Italy’s oldest balsamic vinegar producer Giusti. Have you got any thoughts on these olive oil producing regions to share? Are their regions we missed? Let us know in the comments below…
Link to original longer source article: https://www.seekbottles.com/2021/03/09/top-5-regions-of-worlds-best-olive-oil-producing
