Olive oil smoke point makes for a hot topic. The question on everybody’s mind is, “Can I use olive oil for cooking?” Well, it depends on what you mean by olive oil, and sometimes on much how good fat your particular blend contains.
If you are cooking with an olive oil that has a higher ratio of polyunsaturated (high Omega 6 content) to monounsatured fats (low Omega 3 content) then you will miss out on the nutritional and health benefits of a pure, unfiltered extra virgin blend.
Almost every single extra virgin olive oil blog online will tell you to store your olive oil in a dark bottle, preferably somewhere cool with very little light. A pantry or basement will do.
Look, I definitely don’t disagree. I still store most of my olive oil in the pantry (it helps when you’ve got a year’s supply), but the truth is that if you are in possession of a few bottles of ultra premium extra virgin olive oil, this is simply not necessary.
Bog obitelj (Greetings family)!
Way back in December, I filled a suitcase full of extra virgin Croatian olive oil from my family farm in the Dalmatia region of Croatia. I had just quit my job and decided to visit my selo during the annual harvest in November, the month prior.
I took as much olive oil as I could, about 15-20 liters (4-5 full tree’s worth if you can believe it). In exchange for the olive oil, I decided to leave about half of my wardrobe in the village. It turned out to be a worthwhile transaction.
