Olive Oil Classification: What they haven't told you and you should know

Olive oils can be divided into two groups: Virgin oils, which are olive juice, and processed oils, which are refined in a chemical industry to be consumed.

When we take olives to the mill to make oil, we can obtain three qualities of oil: Extra Virgin, Virgin, and Lampante. While the first two can be sold directly to the consumer, the third must be sent for refining because it is not suitable for consumption. After refining through chemical processes, a small proportion of virgin oils is added, and it is sold as "Olive Oil."

Furthermore, as a result of the olive grinding process, we obtain an alperujo, composed of the skin, the pit, water and organic remains, from which the pomace oil is extracted.

How and when to use olive oil or other oil

This table summarizes the information in the article, and also provides a recommendation for the use of each of the olive oils available on the market.

Virgin olive oils

Virgin olive oils are pure olive juice. They are obtained through mechanical processes—meaning no chemicals are used—and after milling, malaxing, and centrifugation, they are classified.

This includes laboratory analysis to determine acidity and peroxide levels, among other parameters, as well as classification by a tasting panel. Based on these two factors, they can be classified into three types or categories.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

It is the highest quality. It has a free oleic acid content of 0.8% in laboratory analysis, and in the tasting panel, its defects must be zero and its fruitiness above zero. It is the extra virgin olive oil from healthy olives, harvested at the right time and processed correctly at the mill.

Virgin Olive Oil

This one is of lower quality but is still olive juice. Acidity levels are below 2%, the maximum score for defects in the tasting panel is 3.5, and it must be fruity, meaning the score must be above zero.

These two are the ones that can be packaged and sold directly to the consumer.

Processed olive oils

When virgin olive oil extracted at the mill exceeds these parameters, it is classified as lampante oil. This oil cannot be bottled or sold and must be sent to a chemical plant for refining.

In the refinery, heat is applied to eliminate defects, along with a chemical process that includes the application of caustic soda to convert it into a neutral fat, whose physicochemical parameters allow it to be consumed. This process destroys the aromas, flavors, and polyphenols—the oil's natural antioxidants.

This neutral fat, which was once juice, is now completely transformed and has a proportion of virgin or extra virgin olive oil added—although it's usually virgin because it's cheaper—to give it some color and aroma. It's sold on the market as "Olive Oil."

Mild Olive Oil

It is refined fat with the minimum proportion of virgin olive oil, which gives it color and is more economical.

Intense Olive Oil

It is the same refined fat, only the proportion of virgin fat is higher (up to 8%, although according to what we have found it is not subject to regulations).

These designations can vary. Other brands call it 0.4% or 1º oil, but generally, if the label doesn't say "Virgin Olive Oil" or "Extra Virgin Olive Oil," it's not juice; it's refined fat mixed with a small proportion of juice. Similarly, if the label says "Refined" anywhere, it's refined fat, not olive juice.

Other processed oils

Finally, we can also find refined pomace oils or olive pomace oil, which are obtained from the remains of olive milling and also have to be refined.

The problem with this system of names

In our expert opinion, this system of classifications and names for olive oils, instead of helping the consumer, only confuses them. The reality is that most consumers don't understand the difference between Olive Oil, which is refined, and virgin or extra virgin olive oil, which is olive juice.

This, combined with the price difference since Olive Oils are made from defective lampante oils that cannot be sold to the public and are sold more cheaply, ultimately leads the buyer to often choose a lower quality, refined product that does not have the nutritional and healthy properties that we attribute to extra virgin olive oil.

In fact, you only have to smell and taste an intense refined oil and an extra virgin oil to appreciate the difference in flavor, color, and product quality.

Frequently asked questions about the types of olive oil

In the following section you have some frequently asked questions that we are usually asked in the technical training sessions on tasting virgin olive oils that we teach as well as in the tastings that we carry out.