Xtra Virgin Olive Oil originally published on Food and Fond Memories on April 28, 2011 by sandyaxelrod 3 Comments (Edit)
Xtra Virgin Olive Oil
My Assortment of Olive Oils
Okay so I took some liberties with this one but I really wanted to write about olive oil. And since my E was Eggplant Salad and my O was about Oysters I needed to take poetic license with the spelling. (e)Xtra Virgin Olive Oil is an ingredient that I use daily. I know it is not necessary to cook with it, ordinary olive would work just fine there, but I do. Lord knows it’s not because I don’t want to have more than one olive oil because I have a whole assortment of them as well as other specialty oils like toasted sesame, truffle, hazelnut, pumpkinseed and walnut. It is fun for me to use Greek olive oil when I cook Greek food or Italian olive oil with Italian food and so on. But the olive oil that I truly cherish is the 2 liter bottle Brian and Eve smuggled in from their trip to Croatia. Eve’s parents were both born and raised in Croatia and have a home there that they go to whenever they can. On the trip that Brian and Eve took they went for Eve’s brother’s wedding. It was Brian’s first trip to Europe and they stayed in a mountainside home overlooking the sea. He marveled at how trucks snaked their way up the very narrow mountain roads to deliver water and bread. On one of their trips into town to go food shopping they bought first press olive oil from a little old lady who grew the olives and pressed them into olive oil herself using the town’s ancient press. This gorgeous green gold olive goodness was then poured into cleaned 2 liter soda water bottles, wrapped top to bottom with duct tape and lovingly cradled in their suitcase. This is the olive oil I reserve for drizzling when I can relish the savory taste of it.
Much to my surprise and with opportune timing an article was published in the Huffington Post about the health benefits of (e)Xtra Virgin Olive Oil. I did know that it is a healthy oil but I did not know that it could be a pain reliever. Dr. Leo Galland, M.D. posed the question: Could a traditional food have pain – and inflammation – reducing effects similar to over the counter pain medicine like ibuprofen? The response is that scientists from Italy, Spain, the U.S. and Australia have discovered that (e)Xtra virgin olive oil can indeed provide significant health benefits, including the ability to help reduce pain and inflammation. (e)Xtra virgin olive oil is shown to contribute nutritionally in the fight against health problems like arthritis, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, and in pain management. And a study from Spain has shown that higher olive oil consumption is associated with leaner body weight, an important factor in the prevention of chronic conditions. Research shows that this robust and very flavorful oil is a perfect example of the “food as medicine concept”. As the saying goes “you are what you eat” and eating healthy foods including (e)Xtra Virgin Olive Oil can have a powerful impact on your health.
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