Cobram Estate Blog
Thought From Gabriel #1 - Cooking With Olive Oil
Date: 28-11-2008
To become a very good cook you need to learn to cook new dishes regularly and to practise them three or four times within a month in order to master them. Each time I learn a new dish I become familiar with new ingredients, new seasonings and new techniques.
Some dishes have an incredible influence in your life as a cook. One such dish for me was preparing my first salade Niçoise when I was just nineteen and working as a young chef in the famous Paris seafood restaurant called ‘Prunier’. It was 1974 and the restaurant had been operating for more than one hundred years.
A salade Niçoise is quite a sophisticated salad composed of poached tuna, small green beans, potatoes, young green salad leaves, hard-boiled egg, olives, tomato, red onion and more. What was so special for me about preparing this lovely summer salad was that for the first time in my life I used extra virgin olive oil. In the dressing with red wine vinegar and lemon juice, the oil marries all the ingredients together and it’s a real classic. I thought to myself, ‘Wow! What an ingredient!’
Nowadays, extra virgin olive oil is one of my top ten favourite ingredients. I could easily give up potatoes, but not olive oil! What would you give up for olive oil? Let me know.
Gabriel Gate
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Antioxidants and Health Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Health and Olive Oil
Date: 28-10-2008
Antioxidants work by neutralizing highly reactive, destructive compounds called free radicals. Free radical production is actually a normal part of life, part of the equation of simply breathing in oxygen. Usually, the body's natural defense systems neutralize free radicals that develop, rendering them harmless. However, environmental assaults on the body, such as UV-radiation, pollutants and alcohol, can overpower the body's ability to neutralize free radicals, allowing them to cause damage to the structure and function of the body's cells. There is good evidence that this damage contributes to aging and leads to a host of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease.
Consuming more antioxidants helps provide the body with tools to neutralize harmful free radicals. It is estimated that there are more than 4,000 compounds in foods that act as antioxidants. They are present in foods as vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and polyphenols, among others.
An Antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves.
Extra Virgin Olive oil is an important source of antioxidants. The most important are polyphenols antioxidants and tocopherols (vitamins E).
There are as many as 5.5 mg of polyphenols antioxidant in every tablespoon of olive oil (15 ml) and 1.6 mg of Vitamins E / 15 ml olive oil. Total proximate of antioxidants: 7 mg in every 15 ml of olive oil.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due the Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) for a 25-year old male for Antioxidants (Vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, etc) is 120 mg/day.
That means that extra virgin olive oil could be the 12% of the daily source of antioxidants in your diet if you just use two tablespoon of EVOO in your salads. And it could be almost the 30% if you drizzled it over fish/meat or roast vegetables or dipping with bread. While if you do the same with refined vegetables oil the ingestion of antioxidants is null.
Why is important to consume antioxidants?
Because they are associated with several salutary effects in human:
ATHEROSCLEROSIS. Oxidized low-density lipoproteins (LDL) contribute to the progression of human atherosclerosis. Antioxidants have been shown to prevent LDL modification. The beneficial effects of a Mediterranean diet may be defined by the unique antioxidant properties of its phenolic compounds.
ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY. Olive polyphenols have been demonstrated to inhibit or delay the rate of growth bacteria such as Salmonella, Cholera, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, and Influenza in vitro. These data suggest a potential role of olive water polyphenol antioxidants in promoting intestinal and respiratory human and animal wellness, and as an antimicrobial food additive in pest management programs.
HEART DISEASE. Researchers are fairly certain that oxidative modification of LDL-cholesterol (sometimes called "bad" cholesterol) promotes blockages in coronary arteries that may lead to atherosclerosis and heart attacks. Vitamin E may help prevent or delay coronary heart disease by limiting the oxidation of LDL-cholesterol. It also may help prevent the formation of blood clots, which could lead to a heart attack. Reduction in inflammatory effects such as coronary artery disease including specific medical research into the pathways of improved endothelial health via downregulation of oxidative LDL.
CANCER. There is a growing body of evidence that reactive oxygen species are involved in the etiology of fat-related neoplasm, especially in patients suffering from predisposing inflammatory conditions where high quantities of reactive oxygen are produced. Recent studies have shown that the abundant phenolic antioxidant fractions of olive oil have a potent inhibitory ability on reactive oxygen species associated with colon and breast pathologies. Some polyphenol antioxidants, such as resveratrol, inhibit occurrence and/or growth of mammalian tumors.
OXIDATIVE STRESS FROM PASSIVE SMOKING Recent studies which involve administration of the phenolic fraction from olive water in rats exposed to oxidative stress from secondary smoke, show a dramatic reduction of stress and protective activity by polyphenols in the diet.
SKIN DAMAGE AND PHOTOPROTECTION. The skin damage produced by overexposure to sunrays and environmental stress is related to the destructive activity of free oxygen related radicals produced by skin cells. Polyphenolic components of olive oil have been compared to traditional antioxidants used by the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry to prevent skin damage. Results show polyphenols as having the highest activity as radical scavengers A variety of other beneficial health effects have been attributed to consumption of foods rich in polyphenolic antioxidants. Among these salutary effects discussed are anti-aging consequences such as slowing the process of skin wrinkling.
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Australian Olive Association officially launches Code of Practice - Grove and Oil Info
Date: 25-08-2008
The Australian Olive Association (AOA) has signed off on an industry Code of Practice to better support quality, authenticity and confidence in the Australian olive industry.
The Code aims to provide security and confidence to consumers and investors in Australia and overseas that certified Australian olive products meet high industry standards. To be certified by the Code of Practice, products must be Australian and undergo organoleptic (taste) and chemical testings.
Paul Miller, president of the Australian Olive Association (AOA), said the Code of Practice for the olive industry is a world first and helps differentiate the Australian industry and its products.
“Australian consumers will finally be able to confidently buy extra virgin olive oil knowing that it really is extra virgin. They will have a clear choice based on quality and trust – Australian extra virgin olive oil which is backed by the Australian industry Code of Practice or imported olive oil of questionable origin and quality,” said Miller.
Consumers will be able to identify certified products thanks to the official Certified Australian Extra Virgin logo to be used on labels of approved products. The labels should start appearing on products in the next few months.
Miller said the Association started planning the Code of Practice in 2004 as a response to imported products of poor quality.
“In 2004, we found imported oil which did not comply with its label. The government was not prepared to assist with this issue until the industry had a Code of Practice with its own approved industry standards,” Miller said.
“In addition, the Australian olive industry has a good reputation for high quality extra virgin olive oil and we wanted to capture and enhance that reputation by adopting a Code that underpinned quality production.
“The Code of Practice is received very positively by the industry as well as food retailers,” he added.
In conjunction with the Code, the Association is undertaking a Consumer Education and Awareness (CEA) campaign to promote the superior quality of Australian olive products backed by the Code. The Association is also doing marketplace surveillance of olive oils.
The Australian Olive Association was founded in 1995 as the industry body to encourage research and dissemination of information and the sustained development of a national olive industry in Australia.
More information on the Australian Olive Association is available at www.australianolives.com.au or by calling (02) 9863 8735.
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Frying With Extra Virgin olive Oil - Cooking With Olive Oil
Date: 15-08-2008
Frying is one of the few characteristics common to the entire Mediterranean area, be it European, Asian or African, and to the three religions practised, Christian, Muslim and Jewish. It is one of the oldest methods in existence of cooking food.
Recent investigations have shown that frying is beneficial to the organism, particularly from the physiological point of view. Because of this, it has extended to areas where formerly it was not as popular. Whether the food fried is digested easily or lies heavily on the stomach depends to a great extent on the type of oil used, the temperature of the oil and the manner in which the food was fried. Studies undertaken on healthy subjects and patients with gastroduodenal problems (gastritis, ulcer, liver and biliary complaints) have shown that there is no relationship between food fried in olive oil and these illnesses.
When vegetable oils are heated, for example whilst frying, the health benefits of the oil break down quicker than other natural oils such as extra virgin olive oil. This breakdown also varies according to temperature and length of time heated, number of times used, manner of frying (in continuous frying it changes less), and the type of food being fried (frying fish, especially oily fish, increases the polyunsaturated acid content of the oil, facilitating its decomposition).
Olive oil is ideal for frying. In proper temperature conditions, without over-heating, it undergoes no substantial structural change and keeps its nutritional value better than other oils, not only because of the antioxidants but also due to its high levels of oleic acid. Its high smoking point (210ºC) is substantially higher than the ideal temperature for frying food (180ºC). Those fats with lower critical points, such as corn and butter, break down at this temperature and form toxic products.
Another advantage of using olive oil for frying is that it forms a crust on the surface of the food that impedes the penetration of oil and improves its flavour. Food fried in olive oil has a lower fat content than food fried in other oils, making olive oil more suitable for weight control. Olive oil, therefore, is the most suitable, the lightest and the tastiest medium for frying.
Olive oil goes further than other oils, and not only can it be re-used more often than others, it also increases in volume when reheated, so less is required for cooking and frying. The digestibility of heated olive oil does not change even when re-used for frying several times.
Olive oil should not be mixed with other fats or vegetable oils and should not generally be used more than four or five times.
The oil used for frying should always be hot; if it is cold the food will soak up the oil.
There should always be plenty of oil in the pan when deep frying. If only a small amount is used, not only will it burn more easily but the food being fried will be undercooked on top and overcooked on the bottom.
TEMPERATURE TYPE OF FOOD
Medium (130–145º C) High water content: vegetables, potatoes, fruit…
Hot (155– 170º C) Coated in batter, flour or breadcrumbs, forming a crust
Very hot (175–190º C) Small, quickly fried: small fish, croquettes
