Virgin Olive Oil: Everything you should know about Olive Oil
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About this ebook
(Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, July 1st, 2009)
The ancient Greeks venerated olive oil as a “gift of the Gods.” And the people were surely right: no other food can compare in health value or multiplicity of uses to this “divine gold!” In the region around the Mediterranean Sea, olive oil is a precious and irreplaceable basic source of nourishment. In many other countries as well, its importance to good health and a well-balanced diet is receiving ever greater recognition.
Less well known, however, is the fact that after the EU, Tunisia is the largest national producer of olive oil. The country exports large quantities of the highest quality extra virgin olive oil, which is highly valued by bottlers—even if Tunisia is not mentioned as the country of origin. Together with her husband, Viktoria Hassouna operates an oil mill and a plantation for the production of high-quality organic olive oil, and has thereby accumulated a vast storehouse of knowledge that she presents in this volume in an informative and vivid manner. Descriptions regarding the cultivation, manufacture and effects of olive oil are complemented by useful tips about how to use it therapeutically for promoting good health and beauty care as well as recipes for preparing traditional Tunisian dishes.
For healthy and flavourful nutrition, there is nothing better than olive oil! This treasure should be on hand in every kitchen!
Viktoria Hassouna
Viktoria Hassouna, 1965 in Dortmund geboren, besitzt mit ihrem Mann eine der größten biologischen Olivenplantagen Tunesiens (Domaine Ksar Ezzit). Hier hält sie regelmäßig Olivenölverkostungen und Informationsveranstaltungen zum Thema Olivenöl und biologische Landwirtschaft ab. „BEST MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE BOOK IN THE WORLD“ - Im Juli 2009 wird ihr Buch „Natives Olivenöl“ mit diesem renommierten Award ausgezeichnet. (Gourmand World Cookbook Awards)
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Virgin Olive Oil - Viktoria Hassouna
Viktoria Hassouna
Virgin Olive Oil
Everything You Should Know About Olive Oil
Secrets, Tips and Tricks from a Centuries Old Tradition in Tunisia
With Tunisian Recipes!
Books on Demand
You may find additional information about the Ksar-Ezzit organic olive grove on the Internet at: www.ksar-ezzit.com
Legal Disclaimer
The contents of this volume have been carefully researched and developed. However, neither the author nor the publisher assumes liable for the information in this volume.
Photos: Viktoria Hassouna; except for illustration 26: California Olive Ranch; Illustrations 5 and 44: Mohamed Melek Hassouna; Illustrations 47 and 48; Bavarian Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Consumer Protection. (LGL)
The use of the text and illustrations, or excerpts thereof, without the express permission of the editor is a violation of copyright law and punishable by law. This applies equally to duplications, translations, microfilms and for processing by electronic systems.
For my husband, Lassaad, who inspired me, and my children, Mohamed Melek and Rayan, in gratitude for their patience.
Contents
Preface
History and Tradition
Where does the Olive Tree come from?
Greek Mythology, the Bible and the Koran
Data and Facts
Quality
The Olive Tree
The Olives
The Harvest
Caring for the Olive Trees
Oil Production
Classifications
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (huile d ´olive vierge extra)
Virgin Olive Oil (huile d´olive vierge)
Refined Olive Oil (huile d ´olive rafinée)
Olive Oil (huile d´olive)
Olive-pomace Oil (huile de grignons d´olive)
Organic Olive Oil
Labelling
Organoleptic Testing – Sensory Analysis
Classification based upon the Results of Organoleptic Testing
How can I recognize good Olive Oil?
Home Made Virgin Olive Oil
Storage and Storage Life
Much More than just a Food
Cholesterol and Fatty Acids
LDL and HDL
Secondary Plant Substances
Vitamins and Minerals
Phenolic Compounds
Antioxidants
Flavourings and Aromatics
Hydrocarbons
Sterols
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Essential for Life
The Latest Craze:
Counting Fat Calories and Consuming a Low-fat Diet!
The Mediterranean Diet
Olive Leaves and their Healing Effects
The Tunisian Way to love Virgin Olive Oil!
Olive Oil in Medicine and Cosmetics
Olive Oil Recipes for Health
Olive Oil Recipes for Beauty
Olive Oil Tips and Tricks
Cooking with Olive Oil
Recipes
Seasoned Oils, Aromatic Olive Oil
Curing Olives
Frying with Olive Oil
Preface
When I came to T UNISIA for the first time, I was instantly captivated by the majesty of its olive trees. How many thousand times have I yearned to sit under their shelter and feel their calm stillness? I simply could not satisfy my longings. With its olive green canopy, shining silver from below, the olive tree is emblematic of the Mediterranean landscape. Its magical beauty draws everyone who beholds it under its spell. Today, after living here for nearly twenty years, we have established a livelihood for ourselves and built our lives. Two children provide diversion, and the opportunities have become sadly few and far between when I can quietly enjoy the peacefulness of my olive trees. Yet I have not had to forsake my old love. For even in our private garden, we cannot bear to banish a single one of these old friends. And thus, every morning, the sun awakens me as its rays shine through their endless crowns…
My husband awakened a passion in me for this tree, for its fruit and its delicious and healthy oil. He was my teacher and I was able to benefit greatly from his knowledge. He has worked since childhood as a member of the third generation of his family in the olive oil business and now looks back upon 30 years of professional experience. His father, Djedidi Hassouna, was a pioneer in this industry, like my husband, with a clear vision for the future. In 1975 he installed the first modern oil press in TUNISIA, known as the continuous olive oil processing line. The first Flexitank in TUNISIA was installed in the Hassouna family oil mill and filled with extra virgin olive oil in 1996, and prepared for export.
Now my husband and I are ready for the next stage, as we now have realized a long-held dream and are managing our newly acquired 400-Hectare olive grove using strict organic farming practices. But that is not all! We believe that the future of our »Ksar Ezzit« olive grove lies in the past. So we have banned all modern vehicles, including lorries and tractors and automobiles, which must be left in a designated parking area outside the plantation. There, people who are interested in visiting the grove step into a horse-drawn carriage that is waiting for them. On our farm, horses, donkeys and camels manage the work that would otherwise be performed by tractors. No gasoline fumes spoil the clear mountain air; no motor oil pollutes the precious red earth. Here the olive trees prosper in harmony with nature. Our antique oil mill with granite blocks and a hydraulic press along with our modern oil mill with a continuous olive oil processing line guarantee the rapid and gentle preparation of the olives and make possible a transparent production process starting from harvest all the way to manufacturing the virgin olive oil. In this way, we can oversee and guarantee the organic origin of our oil down to the very last olive. In our museum devoted to the development of olive oil cultivation in TUNISIA, the guests can discover and compare how virgin olive oil was cultivated in different epochs and how it is produced today with the help of the most modern technology.
My husband has also been the source of inspiration for this book. Unfortunately, most European consumers are completely unaware that extra virgin olive oil is produced in TUNISIA and indeed, the very finest. There is no book, either in German, French or English that describes TUNISIA as an olive oil producing country in any depth or detail. Virgin olive oil from TUNISIA is virtually unknown to European consumers.
One cause for this is certainly the great failure in worldwide marketing on the part of the Tunisian authorities. In addition, since the launch of the Tunisian olive oil industry onto the international market in 1995, few brands have appeared that export extra virgin olive oil in bottles. Instead, 97 percent of Tunisian olive oil is exported in larger quantities (containers, Flexitanks or drums) and few international resellers risk labelling the place of origin of their products as TUNISIA. In addition, the sales strategies of Italian olive oil associations have been extraordinarily successful, so that most consumers immediately think of Italy when thinking about high quality olive oil. Even the newcomer olive oil products from California receive high praise, though from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective they play an insignificant role on the world market. American producers and suppliers cannot meet ever-increasing demand in their own country with California olive oil alone. They thus import olive oil by the ton each month from TUNISIA and from other traditional olive oil producing Mediterranean nations. The USA produces incomparably smaller quantities of olive oil, with 15 800 hectares in olive cultivation, than TUNISIA, which has 1 680 000 hectares. After the European Union, TUNISIA is the second largest olive oil exporting nation in the world.
In addition, as rated by professionals, virgin olive oil from TUNISIA ranks together with oil from Greece as the very finest virgin olive oil in the world. For this reason, Italian producers and wholesalers import it in large quantities as a means of improving the quality of their own olive oil by means of so-called »blending«.
I believe that the time has come for people who want to do something beneficial for their health and want to bring good taste into their kitchen to have a realiable source of information. With this book, let me awaken your curiosity about sun-drenched extra virgin olive oil from TUNISIA…
Viktoria Hassouna, TUNISIA, in June 2010
Because the designation «olive oil» is used not only to refer to the natural olive product but also − as described in detail in the chapter, «Classifications», − to refer to a blend of virgin and refined olive oils, I will consistently use the somewhat inconvenient but correct term, virgin olive oil. Many merchants have told me that due to this ambiguity in the language, clients encounter annoying misunderstandings. Anyone who is not aware of the distinction and reaches for «olive oil» in the store will inevitably be disappointed.
History and Tradition
Where does the Olive Tree come from?
From antiquity until the present day, for the past 6000 years, the olive tree has helped to shape the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. Its products have been used in everyday life in the most varied ways: table olives and olive oil as sources of nutrition and olive oil as a preservative for many foods. In addition, it was perfect for the care of floors (especially marble), leather and weaponry, and indispensable as lamp oil. Olive leaves and virgin olive oil were used as medication and also as a form of incense. Olive oil was an offering to the Gods and a funerary object as an accompaniment for the last great voyage of the dead.
The millennia-old olive tree has its origins in Asia Minor, in the eastern Mediterranean region. There, the remains of a wild olive tree have been discovered, which bore only the tiniest fruit but is considered to be the ancestor of the currently ubiquitous cultivated plant. This primitive variety grew in the enormous forests of Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Greece. A few of these thorny wild trees still grow there today as they did long ago. In Italy, fossilized olive leaves have been found that date back 6 million years. In North Africa as well, traces of olive trees have been unearthed that come from the Palaeolithic, or Old Stone Age. In France, or more precisely in Languedoc and Provence, discoveries have been made that are twenty thousand years old. Among other sites, the Aegean islands of Santorini and Nisyros are the sources of fossilized olive tree leaves that can be dated back fifty to sixty thousand years. According to palaeobotanists, these represent the leaves of wild olive trees.
In the ruins of Sbeitla, TUNISIA, the remains of a Roman oil mill bear witness to ancient times when the Romans produced olive oil at this site. The oil was placed on special boats in Sousse, from where it could be transported to Rome.
We still do not know precisely when and how the cultivated olive tree— the true olive tree, Olea europaea L. as it was christened by the renowned Swedish botanist, Carl von Linné (Linnaeus) (1707-1778)— arrived in the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. Even today, scholars disagree about the details of its dissemination and cultivation. There is general agreement, however, that the olive tree we know today stems from the plant Olea chrysophylla. At some time, thousands of years ago, the inhabitants of the Mediterranean region were no longer content to have only the haphazard, occasional wild fruit at their disposal for their nourishment. Perhaps, they were already manufacturing oil as well. Research has shown that 6000 years ago, people in the area that is now known as Syria and Palestine were already harvesting the fruit of the olive tree, whose oil was being used at the very least as a fuel for lamps and for skin care. Over time, the inhabitants of the Eastern Mediterranean began to wonder how they might organise the «production» of this fruit and most likely the production of its oil as well. They planted olive groves, and they began to improve the quality of the wild olive trees by means of different grafting techniques. After a long and fastidious cultivation process, the olive tree that we know today came into being. On the Greek island of Crete, we can still find the earliest traces of systematic cultivation of olive trees. But presumably these represented grafted trees that were brought to Greece from Asia Minor in the form of cuttings to be planted there.
The olive tree has its origins in the Eastern Mediterranean region. From there, it was disseminated around the Mediterranean area. This entire region offers an ideal climate for the growth of olive trees.
Ever since the 16th century BC, the Phoenicians propagated olive trees across the Greek islands, and between the 14th and 12th century BC across the entire Hellenic peninsula, where its cultivation became more and more widespread. But the planting of olive trees is an exhausting task, and agricultural techniques were still primitive at the time, so for a long time local olive production remained insufficient to meet demand in