Four Types of Olive Oil: Extra Virgin, Virgin, Pure & Extra Light
I’m sure you’ve heard about the incredible health benefits of olive oil (if not, I have a post in the works) and have wondered why there are so many types of olive oil. All olive oil comes from olives, so it should be pretty much the same, right? Extra Virgin, Virgin, Pure, and Extra Light olive oil are the four major types of olive oil and they differ not by the source of the oil but by the process.
If you don’t really care about what’s what, the type you really want is Extra Virgin Olive Oil. If you don’t think that’s in your budget or otherwise can’t get it (it’s everywhere), you can go with Virgin Olive oil as well. Don’t bother with Pure and Extra Light and never get the Light stuff, it’s not even really olive oil.
Extra Virgin
Extra Virgin olive oil is the premier level of olive oil and it refers to oil that comes from the first pressing or crushing of the olives. It’s extracted without using any heat or chemicals and has to have no “off” flavors. It can be a first press and, if it contains some off flavor to it, cannot be classified as extra virgin. As you handle the oil more and more, it slides down the scale.
Virgin
This is oil that comes from the second pressing of the olives.
Pure
This is oil that has a bit of processing such as filtering and refining. Often times they take refined olive oil and add a little extra virgin grade olive oil to get it better quality.
Extra Light
This is the oil that gets the most refining and processing and only has a little bit of olive flavor, hence the “extra light” grade.
Light
I didn’t call it a grade of olive oil in my above list of four because no one considers it an olive oil and it’s more a marketing concept.
(Photo by marysia)
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