Due to its nutritional and therapeutic properties, extra virgin olive oil (EVO) is considered by the international scientific community to be one of the most important “nutraceutical” foods. This adjective identifies all foods whose nutritional properties have a beneficial effect on health and which are identified as “food-drugs”. The US Food and Drug Administration itself has defined extra virgin olive oil as a superfood with exceptional virtues, comparable to the effects that some synthetic drugs have on our health: it is not a coincidence that it is the basis of the Mediterranean diet, known and appreciated all over the world for its taste and its balanced calorie intake.

The peculiar properties of EVO oil are related to the composition in terms of micro and macro components.

When evaluating the quality of EVO oil, it is important to consider not only the origin of the oil and its production and cultivation methods, but also:

• The content of oleic acid, the most important component, which belongs to the group of unsaturated fatty acids, of vegetable origin: in olive oil it can vary between 55 and 83%. The production factors that influence the composition of fatty acids in olive oil are represented by the cultivation of plants and the environmental conditions, first of all the temperature, in which they are found;
• The relationship between oleic and linoleic acid, which represents a good parameter for evaluating the quality of an olive oil, as it is correlated with its oxidative stability and consequently with its persevability. Values ​​greater than or equal to seven are considered to be good indices of stability.

Numerous scientific studies have highlighted the excellent organoleptic and compositional characteristics of EVO oil produced from the cultivar called Pennulara or Nostrale di Caccuri, present in a very restricted area of ​​the province of Crotone: it has a high content of oleic acid, higher than 80%, and an optimal ratio between oleic and linoleic acid and between saturated and unsaturated.

In light of these factors, we can say that the oil we produce enhances its pharmaco-nutritional properties and represents a real concentrate of beneficial substances for the body.

In the kitchen, our organic extra virgin olive oil is a very versatile ingredient: it can be used to dress raw foods and in cooking, in preparing sauces, or combined with legumes, boiled vegetables, grilled fish and meat .

Unlike other generic oils, its molecular deformation temperature is around 200° C and at that temperature it minimally changes its fatty acid composition in a heat treatment of up to 3 hours.