Olive oil heightens the flavour of foods, making them a lot more appetising. It is excellent with raw foods and the perfect dressing for all types of hot and cold dishes, such as soups, boiled vegetables and grilled or steamed meat or fish.

Olive oil gives mayonnaise and many other sauces a pleasant aroma. What's more, we have the choice of different varieties of extra virgin olive oil according to whether we want a more intense or milder, sweeter or more bitter and piquant tasteto suit your taste and the dish in question.

Olive oil gives mayonnaise and many other sauces a pleasant aroma. What's more, we have the choice of different varieties of extra virgin olive oil according to whether we want a more intense or milder, sweeter or more bitter and piquant taste to suit your taste and the dish in question.

Thanks to its great thermal stability, olive oil is ideal for cooking at high temperatures, including stir-fried foods, roast dishes, stews and fried foods.

The benefits of olive oil become especially evident when we fry at high temperatures, between 130 and 190 degrees centrigrade.

At this temperature, olive oil helps form a crunchy golden crust, which makes food much tastier, without reducing its nutritional value. Olive oil barely penetrates the food, making it lighter and more easily digestible.

Remember that as heated olive oil expands, it goes further. When frying it is a good idea to use recipients with high, vertical sides but with a smaller diameter, to concentrate the largest quantity of oil in the smallest surface. It is also a good idea to fry food in small batches to avoid the temperature of the oil dropping suddenly.

Olive oil is highly thermally stable and can be reused, so long as is well filtered through gauze, cotton or a suitable paper filter. Oil for frying should be kept in enamel, glazed ceramic or stainless containers to protect it from oxidation.

Olive oil has been closely linked to the cuisine of countries in the Mediterranean Basin for thousands of year, including the cooking of Spain. Nowadays, the Mediterranean diet, characterised by its high consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, cereals and legumes, fish and olive oil and low consumption of animal fasts, is considered one of the healthiest in the world.

Mediterranean-style cooking is a source of inspiration for many chefs around the world. Along with the other with other great culinary traditions, such as that of Asia, Mediterranean cuisine is ideal for fusion cooking, or a blending of styles, techniques and ingredients of different origins, as it is one of the greatest trends characterising 21st century cooking.