1. Virgin Olive Oil:

Olive oil can only be called Virgin Olive Oil if it has been obtained from olives using entirely mechanical or physical processes. It is therefore a genuine fruit juice, totally natural, which conserves all the taste and aroma of the fruit from which it is extracted. As with other fruits, there are many varieties of olive, each with its own particular aroma and taste.

Virgin olive oils are made either with one variety of olive or with two or more different types. The possibility of combining oils with the different properties of different varieties of olive, allow olive oil companies to design different products in accordance with the tastes and needs of the markets, and to maintain a homogenous, stable flavour profile year after year.

Depending on a series of chemical and physical paramters, on the one hand and the quality of the aroma and taste, virgin olive oils are classified for sale in two main categories:

• Extra virgin olive oil, whose acidity is below than 0.8º with an irreproachable aroma and taste, free of all sensory defects.

• Virgin olive oil, with acidity below 2º and whose aroma and flavour may have slight organoleptic defects

Acidity if one of the parameters determining the quality of the oil from the analytical point of view. Acidity measures the amount of free fatty acids in the oil, and is expressed as a percentage of oleic acid. Therefore, if the acidity level of an oil is below one degree we are saying there is less than one gram of free fatty acids per 100 grams of oil.

The acidity of the oil tells us its condition from a molecular standpoint. However, the fact one oil has a lower level of acidity than another, for example 0.3 in comparison to another with 0.6, does not indicate. Acidity is of no relevance to the consumer, in each category, as free fatty acids are practically tasteless.

The quality of the aroma and taste of the oil is determined by tasting, using an official panel-test method recognised by the European Union.

• Lampant oils, are virgin oils not suitable for human consumption.

In some cases, because of adverse weather conditions or other factors (the poor condition of the fruit or incorrect harvesting or oil storage) virgin oils are highly acidic and have a defective colour, aroma or taste. These are called lampant oils and need to undergo a process known as refining or rectifying to correct their defects.

2. Refined olive oil:

The results of this process is a product called Refined Olive Oil. This product retains the structure of the fatty acids in olive oil, but has neither the taste nor the aroma and is very pale in colour. This type of oil is not sold as such, and is banned in the European Union.

• Olive oil, is the name given on the market, in accordance with the rules of the European Union, to combinations of refined oil with varying proportions of virgin olive oil, which give it a mild aroma, taste and colour. The maximum acidity permitted for this type of oil is 1º.

We usually find two types of olive oil on the market, which were distinguished, until recently, by their acidity (0.4º and 1º), which did not actually promote understanding among consumers; the difference between the types of oil is actually the percentage of virgin oil in the combination, which is lower in the 0.4º, around 10 or 15%, and type 1º, which has up to 40%. Nowadays the first type of known as “mild” and the second “intense”.

• Pomace oil or 'orujo' is made using the solid residue left when the olive oil has been extracted from the fruit. The pomace still contains small quantities of oil, which is extracted using chemical solvents, obtaining what is known as raw pomace oil.

This, when refined using a refining process similar to that used to obtain lampant oil, is called refined pomace oil.

The latter is combined in varying percentages in virgin oil and the combination is called olive pomace oil.