EXTRA VIRGIN ECOLOGICAL OLIVE OIL
For the first time, an extra virgin olive oil in two varieties: The Mild and the Intense. It is designed by Philippe Starck and with a selection made by Michel Roland. This is the best ecological olive oil in Spain.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is really a fruit juice; in this case, the fruit is the olive.
The extraordinary uniqueness of this oil is that it is 100 % ecological oil.
Both the olives trees as well as the entire process of elaboration follow ecological and biological methods.
Originally the olives came from Ronda and their name was the Amarilla de Ronda (Yellow). Nowadays, a special reserve of this oil is conserved in a smaller bottle, with the name of Reserva de Familia, La Amarilla de Ronda.
However, with time, the oil has been transformed into LA, thanks to Philippe Starck’s design. LA Organic can be found in its cuisine cooking oil version, for adding to dishes and recipes.
However, in addition to counting on a very special design, both in the tins as well as, of tin, in the glass recipients, which imitate to a certain extent the old Chinese inkpots we used when we were children, it also relies on the special collaboration of Michel Rolland, perhaps one of the best oenologists in the world. The uniqueness of LA Organic is offered in two versions: MILD AND INTENSE.
It was perhaps the first company to realize that it is not possible to use the same Extra Virgin Olive Oil for everything. No matter how good it may be, just as for wines, it is necessary to consider one specific oil for each occasion and for each use.
This distinction of Mild and Intense can be equivalent to what is represented by Red and White in regard to wine.
In any event, LA Organic is an exceptional, fruity Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which improves any dish to which it is added.
The Mild variety is basically Arbequina.
The Intense one, in addition to Arbequina, has a little of Picual, Hojiblanca and other varieties, which make it possible to achieve increasingly better results in each new season.
1. The olive oil need not be kept cold, but it should be protected from the light, heat and humidity.
2. It does not improve with age, quite to the contrary. The oil maintains its ideal qualities during a period of one year as of its bottling date.
3. The oil should not be changed from its recipients. If necessary, in order to be able to serve it at the table, the best option is to do so in small bottles which are consumed rapidly
The Mild variety is obviously intended for dishes containing products and food, whose exceptional maximum quality should not be concealed or overwhelmed. It is simply a matter of adding some fat in order to enhance the overall flavour of the dish. Under no circumstances, should it affect the original aromas or flavours. For example: in a salad of black truffles.
To the contrary, the Intense oil is indispensable when one wishes to add not only fats but also seasoning, for aroma and flavour. For example: on bread or on a lettuce and tomato salad.
Later on, it will be necessary to distinguish as well in regard to the most appropriate wines, between those milder ones in which the sweetness predominates and the more intense ones, with the bitter and the spicy.
The olive oil possesses a profile of very healthy fatty acids, as it contains a high proportion of monounsaturated acids, basically oleic acid, and a much smaller proportion of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. This profile is very beneficial in order to regulate the cholesterol in the blood and help to increase the “good” cholesterol (HDL) and decrease the “bad” cholesterol (LDL).
It is the star culinary fat of the Mediterranean diet, synonymous with a wise and healthy diet. The extra virgin olive oil is the juice extracted from the olive using exclusively physical methods, without the addition of heat or solvents, and with low acidity. For this reason, it will assure us a greater content of tocopherols (vitamin E) and polyphenols and a greater anti-oxidant power.
By Emma Ruiz Moreno, José Manuel Ávila Torres, Teresa Valero Gaspar, Susana del Pozo de la Calle and Gregorio Varela Moreiras.Spanish Nutrition Foundation.
