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Extravirgin Olive Oil LaudemioŽ
SOME IMPORTANT BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Forgetting for a moment the definitions provided by the law governing commercial olive oils - which classifies them ac-cording to their degree of acidity - the most important ele-ment in marketing and sale of olive oil is the fact that this is a product whose value is determined solely by the image of the firm that bottles and sells it, with no mention whatsoever of the geographical area where the olives are grown. This very serious shortcoming, which shows an almost total disre-gard for the traditional values of agriculture, has allowed even very mediocre, low production cost olive oils to con-quer large shares of the market.
But at the opposite end of the scale from these oils, there is an olive oil produced in a relatively small area whose intrin-sic value is determined not only by its exceptional dietary virtues, but also by its extraordinary organoleptic characteris-tics, making it a highly prized, precious oil, an indispensable element in any form of haute cuisine.
Because of the special environmental features of its produc-tion zone and the traditional olive growing and processing techniques, this oil has very high production costs, in no way comparable to oils manufactured and marketed by commer-cial enterprises. For oil, too, as is the case for all those prod-ucts which are both natural and exclusive, the true quality test lies in the agricultural land and the cultivation tech-niques. [more]
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Production
