WHAT IS THE ACIDITY OF OLIVE OIL?

A low acidity is an indicator that all steps have been properly executed, from the olive trees in crop operations during the year that enabled healthy olives, the proper maturation and harvest the fruit, appropriate extraction and effective packing and shipping. Such is the case of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

As noted, the oil droplets, in Nature, are essentially within the cells of the pulp of olives surrounded by a protective biomembrane. If for any reason, such as attacks by pests, including flies, such as anthracnose diseases or methods used for collection and transport, this biomembrane breaks, the Olive Oil will come into contact with water and reacting this with a hydrolysis reaction , inverse of that which originated it, and therefore, the fatty acids are released in the structure of glycerides and they are, now free, responsible for the acidity of the Olive Oil.

As a note, for those who like to claim that oils with more acidity because they have more taste, fatty acids are virtually odorless and tasteless and contribute little to the smell and taste of Olive Oil. Perhaps these people like Olive Oil defective because simultaneously with the hydrolysis reaction other degradation reactions are taking place such as, for example, oxidation and fermentation of Olive Oil from olives.