Spaccavento Quality food products

Historical notes on Olive Oil

Posted on 21 june 2015  •  vendita diretta, contatti

Olive oil is defined as the product of the processing of the fruit of the olive, without the addition of foreign substances or oils of other kinds. Olive farming has been practiced since ancient times in countries bordering the Mediterranean. The olive tree has origins in the Middle East,its cultivation would then be extended to Egypt and later in the territories of Ancient Greece. It was brought by the early Phoenicians and Greeks but were then the Arabs and the Romans who spread the cultivation along the fertile valleys of the two continents, up to now cover an area about 9 million hectares. The olive tree is the symbol of the Mediterranean basin and it grows in constant proximity to the coast, along the two banks of Europe and Africa. The olive tree was used for cosmetics, medicine and lighting, but its place of honor was already in the kitchen, recipes that closely matched those of our current "Mediterranean diet". Witness the legendary treaties Apicus, one of the first gastronomes of history, that already in the first century after Christ spoke about olive oil into his recipes for preserving and dressing, cook. After a long period of decline, at the end of Roman Empire and the barbarian invasions, olive cultivation, survived in monasteries, regained a prominent place in the XII century, when the oil again the star of businesses, contributing to the fortune of several states. Puglia is transformed into an immense olive grove and launch the economy of the southern lands. Today, it is mainly about 1950 years to mark the expansion in the rest of the world of the "culture" of oil, following the "discovery" of its unrivaled nutritional qualities.

Puglia, with its more than 50 million olive trees, is in first place with regard to the production of olives and olive oil, and for this we can say that it is indeed the most important Italian olive-growing region. The oil produced here is strictly extra virgin. The composition of olive oil makes it a product with organoleptic qualities ideal for a healthy diet. Olive oil, in fact, not only for flavor our foods, but especially for introducing substances in the body (oleic acid, carotene, tocopherol, vitamin E, and other phenolic compounds) which contribute to its balanced development, protection against degenerative diseases and slowing the aging process.