Olive oil pomace

[Vikram]

Not sure where general questions on ingredients should go, so am posting this here. I needed to buy a new bottle of olive oil and as usual while I was checking out what was available in the shops I was wondering whether to be happy that we're no longer in the days you could only buy it in dubious looking tins from a pharmacist (this is India, but I'm sure was true of many other places as well) or to start moaning about the price now that the real stuff is plentifully available, and hence indispensible, but god does it blow a hole in the wallet.

And I'm not talking fancy brands at all, just standard Bertolli in its variants, plus other presumably repackaged-from-bulk brands. I am not looking for the really premium stuff, for that I'll do with oil begged from friends abroad, or that greenish Bertolli variant seems acceptable. There's suddenly some brand available that is apparently promoted by Ferran Adria, but they're all flavoured and that's not what I'm looking for. As I said, I need basic, working olive oil brand.

Today I just noticed one other type - its a Bertolli brand and is called Olive Pomace Oil and is much cheaper. As I understand it, this is made from the olive cake at the end like a sort of grappa of olive. A site found while googling suggests ominously that the oil are extracted using solvents and that no one in their right minds would consider using it. What are they exactly and are they really this dangerous?

Vikram

[divina]

It is treated with heat and chemicals.. and is probably the last of the oils that can be produced that are for human comsumption...

It is recommended for use is soap making!

I would prefere any other oil!

[bleudauvergne]

Tell me a little bit more about your circumstance. You're intriguing me.

[aidensnd2]

It's not dangerous at all. I mean it is still used for human consumption, it's jus the lowest grade of olive oil. Any other type of olive oil would be better but I don't think it's quite as terrible as perhaps you have heard.

[zora]

I think its main assets are its cheapness and that it has a higher smoke point than regular olive oil, so you can fry with it. I know people who have one can of EVOO, and one can of pomace for different cooking tasks.

But because the pomace has pretty much no discernible olive flavor, you could just as well be using veg oil or corn oil. So I don't think it's really worth buying unless you're some kind of Greek nationalist.

[foodie52]

It's disgusting.

[Jim Dixon]

Pomace oil is made from the sansa, the leftover grit after the virgin oil is extracted. It's trucked from the frantoio to a refinery that uses heat and solvents (like hexane) to crack the last fraction of oil. In the past chemical residues have been found in pomace oil.

I wouldn't eat it, but I don't eat other refined oils either.

Jim

[Fat Guy]

I buy Edda extra virgin first-cold-pressed olive oil at Teitel Bros. in the Bronx for $16.99 a gallon. That's what I use for cooking and salad dressings (assuming I'm using olive oil at all; I also rely a lot on grapeseed and other oils). I supplement that with premium olive oil brands, which I use for drizzling or dipping. But given that you can get respectable stuff at $16.99 a gallon -- a quantity that lasts me about a year -- I can't see the need to go with a cheaper olive oil. How much do you save by using flavorless crap? I'd rather see you use standard vegetable oil for applications in which flavor is irrelevant.

[balmagowry]

I buy Edda extra virgin first-cold-pressed olive oil at Teitel Bros. in the Bronx for $16.99 a gallon. That's what I use for cooking and salad dressings (assuming I'm using olive oil at all; I also rely a lot on grapeseed and other oils). I supplement that with premium olive oil brands, which I use for drizzling or dipping. But given that you can get respectable stuff at $16.99 a gallon -- a quantity that lasts me about a year -- I can't see the need to go with a cheaper olive oil. How much do you save by using flavorless crap? I'd rather see you use standard vegetable oil for applications in which flavor is irrelevant.

You can get respectable stuff for $16.99 a gallon - but you don't have to schlep literally half way round the world to get to the Bronx! In Vikram's case it'd be like going 10 miles out of the way to pay a penny less per gallon of gas (we all have parents who do that, right...? ), only much, much more so. I can't imagine it's an economical shopping trip from any part of India.

[Toliver]

A site found while googling suggests ominously that the oil are extracted using solvents and that no one in their right minds would consider using it. What are they exactly and are they really this dangerous?

There was a news story a couple years ago concerning a recall on a certain brand (can't remember the name) of pomace olive oil due to the presence of some of the solvents still left in the oil. The only reason I remember the incident is that I had never heard of pomace olive oil before and did an internet search to find out more about it.

I'm a cynic (sometimes) and when it comes to pomace olive oil, I don't trust the processing plants to get it right. If you can afford something better, I'd say pass on the pomace.