Differences Between The Bulk Olive Oil Grades Pure, Refined And Pomace

Differences Between The Bulk Olive Oil Grades Pure, Refined And Pomace

When you decide to go olive oil shopping, the most common or the most sought after variety you will find will be extra virgin olive oil. However, other than that, there are 3 more varieties of olive oil that draws one’s attention towards them. These include pure olive oil, refined olive oil and pomace olive oil.

Since we are not here to talk about extra virgin olive oil, knowing the difference between the other three can help one make an informed decision when wanting to pick either of the three.

These three olive oils represent the different grades of olive oils and they are used differently as well. Read on to find out more about these differences.

Refined Olive Oil The main reason why refined olive oil is called refined olive oil is that it is derived from virgin olive oil using a refining process. The production of virgin olive oil is done with the help of a squeezing or spinning process. This process is done during the very first cold press of the olive fruit.

Post this process, refining of the virgin olive oil is done with the help of high heat, steam and an earthen clay process. Because the virgin oil itself isn’t very stable, the refining process helps alter that. The process ends up creating a milder and light tasting oil. This oil is refined virgin olive oil that is much more stable in nature. The issue with refining olive oil, however, is that it is said to remove a majority of the health benefits that unrefined virgin olive oil has to offer.

More often not, you will be able to find this oil labelled as either "light" or "extra light" olive oil.

Pure Olive Oil When we talk about pure olive oil, we are talking about a very particular blend. This consists of a blend of refined olive oil and extra virgin in a ratio of 85:15.

Pure olive oil happens to have a milder taste and colour when compared to extra virgin olive oil.

However, the flavour is still not as mild as that of refined olive oil.

Olive Pomace Oil Olive pomace olive oil is extracted from the pomace, i.e. the pulp made from the combination of the olive pit and squeezed olive fruit. Post the olive-picking process, the fruit is ground into a paste. This paste is then squeezed in order to get the initial oil out. The pulp that is then leftover is known as the pomace of the olive.

When extracting pomace olive oil, a solvent is added to the pomace to help with the extraction process. Post the extraction process the solvent is removed by refining the oil with the help of heat.

The Comparison Refined vs. Unrefined: All three of the oils; refined olive oil, pure olive oil and olive pomace oil, are refined using high heat and steam. This refining process ends up removing the colour and flavour from the oil. As a result, the oil that is gotten is lighter and more consistent in nature as well. They are also able to tolerate heat better than unrefined oils.

The Bottom Line: Though there might not be a lot of differences between the three oils, their basic properties do have a few differences that can help a consumer determine which oil to use when.