You will notice that all the
recipes you see in Greek Fusion Cuisine are cooked with olive oil. I don’t use any other type of oil except
olive oil. On occasion, I will use
canola oil for baking.
Homer called olive oil “liquid gold.” And indeed, it is. It is heart healthy and has a distinct taste,
which makes everything you cook taste even better. Olive oil has 14g saturated fat per 100g (3.5
oz.) only second to sunflower oil, which has 11g of saturated fat per
100g. Soybean oil, which is widely used
in the US, has 16g of saturated fat (I, personally will not touch soybean oil
or anything else that comes from soy).
Any other type of oil has a higher content of saturated fat than olive
oil and sunflower oil.
Look at the conversion table below
for comparison of olive oil and any other types of oil.
Comparative properties of common cooking fats
(per 100g)
|
|||||
Total Fat
|
|||||
100g
|
11g
|
20g
|
69g
|
225 °C (437 °F)[a]
|
|
100g
|
16g
|
23g
|
58g
|
257 °C (495 °F)[a]
|
|
Olive oil
|
100g
|
14g
|
73g
|
11g
|
190 °C (374 °F)[a]
|
100g
|
15g
|
30g
|
55g
|
230 °C (446 °F)[a]
|
|
100g
|
17g
|
46g
|
32g
|
225 °C (437 °F)[a]
|
|
71g
|
23g (34%)
|
8g (11%)
|
37g (52%)
|
165 °C (329 °F)[a]
|
|
100g
|
39g
|
45g
|
11g
|
190 °C (374 °F)[a]
|
|
94g
|
52g (55%)
|
32g (34%)
|
3g (3%)
|
200°C (400°F)
|
|
81g
|
51g (63%)
|
21g (26%)
|
3g (4%)
|
150 °C (302 °F)[a]
|
|
1.
The Culinary Institute
of America (2011).The Professional Chef. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-470-42135-5.
|
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Greek Cuisine uses an abundance of
olive oil in its dishes. That includes
salads and appetizers. Extra virgin
olive oil is used on salads, due to a more apparent flavor than plain olive
oil. The extra virgin olive oil is not
as processed as the regular olive oil.
The olives have to be perfectly ripened, and are pressed only once in
order to produce the extra virgin olive oil.
You will also notice the color of the extra virgin olive oil is slightly
greener than the regular olive oil. That
distinct flavor you get from the extra virgin olive oil is great for dipping
and tastes even better in the traditional tomato village salad (horiatiki) or
any other type of salads and/or vegetables.
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Light olive oil does not mean that
it’s light in calories. It only means
that there is less olive oil and more other types of oils in the bottle, or that
the olive oil is heavily refined, thus the flavor and color is very light if none
at all. When buying olive oil, read the
labels and what the ingredients are. It
should specify that it’s 100% olive oil, or pure olive oil, or 100% extra
virgin olive oil. Some labels will
specify where the olive oil is from. The
olive oil I buy specifies the countries that’s from.
Olive oil can be stored in a cool,
dry place and should last for about 6 months (mine lasts a lot less than
that). If you store in the refrigerator
it should last for up to a year, but it will also solidify. As soon as you bring it to room temperature,
it will come back to its original liquid “gold” form.