OLIVE OIL THE SECRET OF GOOD HEALTH
NIKOS AND MARY PSILAKIS
Karmanor Under the Auspices of the Greek Academy of Taste
npsilakis@otenet.gr www.karmanor.gr
Back cover
Olive oil is believed to be responsible for the good health and longevity of those people who consume it. Medical studies conducted in Europe as well as in America show that this natural product is a shield of protection, the key to good health and vitality, a product that keeps the heart strong and offers people a very long life.
Nikos and Maria Psilakis, who have researched the Mediterranean diet and particularly the Cretan diet, published a book on olive oil in May 1999, in cooperation with the professor of Medicine, Elias Castanas.
This volume deals in detail with the history of the olive and olive oil, the results of all the medical studies and contains practical advice on the correct use of the product, along with many recipes from traditional and modern Greek cuisine.
This new publication presents the history of olive oil in brief, summarizes the results of medical studies and gives extensive information about the use of the pressed golden juice of the olive. The 130 recipes in the book (from salads to scented oils, dips, pulses, meat, fish, even sweets) constitute a full guide for those who want to learn its secrets.
The authors are founder members of the Greek Academy of taste. Nikos Psilakis has been awarded a prize by the Academy of Athens.
Section 1: Olive Oil and Its History
• Greeks have based their diet on olive products for thousands of years, with olive oil used as the fat content in food.
• The development of a civilization can be seen through the people’s diet. The identity of an area is shaped by the goods that are produced there. Wheat, wine and olive oil are the main products of Greece.
• The pressing of olives and the extraction of olive oil came when mankind had developed a higher form of civilization characterized by the development of technology.
The olive tree – 60,000 years old
Edible olives – 3500 years old!
• Excavations in Crete have uncovered olives aged 3500 years, but the olives looked fresh since they had retained their skins. People of that time not only cultivated olive trees but also scented their oil with herbs.
Olives and olive oil in ideograms
Homeric times
The olive tree and its oil in the classical period
Everyone has to plant an olive tree
• In an ancient Cretan town known as Dreros, close to today’s Aghios Nikolaos, an ancient inscription has been discovered which includes a grave oath, obliging every young man to plant at least one olive tree and to look after it until it has fully grown.
The Roman and Byzantine periods
• Roman ships transported large quantities of olive oil to areas where the olive tree was not cultivated.
• After the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 A.D., the olive became the symbol of survival for the inhabitants of many agricultural areas. Living under extremely difficult conditions, these people found a relatively easy product which could be put to many uses and so ensured their survival.
• During the Turkish occupation the olive trade was the cause of dynamic economic development in many areas. In the 18th century olive oil was exported to Marseilles, an important center for soap production.
Section 2: The Use of Olive Oil for Lighting
Section 3: The Olive and its Oil in Worship
Section 4: Olive Oil Soap
Section 5: Olive Oil as Food
• Olive oil in Greece takes the place butter has in the English diet.
• Olive oil was essential in cooking cereal crops, vegetables and pulses, as it still is in traditional Greek cuisine. The amounts of uncooked oil that were consumed were not small.
• Many sweets in ancient times and even today’s traditional ones rely on olive oil.
Section 6: The Study of the Seven Countries
Olive oil in the Cretan Diet. The Study of the Seven Countries
• Olives and olive oil play an important role in the Cretan diet. A foreign visitor has the impression that Cretan food literally floats in olive oil.
• The Cretan diet is believed to be the best example of a Mediterranean diet; Cretans have the lowest rate of heart diseases and cancer. The Cretans’ good health is thought to be due to their diet. The largest role in the Cretan diet is played by olive oil.
• Shortly after the revolution of 1821, the English traveller Robert Pashley calculated that each Cretan family consumed 350 litres of olive oil a year.
• Towards the end of the 1950s Anzel Keys organized a study of 7 countries and found that the Cretans, whose food floated in olive oil, had the best health in the world. Cancerous diseases were rare and cardiovascular diseases were almost unknown.
• A few years earlier a survey conducted by the Rockefeller Foundation observed, ‘Olives and olive oil make up a large part in the Cretan diet. A foreign visitor has the impression that Cretan food floats in oil. This product is unsparingly used in cooking. It is essential for salads, soups and vegetables’ and ‘The consumption of fat but, most importantly of all, olive oil is great. This level of olive oil consumption is characteristic of the Cretan diet, in fact, much greater than anywhere else in Greece.’
Section 7:The Consumption of Olive Oil in the Cretan Diet
• The study of the 7 countries in the 1950s showed the consumption of olive oil on Crete was extremely high in comparison to the other areas of the Mediterranean and especially in contrast to the northern countries.
• Studies by Eurostat showed consumption of olive oil at 31 liters per person annually on Crete, 25 in other Mediterranean countries and 185 grams per person per year in Germany.
Section 8: The Olive and its Oil as a Medicine
• Aelianus (3rd century AD) claimed ‘When an elephant is injured by many arrow heads, it eats olive tree flowers or oil and then whatever has hurt it can be removed. It is at once again strong.’
• Olive oil was believed to be a cure for all wounds and this knowledge continued in popular medicine for many centuries. Doctors in ancient times and in the Byzantine world mention an array of prescriptions which use olive oil as a basic ingredient. In general we could say that there were hardly any illnesses that could not be cured with olive oil.
Section 9: Olive oil as an aphrodosiac
• The saying repeated in many olive oil producing areas of Greece is ‘eat olive oil and come at night’ believing it to be an aphrodisiac while butter weakens sexual desire: ‘Eat butter and sleep tight; eat olive oil and come at night.’
Section 10: Symbolization: The Tree of Peace
Section 11: The Olive and its Oil in Ancient Mythology
Section 12: Olives as a Food
Section 13: What is Olive Oil?
Section 14: The Olive Harvest and Olive Oil Production
Section 15: Storage of Olive Oil
• Olive oil is sensitive to light oxidation and should be stored in glass bottles, dark in colour. If the bottle is transparent it should be kept in a dark place, the ideal temperature being 10-15 Celcius.
• Olive oil should not come into contact with metal, especially copper and iron as these metals speed up the process of acidic deterioration. Storage is allowed only in non-oxidising metal containers.
Olive oil qualities: Practical advice
• Olive oil grading follows international quality standards according to the method of production, the level of acidity and the basis organic characteristics.
• Greek olive oil is in general, of good quality. Cultivating methods do not use a lot of fertilizers. The main chemical treatment is spraying olive trees to combat the olive tree’s worst enemy, dacus oleae.
• Many naturally cultivating olive producers have appeared in Greece and have been recognized internationally, providing an oil rich in organic characteristics. Olive oil extraction is done under strict conditions of processing, where only mechanical pressing is permitted nor heat in the press and no other techniques are used which might affect its characteristics.
• Olive oil is easily digested; only breast milk can be absorbed more easily by the human body. The make up of fat in breast milk is similar to that in olive oil.
• Olive oil should be used instead of any other fat on the market. It is the only one produced in a natural way and keeps its characteristics in tact.
• Extra virgin olive oil is not expensive. As a valuable ally in health, it is worth much more than the price paid.
Olive oil, the secret of good health
• Research shows the great value of olive oil as a perfect food for man. Consumption of olive oil instead of other fats or oils, reduces the concentration of LDL cholesterol in the blood without decreasing the levels of HDL, the so-called ‘bad’ and ‘good’ cholesterol respectively.
• Olive oil reduces the level of triglycerides in the blood. A collection of bad cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood can block the arteries which transport oxygen to the brain and heart. In general, olive oil protects against heart diseases.
• Olive oil reduces blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic, thus decreasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
• Recent studies have shown that olive oil consumption can slow down breast cancer and other types of cancer. A balanced diet with olive oil and vegetables can reduce the appearance of cancer by 75%.
• Olive oil in conjunction with a healthy diet (vegetables, little meat etc) protects against cancer of the stomach, makes the liver work better, and helps the liver to detoxify poisonous substances.
• Olive oil assists in the maintenance of bone density and protects against osteoporosis.
• Olive oil consumption reduces the chances of the appearance of rheumatoid arthritis by 75%, especially with a balanced diet and the consumption of more fish.
• Olive oil should be included in the treatment of diabetes.
Section 16: Olive Oil in Cooking: Scented Oils
Section 17: Olive Oil in the Preservation of Food
Section 18: Sauces and Dips With Olive Oil
Section 19: Olives in Traditional Cooking
Section 20: Olive Oil in Frying
Resistant up to 250° Celsius
• Doctors and dieticians are right with their advice: Fried foods should only be cooked in olive oil. This goes against the myth that animal fats and hydrogenated oils are more resistant to heat in comparison to olive oil. Recent studies have shown that olive oil is the most suitable oil for frying because it remains stable due to its antioxidization agents, even at high temperatures.
• Animal fats do not have anti-oxidative agents, so as a result, they are oxidized very quickly, with all the harmful effects to health of those who consume them. Seed oils spoil at a temperature of 170-180 Celsius, while olive oil – extra virgin olive oil – can stand temperatures over 200 Celsius, and possibly 230-250 Celsius.
• The chemical substances contained in hydrogenated oils increase ‘bad’ cholesterol and reduce ‘good’ cholesterol levels in blood.
Fewer calories, more vitamins
• Recent studies have refuted one more myth – that fried food absorbs too much oil, becomes fattening and bad for health. Foods fried in olive oil absorb less fat in comparison to those fried in seed oils.
Can be used many times
• Olive oil can be used several times for frying, so long as we fry similar things, otherwise the quality of the taste will be affected.
Section 21: Only Olive Oil in Salads
Section 22: Olive Oil in Pulses
Section 23: Pastas and Rice With Olive oil
Section 24: Meat – Fish With Olive Oil
Section 25: Olive Oil in Pies
Section 26: Vegetables and Olive Oil
Section 27: Olive Oil in Sweets
Section 28: Measurement