2 Tablespoons a Day of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

As spring segues into summer, we’re thinking travel, travel travel. One trip we’re planning is a week on one of the Cyclades Islands of Greece in July: a week awash, too, in Greek olive oil, although I’m not sure I can keep up with the Greek consumption—supposedly the highest in the world. We would have to send each person in Greece four cases of Bramasole Olive Oil to satisfy their demand for the year. Fortunately Greece has enough of its own olive oil—about 300, 000 tons (trust me, that’s a lot). But I was quite astounded by the amount they use—nearly one-half liter a week. Italy, on the other hand, is a little more than half that consumption—about two and a half cases of Bramasole Olive oil needed per person (Italy, fortunately, produces even more oil than Greece).

I bring this up (I won’t even go into the all-time leader in production, Spain) as a contrast to American consumption of olive oil, a measly 2 liters (four bottles of Bramasole Olive Oil) per person per year!  Italy, eighteen liters per person, Greece twenty-four liters. Well, the truth is that Italy and Greece have an olive oil culture—we do not. Americans are in the habit of getting their oil from everything but olives: corn and soybeans and palm and rapeseed (canola). The olive is after all, categorized as a fruit (single pit, like an apricot). Squeezing oil out of a fruit (15% oil) is a lot easier (that is,  less processed) than squeezing oil out of rapeseed (think chemical extraction—hexane!). 

Even the FDA urges Americans to incorporate 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil a day in their diet—that’s getting up there with the Italian, the equivalent of 12 liters a year per person. I’ll talk about polyphenols and antioxidants in another newsletter, but I think most of you know the incredible health benefits of our oil. 

Just wanted everyone to know that our award-winning extra virgin olive oil is available to be delivered to your doorstep—you don’t have to fly to Italy to get it (it’s not easy at the moment to go to Italy anyway).

Stay safe—be healthy—until next time, Saluti, Ed