All you must know about picual olive oil

We all agree that extra virgin olive oil is one of the most beneficial olive oils for our body, but what types of extra virgin olive oil are there?

Within the varieties of extra virgin olive oil, there are different types, such as arbequina, hojiblanca or picual olive oil, wich is one of the most characteristic types of olive oil, since it has a bitter, fruity taste and usually has a slight fig tree aroma.

This type of olive oil can be used for fried foods, to dress salads, for cheeses, for meats ... Like the other types of oil, picual olive oil can be taken raw accompanied by toast or a tomato with salt.

Do you want to know more about picual olive oil? Here we tell you everything you need to know. Continue reading!

Picual olive oil features

Picual extra virgin olive oil has an acid concentration that does not exceed 1%. It has a strong fruity flavor and has an intense green color, unlike other oils that look like liquid gold.

Obtaining picual olive oil, like the rest, is obtained through mechanical systems of cold pressing and what allows its properties to be maintained completely, and that it does not have color additions.

As for the nutritional values ​​of picual olive oil, we can say that they are the most beneficial for the human being, so we must highlight the following:

- Picual olive oil has a high polyphenol content: Polyphenols are the natural antioxidants that the picual olive oil of origin has.This component also helps prevent premature aging of the skin as well as preventing the appearance of some type of degenerative disease. By having a high polyphenol content, its conservation and life is longer, that is, it takes longer to break down.

- Picual oil has a high content of oleic acid: Oleic acid is a fatty acid that is easily absorbed by our body and is always present in our Mediterranean diet. This component of picual oil is one of the cardiovascular disease prevention agents.

 - Picual olive oil has a small amount of linoleic acid: It is a type of essential acid which can only be obtained through the intake of food because our body can not synthesize it from another side. We must be careful when consuming linoleic acid, as it can damage our health.

Picual olive oil uses

Picual oil has a wide variety of uses, since it is a very versatile type of extra virgin olive oil. 

Picual olive oil has a high stability in its oxidation so it is the perfect ally for your fried foods. As it is an oil that takes a long time to break down at high temperatures, it allows to carry out several frying cycles.

It is also the perfect complete for cooking your legumes and stews of meat or fish, since it will give a touch of special flavor and different from that of another variety of olive oil.

Picual oil is considered perfect for any type of preserves, and at a domestic level, we can use it to preserve cheese or sausages.

As we said at the beginning of this post, consuming raw picual olive oil is one of the greatest delicacies that we can take to the mouth. Accompanied by toast with ham and tomato, we can enjoy a healthy breakfast and have multiple vitamins.

When the season is approaching when the heat arrives, and we want to consume more cold foods such as salads, picual oil is one of the best friends of tomato and lettuce in summer. This oil can accompany your salads and offer a bitter and fruity touch that is associated with the taste of vinegar and creates a perfect combination.

What are the benefits of picual olive oil?

As mentioned above, the consumption of picual extra virgin olive oil is good for our health, apart from having the characteristics that we mentioned above, has more benefits for people:

- The consumption of picual extra virgin olive oil will act countercurrent in the absorption of substances such as glucose and may be beneficial for all those who are diabetic to stabilize their blood glucose levels.

 - Picual olive oil promotes the absorption of liposoluble vitamins such as A, D E and K. These vitamins are those that can only be dissolved in fatty substances.

- When it comes to incorporating picual oil into our Mediterranean diet, it will help us lose weight, since we substitute unhealthy fats for healthy fats.

- It helps us to balance the pH of our body and therefore to regulate stomach acidity and the appearance of some type of gastric ulcer.

- It favors the intestinal regularity since it acts as a lubricant of the mucosa of the intestine.

These are just some of the benefits offered by picual virgin olive oil. Within the oil variety, it is one of the most characteristic.

What is the difference between a refined, virgin and extra virgin olive oil?

The main difference between these types of oil is the way of extracting the olives. In the extraction of the juice in the olive oil and in the extra virgin, the method is the same, based on the centrifugation and the pressure through which the oil is extracted naturally and without its composition undergoing any alteration. 

On the other hand, refined olive oil is obtained by mixing virgin olive oil and refined olive oil. The latter comes from all the waste left over in the previous extraction processes, so it is necessary to apply chemical components before commercializing it.

To the refined olive oil, it is usually added a part of virgin olive oil, so that its flavor is reduced. The final result is an olive oil, apparently similar to extra virgin olive oil, but which does not have all of its property because of the obtaining method that has been carried out previously. This type of soft olive oil loses all the main essence of the oil, its aroma, its flavor, its solidity, its texture ...

For this reason, although extra virgin olive oil usually has a higher cost, in the long run it is more beneficial for our health and food will not know us in the same way if we use refined oils.

Have you had any doubts about the picual olive oil or any of its varieties? If so, get in touch with us, at Olivadelsur we are specialists in extra virgin olive oil in any of its types, so we can advise you according to your palate with respect to oil. In addition, on our website you can choose to buy our products so that you can choose which one you prefer.