Light, Pure and Pomace: The Lesser Olive Oils, Explained
Not every bottle marked ‘olive oil’ is the good stuff. Below extra virgin sits a whole tier of refined and processed oils — ‘pure’, ‘light’, ‘pomace’ — whose names are carefully vague. Here is exactly what they are, and when each is sensible and when it is a con.
‘Extra virgin‘ is simply the fresh juice of the olive — pressed, never refined. Everything below it on the ladder has been refined: chemically or physically stripped to remove faults, and most of the flavour and goodness along with them. None of these lower grades is poison, but knowing the ladder stops you overpaying for them or using them wrongly. The trouble is that the labels are built to blur exactly these distinctions.
| Label | What it really is | Sensible use |
|---|---|---|
| Extra virgin | Fresh pressed olive juice, unrefined | Dressing, dipping, finishing — anywhere you taste it |
| ‘Olive oil’ / ‘pure’ / ‘classic’ | Refined oil with a little virgin blended back in | Plain everyday cooking; wasted on dressings |
| ‘Light’ / ‘extra light’ | Heavily refined oil, light in flavour and colour | Neutral cooking — not a diet product |
| Pomace oil | Solvent-extracted from the leftover paste, refined | Cheap high-heat frying |
‘Pure’ and ‘classic’: the misnomer
These are refined oil with a little virgin oil blended back in for some taste and colour. They are cheaper, blander and more heat-stable — fine for plain cooking, pointless for a dressing where you actually want to taste the oil. ‘Pure’ is the great misnomer of the shelf: it is in fact the least pure of the edible grades, a processed oil dressed in a reassuring word.
‘Light’: the most misleading word in the aisle
‘Light’ and ‘extra light’ refer to flavour and colour, not calories. It is exactly as fatty and exactly as calorific as any other olive oil — every oil is pure fat. All ‘light’ means is heavily refined oil with almost nothing left to taste. Anyone buying it as a diet food has been quietly misled by a single word.
Pomace: the bottom rung
After the good oil is pressed out, the leftover paste of skins, pulp and stones — the pomace — still holds a little oil. That last fraction is pulled out with solvents and heat and then refined. It is a legitimate, cheap, high-smoke-point frying oil, and there is nothing sinister about using it as such. But it is not, in any meaningful sense, the same product as extra virgin, and it should never be priced as though it were.
The rule that keeps you honest
- Use extra virgin for anything where you taste the oil — dressing, dipping, finishing.
- Reach for a cheap refined oil only for high, hot, flavourless frying.
- Ignore ‘light’ as a diet claim — it is about taste, not calories.
- Never pay extra-virgin money for ‘pure’, ‘light’ or pomace.
The lesser olive oils: common questions
Is ‘pure olive oil’ the best kind?
No — it is the opposite. ‘Pure’ is refined oil with a little virgin blended back in, the least pure of the edible grades despite the name.
Does ‘light’ olive oil have fewer calories?
No. ‘Light’ refers to flavour and colour, not calories — it has the same fat and calories as any olive oil.
What is pomace oil?
Oil extracted with solvents and heat from the paste left after pressing, then refined. A cheap, stable frying oil, not comparable to extra virgin.
Are these lesser oils bad for you?
Not inherently. Used honestly for plain, hot cooking they are fine. The con is paying extra-virgin prices for them or buying ‘light’ as a diet food.
When should I use extra virgin instead?
Whenever you taste the oil — dressings, dips, finishing. Save refined and pomace oils for high-heat frying where flavour does not matter.
None of these oils is ‘bad’ used honestly — refined and pomace oils are cheap, neutral and stable, perfectly sensible for deep-frying where you want no flavour at all. The con is two-fold: paying extra-virgin money for them, or buying ‘light’ believing it is a diet food. Keep two bottles in the kitchen and you will never be fooled — a good extra virgin for anything you taste, and a cheap refined oil for hot, flavourless frying. The labels are hoping you will confuse the two. Don’t.
Drawn from the international olive-oil grade definitions and standard refining and pomace-extraction practice.