Top 10 eco-friendly uses for olive oil
We’re all converts to olive oil and the health-giving properties it brings to our diets. But there are many more uses for the Mediterranean staple than you might think, and it can be used as a greener alternative to all kinds of everyday household products. Follow the jump for the full list.
- Shave. Olive oil can provide a closer shave when used in place of shaving cream. This reduces your ‘chemical splash’ and stops you having to use dubious chemicals on your skin.
- Shine stainless steel. Many cleaning standbys, such as ammonia, can dull and even corrode chrome and stainless steel. Olive oil, however, is a safe and effective shining agent.
- Remove eye makeup. Dab a little under the eyes and rinse off with a washcloth. Quick, easy and no parabens!
- Prevent wax from sticking to a candle holder. Rub a thin coat on the base of the holder before inserting a candle. Dripped wax should peel away easily.
- Care for your pet. Add 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon to your cat’s food to help prevent hair balls. Continue Reading »
Posted in Ecology | Environment, Health, Olive Oil by: Olives101
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what does ‘extra-virgin’ really mean?
Bee Wilson looks into the murky world of olive oil.
‘Extra-virgin’ suggests great purity. It sounds even better in Italy, land of superlatives and Madonnas: extravergine. It rolls off the tongue like a prayer. So it’s a shame that much Italian extra-virgin olive oil – perfect oil from the first pressing of olives – is anything but.
Adulterated olive oil is now the biggest agricultural fraud in the EU. Some ‘extra-virgin Italian olive oil’ is actually shipped in from Tunisia or Libya. Other times, fraudsters will take bog-standard cooking olive oil (or even lamp-grade oil not legally designated for human consumption) and dose it with green chlorophyll to make it look suitably virginal.
In January Italy brought in a law to stop the fraud – from now on olive-oil producers are obliged to state on the label where the olives were grown and pressed. Few believe this will change anything. The incentives for fraud are too great. As one oil-law enforcer told the New Yorker last year, ‘Profits were comparable to cocaine trafficking, with none of the risks.’
The rising black market in Italian extra-virgin is a sign of the world’s unstoppable love affair with the green stuff. In 2006 sales of extra-virgin olive oil in Britain reached £71 million. Some buy it for health – the mono-unsaturated fat and polyphenols believed to help our hearts. Some buy it for taste – the peppery tang of a Tuscan oil, the almondy freshness of a Ligurian. But more, I suspect, buy it for a little whiff of sophistication.
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UK: Olive groves could be new crop
Climate change could lead to more crops of olives and sunflowers being grown in Dorset, delegates at an environmental forum heard.
Around 60 people, including farmers, politicians and environmentalists, attended a meeting on climate and landscape change at Kingston Maurward College organised by Dorset’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) branch.
Environmental workshops followed keynote speeches by landscape and environmental planning expert, Professor Carys Swanwick of the University of Sheffield, and Helen Mann of the National Trust.
AONB team leader Sarah Bentley said: “Climate change was one of the big issues and how it might affect the growing of different crops that may become more viable in Dorset over time.
“It’s possible that it would become easier to grow sunflowers or olives, as one man in Devon has already done.”
She added: “The forum was an opportunity to begin thinking about the future and what it might mean for the county’s AONB.”
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Posted in Ecology | Environment, Europe | U.K, Olive Tree by: Olives101
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Italian police crack down on olive oil fraud
By Malcolm Moore,
Police in Italy have arrested 23 people and confiscated 85 farms in an operation that has exposed the scale of the country’s fraudulent olive oil trade.
More than 400 officers took part in Operation Golden Oil after an investigation discovered as many as 91 people may have been involved in passing off low quality oil, made with olives around the Mediterranean, for the finest Italian product.
Italy’s thriving fake olive oil business involves importing oil from Tunisia, Greece and Spain and re-labelling it as Italian oil.
Other ploys include labelling inferior oil as extra-virgin olive oil and claiming EU subsidies for growing olives in Italy while actually importing them from elsewhere.
Police found invoices to the EU for €6.5 million of subsidies during the raids, as well as receipts for €39 million of ‘Italian’ oil made with non-Italian olives.
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Posted in East | Central Europe, Europe | U.K, Health, Olive Oil by: Olives101
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Indo-Spanish Joint venture olive oil extraction unit proposed in Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh will welcome the proposed Indo-Spanish joint venture olive oil extraction unit establishment in the interiors of the state to give boost to the professional cash crop cultivation.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today, after discussing the JV proposal to set up olive oil extraction unit in the state, said the border areas of the state had already received the industrial units to its capacity and there was not much scope to set up more industrial units in such areas.
He said investors were being pursued to invest in the interiors of the state where similar incentives and other benefits were available beside cheap land and floating power facilities.
The state government was endeavouring to disperse industrial units to rest of the state where it had not made any presence so far, he said.
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Posted in Business, Cashmere | Around, Europe | U.K, Olive Oil by: Olives101
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