EVO oil: why bitterness is a quality

There are terms that, when used with food, can lose their conventional meaning. For example, did you know that the more bitter the oil is, the better it is? This is not the case with all other foods.

Normally, bitterness is something the body moves away from. It is also the primary taste that persists the most and is localized at the back of the tongue.

Well, there are two characteristics that are important for oil: bitterness and pungency.
Bitterness is the most important and is always perceived strongly if the olives have been harvested while still green or moderately ripe, if they are brought immediately to the mill, and if they are crushed with continuous systems in the absence of oxygen.
In short, bitterness defines that unsaponifiable fraction contained in the oil that is linked to polyphenols and tannins that represent the true integrity of the product.
These are all those substances that also have antioxidant power and that qualify the oil from a nutritional point of view. This bitterness is particularly found in Umbrian oils, in those from the north, in the Tuscan Chianti leccini, in some oils from Cima di Melfi olives in Puglia, and in Sicily in the DOP Monti Iblei oils.
 

Those not used to quality oils find bitterness a negative element in oil… well, know that anything that tastes like nothing is worth nothing in the food world. And all the oils available on the market today at low prices are nothing more than lubricants for salads… completely neutral but at the same time useless for good cooking and staying healthy.