Ideas for Preserving Olive Oil Infusions Needed

[Guest guest]

Hi Anya,

 

I'll present my opinions on a few of the below points.

 

> Someone wrote me, but didn't want to be quoted, so I'll paraphrase, re:

> using olive oil vs. sunflower, for example.:

>

> Sunflower oils that lasts a long time may have already had

> antioxidants/preservatives added because that practice is common, yet

> not listed on the label.

 

Yep .. including maybe hexane .. used in making some cooking oils. But

don't let that scare y'all because its the most volatile substance known

to man. It evaporates like nothing else can and it is NOT harmful.

 

> Olive oil is the most abused of all oils, and in Europe they are

> lookign at millions of dollars of fraud involving adding everything,

> includign URINE. Eewww.

 

This one has to be a rumor .. a hoax. We had similar hoaxes here about

plaster being in the Feta Cheese and Road Kill in the Pasterma (which is

a Pastramie) .. and I expect that rumor comes from some Spanish Olive

Oils that were found to have been kept in containers that had held other

substances that were semi-toxic. There was a helluva big Olive Oil Gate

investigation ongoing by the EU last year. This will continue because

of the free movement across boundaries in the EU .. nobody knows what

came from where now. All that glitters ain't gold.

 

What really happens as far as Olive Oil adulteration is mixing in a bit

of Unrefined X-Virgin Olive Oil with the cheaper Refined Olive Oil to

add back a bit of the odor and taste that was lost in refining. But

understand that the four major Olive Oil producing countries (Italy,

Spain, Turkey, Greece) have very strict laws and controls over this

precious commodity. They see it as a national treasure. Here in Turkey,

Olive Oil is cheap enough for the poor man to buy so we wouldn't be

tempted to do such things even if the government looked the other way.

 

Still, the European Community laws have opened the door for unscrupulous

dealers .. and this upsets the producers. According to EU law, Italian

dealers can put Turkish or Greek Olive Oil in bottles and sell it as

Italian Olive Oil .. and Bertolli is one of the biggest violaters of the

practice. This law reasons that Value Added .. that is, turning a raw

product into a different product (like Iranian sheep skins into Italian

belts) or increasing the value of a product by a certain percentage (the

percentage is based on the product dealt with) makes it legal to claim a

different Origin. Thus, buying a ton of Turkish or Greek Unrefined

Xtra-Virgin and rebottling in Italy allows them to claim Origin Italy.

 

This upsets Italian producers .. they know that the amount of X-Virgin

produced in Italy is less than the amount exported, plus it drives down

their prices. These guys want up to $25 a liter for some of their Olive

Oils and their particular economies support such a selling price - not

saying its worth it but its a matter of supply and demand. I won't bore

y'all further on this except to say I have a kit bag full of information

on Olive Oils and everything I've laid out here can be supported.

 

If folks want to know more about Olive Oils there is at least on list I

know of that is dedicated go that .. mostly professors, producers,

dealers, etc. I was a member for years but got what I wanted and moved

on because I was on too many lists.

 

> Olive oil has all kinds of refining processes done to it, including

> adding antioxidants without advertising it.

 

ONLY if it is refined olive oil. Even the Italians label those mixed

oils as Grade this or that and most Americans are into this Grade crap.

There are European Protocols that clearly define the names Olive Oils

can be called and what it takes to qualify for those names.

 

The Turkish government, for example, has very strict rules on labeling

Olive Oils ... the Ministery of Health, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of

Agriculture and Bureau of Standards gets involved with every sale - I'm

quite familiar with this bureaucracy as I used to export Turkish Olive

Oil in bulk. But .. because of the lenient policies of the EU, as of a

few months ago, it is prohibited to export Turkish Olive Oil in bulk.

Now, I can only export it if its bottled and labeled.

 

This might sound extreme to some but not to me. I had to stop allowing

Co-Op buys in a particular country .. used to get them for over $10,000

at a time .. because a Co-Op manager was using my company's name to sell

crap alongside my oils. Complaints were coming back on oils bought from

a particular co-op .. and they were oils I have never carried!!! Now, I

sell them direct to the wholesaler or end-user as its the only way I can

know and control what is sent and who bought what. One person has taken

away the ability of hundreds of folks to get cheaper shipping costs.

 

> Fractionated coconut oil or fractionated jojoba oil would be the oil

> of choice.

 

They have the longest shelf lives .. not sure if there would be other

reasons to use them on a grand scale. Every carrier has its own merits.

 

> www.oilsofaloha.com lists Vit c and vit e on their bottles of kuiku oil,

> truth in advertising, but the oil stinks, so perhaps and EO would be needed

> to overcome the smell.

 

As far as I know (lived in Hawaii 3 years) Kukuia has these vitamins and

many more naturally. Like me saying my Orange or Lemon Oil has Vit. C.

 

> Supposedly, most grapefruit seed extract has synthetic antioxidants in

> it, and it has not been tested on the skin, so maybe avoid?

 

No comment .. I know nothing about this.

 

> Ditto with rosemary extract -- it's an excellent anti oxidant, but

> effects on teh skin are not known.

 

No comment .. I know nothing about this.

 

> anybody have any comments on these statements -- as I wrote they are

> not my observances, just some passed on to me when I posed the

> question about shelf life of fixed oils.

 

I think there is probably more misinformation out and about on fixed

oils than there is on essential oils .. probably because nobody writes a

lot on them and there aren't many references.

 

I know little about any of them except the Olive Oils .. and a bit about

Jojoba and Fractionated Coconut as I use them .. don't use or offer the

others. But there is a big difference in Jojobas too .. ask Stacey

Miller about the problems she and a few friends were having with a

Jojoba from a real good company .. I sent them 8 ounces of mine just to

try the same test and they found totally different results.

 

Finally, I'll say that there is NO SUCH THING as an effective and SAFE

natural preservative for cosmetics and the like. There are natural

preservatives but the amount we would have to use would not allow us to

call them safe .. not practical to use therefore its not an issue. One

that comes to mind would be Origanum vulgare.

 

> Anya

> http://member.newsguy.com/~herblady

> ©

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com

 

Bulk/Wholesale/Retail GC Tested EO, Rose Otto, Hydrosols and other nice

things shipped to you from Friendsville, Maryland .. population 600.

 

PS: I tried all the things you wrote on how to make Copyright symbols.

Nothing worked. I'm using Netscape 3 .. Dinasaur Version. ;-p