Any olive oil connoisseur has probably come across various labels on the bottle. These are quite important, too. These labels can tell you a lot about the bottle you’re purchasing. 

You’ve probably read the label “cold pressed” on extra virgin olive oil bottles before. What exactly does that mean? And how does that differ from bottles labeled “first pressed”? 

Before we explore what the label on your Aceite de Oliva Virgen extra indicates, we have to understand how the production process works.

Producing olive oil requires pressing olives, and taking the juice from the olive fruit to create the oil. Depending on how the olives are pressed, the grade of the oil can change. For instance, pressing olive pulps more than once decreases its quality. This is because excess heat can take away the oil’s flavors.

Traditionally, olives were pressed into a paste. People would use large granite stones, with donkeys pulling it around to let the wheel move. Today, modern mills use fully automated metal crushers in place of their granite predecessors.

This term refers to olives being crushed and pressed only once. Oil pressed more than once is labeled “refined oil”. This is due to its exposure to chemicals which may sometimes degrade its quality. The more times the olive fruit is pressed, the fewer nutrients are present.

Cold pressed refers to the process of pressing olives without additional heat. Olives pressed at this temperature do not go above 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold pressing olive oil helps the oil retain all its nutrients as well as its flavor and aroma, allowing it to be labeled “extra virgin”, or the highest grade of olive oil.

Extra virgin olive oil is the highest grade of olive oil. In order to achieve the “extra virgin” status, the oil’s composition must not be altered in any way, retaining its purest form. This includes adjustment through heat or a mix of other substances.

Mainly, “first cold pressed” means the olive fruit had been pressed only once, with the fruits’ temperatures not being too high during the pressing process. Extra virgin olive oil is the only type of olive oil that is “first cold pressed”.

Cold pressed olive oil mainly refers to the fresh and healthy olive oil, crushed and pressed without the aid of heat. The labels won’t confuse you any longer as long as you have a trusted industrial olive oil supplier to provide you with the quality stocks of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.

The labels won’t confuse you any longer as long as you have

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