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Ode to Olive Oil
The Champagne of Cooking Oils
By Deborah C. Harding
Olive oil is the champagne of cooking oils. It is similar to a fine wine in that it is produced from a fruit. It is also pressed, refined and graded. Olive oil, like wine, is bottled, aged and sold at different prices per grade. Olives are actually a fruit, therefore, olive oil is a "fruit oil" and not a vegetable oil.
The Ancient Greeks
Olive oil is mentioned in Greek mythology when Athena created the olive tree as a gift for the Greeks. She planted a tree in the rocks where the Acropolis would be built and endowed the tree with properties to illuminate the darkness, cure wounds and provide nourishment. The ancient Greeks thought the olive tree to be nearly immortal. The tree grows in almost any soil, in any weather including drought -- excluding freezing climates -- and should a tree die, shoots will begin to grow from the base.
Greek athletes ritually rubbed olive oil on their bodies. It was said to give strength and youth, and was infused with flowers and herbs to produce medicines and cosmetics. The oil was a base for highly prized soaps and perfumes. Olive oil was used in lamps in temples because it burned slowly and emitted little smoke. In fact, it was used in lamps well into the 19th century.