Across the board, are ALL oils really that different when you compare the organic vs. the non-organic versions of them? Is organic extra virgin olive oil that different from regular extra virgin olive oil, or organic canola oil that different than regular canola oil?

The answer really depends on the type of oil and the fruit or seed used to produce it, and requires that we dive a little deeper.

People are always wanting to know about the different grades of olive oil: how they are made and what they are used for. Let's really dive in and talk about the specific grade of Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Sometimes it can seem so straight forward when you hear about organic EVOO this it's easy glance over. 

To really understand, we've outlined some basics below about Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil that you should know. 

The organic industry is continuing to grow, and organic foods are holding more and more appeal to consumers that are already buying natural or non-GMO.

There are many different reasons that consumers choose to buy organic, and they have a wide range from personal health matters to much more massive scale reasons such as ecosystem or water preservation.

Olive oil is simply the juice that comes from an olive. The olive is a fruit, grown on the olive tree. Want to know more than that? The answer to exactly how olive oil is made will depend solely on the type of olive oil, or grade, that it is.

We are going to do a fairly basic review of the grades of olive oil and how they are made. There are many ways you can learn these things whether they are visual slideshows, videos, or reading.

For an easy step-by-step review on how olive oil is made we recommend watching the slide share presentation below:

It can be hard to know exactly what you may be getting when it comes to oil. Oils are produced in multiple ways. Some are expelled using solvents like hexane, while others are expeller-pressed with a mechanical press that squeezes the oil out.

How the oil is produced isn't always clearly marked either. Sometimes it is described in the title, in full works or abbreviated form, or sometimes you might find that it is only described on the spec sheet. Worse still, some industrial suppliers make no mention of how the oil is made on any documents. It will be in your hands to make sure you ask all the right questions and receive the proper documentation.

Here at Centra Foods, we make it a point to be as clear and explicit as possible. That is why today I will explain what solvent expelling, expeller pressing and cold pressing methods all look like in detail.

How is organic extra virgin olive oil different than each of the other grades of olive oil? Today we will explain the difference between organic and regular extra virgin olive oil, as well as the difference between organic extra virgin and some of the other olive oil grades like Pure, Refined and Pomace.

There’s so much misinformation about canola oil out there. Part of the problem is that the issues people find with it are only sometimes true. To understand the full story, you have to know when the claims about canola oil are actually true and when they are false.

Today, I’ll be tackling some myths and truths about organic canola oil in particular, and how they relate to their conventional (GMO) vs. organic counterparts.

We talk a lot about the different grades of olive oil: how they’re made, what they’re used for. But, it’s been a while since we talked about Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil in particular. Sometimes, organic EVOO seems so straight forward that it’s easy to glance over.

This week, I’d like to bring it back to this classic, premium (and my personal favorite) oil. Here’s some basics about Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil that you should know.

You may be looking for or wondering where you can get organic olive pomace oil. Well, you could be looking for a long time, because it does not exist.

Why is it that you can’t get olive pomace oil as an organic oil? Well to be certified “organic” olives have to be grown in accordance to certain farming practices. And even after the olives are grown organically, the processing of the oil (getting the oil out of the olives) has to be done organically — that is, without chemicals (unless organically approved “chemicals” like salt and a few others).

What’s the difference between organic olive oil and regular, plain old olive oil? A lot more than you may think!

The key here is knowing your descriptive terms on the label (or within the oil name), and understanding which terms actually denote different quality grades. When reviewing the differences between organic oil and regular oil, it’s important to know that you’re not just comparing if the oil was grown organically or not — most often, you’re also comparing two different olive oil grades that have been produced in completely different ways.

RBD Canola Oil and RBD Soybean Oil are all based of off a set parameter — the Chicago Board of Trade, also called the Board, the CBOT or the CME Group depending on who you’re talking with. This is the baseline for pricing, so that producers and suppliers can offer standardized pricing.

But what if you’re not buying the industry standard refined, GMO canola or soybean oil? What if you need organic canola oil or organic soybean oil? Does the pricing for those oils work in the same way? We’ll fill you in.

Recently I have read a myriad of misinformation on organic canola oil on the internet. There’s also a myriad of truthful information out there, but sometimes it’s hard for the average consumer to know what is correct, because everyone — on both sides — is only trying to share the truth as they know it.

As food manufacturers, it is our duty to our customers to be able to explain the ingredients used, so if you’re using organic canola (or thinking about it) here’s how to answer one of the more common questions you’re going to get.

Or if you’re a consumer reading this, here’s the background to your burning question.

I’ve gotten this one multiple times myself: how can organic canola oil exist, if certified organic products can’t be genetically modified, and canola oil is — by its very nature — genetically modified from the rapeseed plant?

That is right where we will start, because that’s right where the first misunderstanding begins. Because canola was never actually genetically modified from rapeseed to begin with.

It’s always interesting to me to look at the natural and organic trends on a larger scale; they show the incredible power that consumers have to shape what we as food manufacturers make. It’s also amazing to me how, by acting as consumers, can shape this change through what we buy.

With this in mind, I recently ran across an infographic that I thought would be worth sharing. It outlined the timeline of the growth of the “natural” and organic food market, from the mid-90s to now. The changes are gradual at first, but clearly snowball in recent years.

The number of organic farms is on the rise — in fact, from 2014 to 2016 the number of certified organic farms has risen by 6.2% nationwide, totaling 14,979 farms. This is an increase of about 1,000 organic farms in the last couple of years.

The top five states leading in organic farmland acres are California, Montana (my home state), Wisconsin, New York and South Dakota. California leads the running with 688,000 acres, while Montana has caught up closely behind with 417,000 ares.