Introduction of Olive Oil:Olive essential oil,Virgin Olive Oil and Refined Olive Oil.

Popular Herbs. ✵The article gives records of the herb Olive Oil, its English name, Latin name, property and flavor, its botanical source one plant species, ①.Olea europa var.europaea., with a detailed introduction to the botanical features of this plant species, the growth characteristics, and ecological environment of this plant species, the features of the herb Olive Oil, its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guide.

Olive Oil(Olive essential oil).

Olive Oil and green olive fruit English Name: Olive Oil.
 Latin Name: Olea europa var.europaea.
 Property and flavor: fragrant odor, tastes bitter.

 Brief introduction: The evergreen graceful olive tree is one of the longest-surviving species in the plant kingdom. Its bark is gnarled and deeply grooved. Both the familiar oil from the green to blue-black fruits and the coriaceous leaves have been used medicinally.

 Botanical source: Common herbal classics defined the herb Olive oil as the extracted oil of the species (1).Olea europa var.europaea. It is a plant species of the Olea L. genus, the Oleaceae family(olive family). The leaves and oil are used medicinally. This commonly used species is introduced:

(1).Olea europa var.europaea.


 Olive Oil and olive fruit Botanical description: Olive grows as a medium-high shrub or a tree up to 10 meters high. The plant has pale bark and canelike, quadrangular to round, initially downy, thorny, or thornless branches. The leaves are opposite, entire, stiff, coriaceous, narrow-elliptical to lanceolate, or cordate with thorny tips. The upper surface is dark green, glabrous, or covered with scattered scutiform hairs, the underside shimmers silver with scutiform hairs.

 The flowers are in small axillary clustered inflorescence. The calyx has 4 tips. The white corolla has a short tube and 4 lobes. The superior ovary is bilocular, with each side having 2 hanging anatropal ovules. The drupe has 1 to 2 seeds and is pulpose, plumlike, or round. The smooth drupe is initially green, then red, and finally, blue-black when ripe. The very hard stone contains oblong, compact seeds with many endosperms.

 The fruit is oval, 1.6~2.5 cm long, 1~2 cm in diameter, and blue-black when ripe. The flowering period is from April to May, and the fruiting period is from June to September.

 Ecological environment: The plant may be native to Asia Minor, and then widely planted in the Mediterranean region, with Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Morocco, and Albania as the concentrated producing areas, the plant grows in almost all the southern European countries and throughout the entire Mediterranean region as far as Iran and beyond the Caucasus. Olive trees are now cultivated in subtropical regions of the world.

 Olive Oil and olive fruit Growth characteristics: Olea europa likes hot summer with sufficient sunlight, a warm and humid environment in winter, enough low temperature and water to meet the requirements of flower bud differentiation, and weak drought tolerance. Its optimum growth temperature is 18~24 °C (Celsius, or 64.4~75.2 degrees Fahrenheit). If the temperature does not change suddenly, the general variety can endure the low temperature of -10~-8 °C (Celsius, or 14~17.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in the dormant state, and some varieties can endure -15~-12℃ °C (Celsius, or 5~10.4 degrees Fahrenheit) or even short-term severe cold of -17 °C (Celsius, or 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) but fear drastic climate change. It is not very strict on soil requirements and can grow on sandy soil, loamy soil, and clay soil, but the most suitable is neutral or slightly alkaline soil containing gravel. Planting on acidic soils requires the addition of lime. The plant does not grow well on heavy, poorly drained soils.

 Olive is a well-known tree species with a long history in the world. The Mediterranean coast has the most suitable soil and temperature, sunshine, air humidity and precipitation for the growth of olive. Except for the Mediterranean coast, other areas can only be grown sporadically in suitable areas. Olive oil is a tree of longevity. It begins to bear fruit after 4 to 5 years of planting. The fruiting period can be as long as 50 to 100 years. The fruit is a drupe or stone fruit, and the shape is very similar to the Chinese jujube. From March to June each year, the olive tree blooms and bears fruit. From July to October, the fruit begins to develop and mature, and the fruit transitions from green to red, purple, and finally black. The fruit picking season is from November to February. The physical properties of olive fruit and the chemical composition of the pulp vary depending on the variety, maturity, geography, soil texture, and how it is grown.

 Olive Oil and olive fruit History of Olive: More than 60,000 years ago, the first olive trees appeared in what is now Greece in Europe.

 8000 B.C., ancient olive oil was found in a clay pot unearthed in En Zippori, Lower Galilee, northern Israel. The olive oil residue, which dates back 8,000 years, may have been pressed from the first human-grown olive trees, according to estimates by the researchers who stumbled upon the pots. Sadly, the study did not mention any taste tests.

 In 3500 B.C., the ancient Greeks began to plant olive trees artificially, and olive tree planting gradually spread from inland to Italy, France, Spain, and other places on the north and west coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.

 In 1500 B.C., olive oil became the main economic crop in Crete, Greece, and an important part of the Knossos civilization in the Aegean Sea;

 In the 7th century B.C., the Olympic movement prevailed in Greece, and the olive branch symbolizing peace and victory became the only prize for the winner;

 In the 9th century B.C., the maritime business of the neighboring Phoenicians developed rapidly, and the olive tree species of Greece were also brought to Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and other countries on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea;

 In the 4th century B.C., the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates, the famous Greek medical scientist, discovered the important use of olive oil in the medical field. Under its influence, olive oil was no longer only used in the religious field. Instead, it has gradually become an indispensable product for people's cooking, medical treatment, beauty, etc.

 In 1503, Spanish colonists brought Greek olive tree cultivation technology to the American continent;

 In 1785, at the end of the American Revolutionary War, during the period of recuperation, missionaries planted olive trees in where is now California;

 In 1920, European immigrants brought olive oil cooking to the American table;

 According to records, the earliest human cultivation of olive trees began in Crete, Greece, with a history of thousands of years. According to some statistics, in the Bible, "Olive" appears more than 200 times.

 Olive Oil and olive fruit Classification of olive oils: The International Olive Oil Association divides olive oil into two categories: Virgin Olive Oil and Refined Olive Oil (Lampante Olive Oil), with five levels.

 Virgin olive oil, or natural olive oil, is the oil obtained directly from the fresh olive fruit after mechanical cold pressing and filtering to remove foreign matter. There are three levels of acidity:

 Extra virgin olive oil (Extra Virgin): It is the highest grade and highest quality olive oil, and it is a pure natural product. Excellent taste, with light and pleasant botanical aromas and acidity of no more than 1%.

 Fine Virgin Olive Oil: Slightly higher acidity, but not more than 2%, the taste is pure and aromatic.

 Ordinary Virgin Olive Oil: The taste and flavor are acceptable, and the acidity does not exceed 3.3%.

 Refined olive oil refers to olive oil obtained by refining virgin olive oil with an acidity of more than 3.3%, or "secondary oil". There are two grades of refined olive oil:

 Ordinary olive oil: Refined olive oil is mixed with a certain proportion of virgin olive oil to harmonize taste and color, its acidity is below 1.5%, and it is transparent and light golden yellow.

 Refined Olive-Pomace Oil: It is an olive oil obtained by extracting and refining from the oil residue by the dissolution method.

 Pharmacological actions: ①.soothe and soften the skin; ②.relieve chronic stomach conditions; ③.relieve LDL cholesterol; ④.preventing blood clots;etc.

 Olive oil soothe and soften the skin, it helps soften earwax when it is placed in the ear canal, as well as alleviate any itching or burning.

 Olive oil is used internally to treat chronic stomach conditions in some area of Europe.

 Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fats, it is beneficial in reducing the level of low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart disease, the olive oil has an antisclerotic effect by positively influencing the serum lipids.

 Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fatty acid - oleic acid, as well as vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K and antioxidants. Olive oil is considered to be the most suitable oil for human nutrition among the oils found so far. The prominent feature of olive oil is that it contains a large amount of monounsaturated fatty acids. In addition to supplying human body heat, monounsaturated fatty acids can also adjust the ratio of high and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in human plasma, increase the level of high-density lipoprotein HDL (good cholesterol) in the human body and reduce low-density lipoprotein LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, thereby preventing excess cholesterol in the body. Therefore, for those who are accustomed to eating meat foods and lead to excessive intake of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol, choosing olive oil as edible oil can effectively exert its blood lipid lowering function, thereby preventing the occurrence of hyperlipidemia, fatty liver and protect the heart and help reduce the risk of high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke and other wealthy diseases.

 Olive oil extracts may prove useful in preventing blood clots, it inhibits the aggregation of platelets and also affect other blood components.

 Emollient beauty: Women often consume olive oil, which can enhance skin elasticity and receive emollient beauty effects, Greece has an island called Crete in the Mediterranean Sea, and its residents suffer the lowest incidence from stroke, cancer, and senile dementia. The incidence of disease is the lowest in the world, almost no heart disease occurs, and the average life expectancy is long. After the World Health Organization (WHO) survey, it is believed that the island is rich in olives, and the residents always use olive oil as their daily cooking oil: Today, the most well-known healthy dietary pattern identified by nutritionists is the "Mediterranean diet", an important component of the Mediterranean diet, that is, residents eat olive oil.

 Medicinal efficacy: The pulpose olive has served as a source of culinary pleasure and precious oil for centuries. Olive oil has long been used as an emollient and topical lubricant. Olive oil is recommended by contemporary herbalists as a wound dressing for minor burns and psoriasis, insect bites, scalds, eczema, other skin irritations, to condition dry hair and an itchy scalp. In formulations, it is used to prevent and treat pregnancy-related stretch marks, to firm breasts, to function as nose drops, to soften hardened earwax, to relieve burning and itching in the ear, to smother insects invading the ear. Internally the oil is recommended for bowel diseases, intestinal colic, gallstones, and constipation as a laxative, to reduce cholesterol levels, control high blood pressure, reduce blood sugar levels to help manage diabetes, inhibit platelet aggregations and for preventing blood clots.

 In folk medicine, olive oil is used internally for cholangitis, inflammation of the gallbladder, flatulence, constipation, icterus, Roemhel syndrome, gastrointestinal ulcers and kidney stones. Externally for psoriasis, eczema, sunburn, mild burns and rheumatism, it is used as a lubricant for constipation and dry skin conditions appears plausible because of the oily characteristics.

 Administration of Olive Oil (Olive essential oil): 
 
Reference: Administration Guide of Olive Oil (Olive essential oil)
Herbal classic books: Dosage: Olive oil is consumed in moderation as part of the diet. As a laxative, it is commonly taken in dosages of 1 to 2 ounces. For a protective effect on the gastrointestinal tract, 1 tablespoon of the oil is taken in the morning. Externally, the undiluted oil is rubbed onto the affected areas.
 Contraindications, Precautions and Adverse Reactions: No significant adverse reactions have been associated with the use of olive oil preparations.

 

 
  

 

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References:
  • 1.Introduction of Olive Oil:Olive essential oil,Virgin Olive Oil and Refined Olive Oil.

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