Smoke Point vs. FFA Chart in Celsius & Why Cooking With Extra Virgin is ALWAYS Better For You
Below
you will find a handy dandy chart relating specific FFA of extra virgin
olive oil to its smoke point. However, FFA as it relates to the smoke point of an extra virgin olive oil is not the end of the story. The phenols found in fresh extra virgin olive oil also protect the oil from
forming aldehydes which are more or
less toxic to our cells, whether we eat them or inhale them while cooking. Aldehydes will begin to form in any type of cooking oil as soon as it begins to oxidize as a
result of being heated up, and are increased when an oil is heated for a long duration or at very high temperatures. The phenols (antioxidants) unique to
fresh, well made extra virgin olive oil “sacrifice” themselves to this heat
oxidation thus preventing or diminishing the formation of toxic aldehydes,
which makes a strong, if not iron clad case for exclusively cooking
with high phenol, low FFA extra virgin olive oil above all other cooking oil
options available.
Beyond this, when we use high phenol olive oil for
higher heat applications, we may still be left with some phenols and of course the
flavor they impart, which does not speak strictly to the prevention of bad
compounds, but does address the sensory and health
benefit unique to fresh, well made EVOO.
The following diagram
shows the influence of FFA on the smoke point of an extra virgin olive oil. The
green band shows the smoke point range of good quality low acidity extra virgin
olive oil. The pink band shows the smoke point of lower quality high acidity
oils. In culinary terms, these real differences are huge!
