I've been teaching olive oil tasting for years, and there's one question that always comes up, in the first session and from people who have been cooking with oil their whole lives: what's the difference between olive oil and extra virgin olive oil? It's not ignorance. It's that labels are written so you won't notice.
TL;DR: On the shelf, there are five types of olive oil, and only two are olive juice. Extra virgin and virgin olive oils come from the olive mill and are sold as they are. Lampante oil cannot be sold: it goes to a refinery, comes out converted into neutral fat, and is then mixed with a little virgin oil under the name "olive oil". Pomace oil is extracted from the milling residue using solvents. If the label doesn't say "extra virgin" or "virgin", it's not juice.
The short answer is that there are two families. Virgin oils are olive juice: they are obtained only by mechanical means—mill, blender, centrifuge—without a single chemical product. Processed oils go through a refinery, come out of there converted into neutral fat, and then a portion of virgin oil is added to give them back some color and aroma.
Whether an oil belongs to one family or the other is not a matter of range or brand. It's a legal classification, with numbers behind it, and it's decided in two places: a laboratory and a tasting panel. If you want the complete map of the product, you can find it in understanding olive oil.
The five types of olive oil, at a glance
| Type | What it is | How it's classified | What it's used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extra virgin olive oil | Olive juice, only by mechanical means | Maximum acidity 0.8 g/100 g and tasting panel with no defects and with fruitiness | Everything: raw, for cooking and for frying |
| Virgin olive oil | Olive juice, only by mechanical means | Maximum acidity 2 g/100 g and tasting panel with mild defects (up to 3.5) but with fruitiness | Cooking and frying; raw, the defects are noticeable |
| Lampante olive oil | Olive juice that doesn't reach virgin | Acidity above 2 g/100 g or tasting panel with more than 3.5 defects or without fruitiness | Nothing: it cannot be sold. It goes to the refinery |
| Olive oil (mild or intense) | Refined oil mixed with a proportion of virgin | Maximum acidity 1 g/100 g. Does not go through a tasting panel | Frying, if at all |
| Olive pomace oil | Fat extracted from the pomace with solvents, refined and mixed with virgin | Maximum acidity 1 g/100 g. Does not go through a tasting panel | Industrial frying |
The first two are the only ones you can call juice. The rest has gone through a chemical industry.
Virgin oils: the ones that are juice
A virgin oil is obtained by milling the olive, beating the paste, and separating the oil in a centrifuge. Nothing else. No solvents, no heat above what the standard specifies, no refining.
When the oil comes out of the decanter, it doesn't have a category yet: it has to be classified. And it's done with two tests that must both be passed both.
The first is a laboratory analysis that measures, among other parameters, free acidity and peroxides. Here it is worth clearing up the most widespread misunderstanding in the sector: acidity is not tasted. It has nothing to do with whether an oil stings or tastes strong. It's a chemical datum—how many fatty acids have been released from their molecule—and it can only be seen in a laboratory. A very spicy oil can have very low acidity, and vice versa. What that number measures exactly, how it's obtained, and why the law no longer allows it to be published alone on the label, I explain in the acidity of olive oil.
The second is the tasting panel: eight trained tasters, in separate booths, with a blue glass so as not to be influenced by the color. Each one scores the defects they find and the intensity of the fruitiness, and the group median is used. It is the only food in the world whose legal category depends on a sensory analysis. I explain it in detail in what extra virgin really means.
Extra virgin olive oil
It's the highest category. It needs an acidity equal to or less than 0.8 and, in the panel, zero defects and fruitiness above zero. That zero is what matters: not even a little bit of rancidity, not even a hint of mold, not even a memory of alpechín. Just one, however mild, and the oil ceases to be extra virgin.
Behind an extra virgin, there are always the same three things: healthy olive, harvested at the right time and milled quickly. There are no shortcuts. If you want to delve deeper into what makes it different and how to choose it, it's in EVOO: what it is, what it's used for and how to choose it.
Virgin olive oil
It's still olive juice, and that already puts it above everything refined. But the panel found defects in it: up to 3.5 median. They are usually olives that arrived damaged, that waited too long in the courtyard, or that fermented in the atrojado. The typical defects are atrojado, winey, moldy, and rancid.
It's perfectly legal and perfectly edible. But if you taste it raw, next to an extra virgin, the difference is obvious.
Lampante olive oil
It's the oil that doesn't make it. Acidity above 2, or a panel that finds more than 3.5 defects, or directly an absence of fruitiness. It cannot be bottled or sold to the consumer: the law prohibits it. Its name comes from its historical use, which was to feed oil lamps.
Lampante oil doesn't disappear. It's the raw material of the next family.
The types of olive oil, explained in one minuteProcessed oils: the ones that go through the refinery
In the refinery, lampante oil undergoes a chemical process that includes heat and soda to neutralize its defects. What comes out is a fat without smell, without flavor, and without color: technically edible, sensorially nothing. In that process, the aromas, the bitterness, the spiciness, and the polyphenols are lost, which are the natural antioxidants of the oil and the reason for almost everything that is said about its benefits.
That refined fat is also not sold alone. A proportion of virgin oil is added to it—normally virgin, not extra virgin, because it's cheaper—to give it back some aroma and color. The result is what the label calls, simply, "olive oil".
Mild and intense olive oil
Mild and intense are not qualities: they are amounts of added virgin oil. Mild has the minimum proportion, just enough to color it. Intense has a little more. Neither word is defined in the standard, so every bottler uses them as they please.
You will also see other names: "0.4°", "1°", "mild flavor". They all describe the same thing. The degrees were the old way of expressing acidity on the label, a datum that today cannot be shown alone because it is misleading, and besides—as we said—it has nothing to do with the taste.
Olive pomace oil
When milling the olive, a residue called alperujo remains: skin, pit, water, and pulp residue. Fat can still be extracted from it, but not by squeezing, but with solvents. Then it's refined and mixed, just like the previous one, with a portion of virgin oil.
It's the step furthest from olive juice. It's used mainly in catering and industrial frying.
How to read the label in three seconds
Everything above is summarized in a rule I always give in class and that never fails:
If the label doesn't say "extra virgin" or "virgin", it's not olive juice.
It doesn't matter what else it says. If you only read "olive oil", with or without surnames like mild, intense, 0.4° or "traditional flavor", you are looking at refined fat with a splash of virgin. And if the word "pomace" appears anywhere, it doesn't even come from squeezing the olive.
One more note, because it generates many doubts: within extra virgin, there are indeed legitimate variants—early harvest, monovarietal, or coupage, filtered, or unfiltered—but they are all still extra virgin. Those are style differences within the same category, not different categories.
What each type is used for in the kitchen
- Extra virgin: for everything. Raw, where what makes it special can be appreciated. And also for cooking and frying, because its antioxidants make it more stable to heat than almost any other fat. The idea that "it's a waste to fry with extra virgin" is exactly the opposite of what chemistry says.
- Virgin: for cooking and frying without a problem. Raw, the defects that the panel found will be noticeable.
- Lampante: you won't find it. It's not sold.
- Olive oil (mild or intense): it's used for frying. It provides fat and little else: no aroma, no flavor, and barely any polyphenols.
- Pomace oil: it withstands repeated frying well, which is exactly why it's used in catering.
The problem with this naming system
After years of explaining this, my conclusion is that the naming system does not help the consumer: it confuses them. And I think it's no coincidence.
Calling a refined fat simply "olive oil", using exactly the same three words that give the name to the entire category, guarantees that most people will believe they are buying a more economical version of the same product. It is not. It's another product, made from an oil that could not be sold.
And there is the second problem: the price. "Olive oil" is cheaper precisely because it comes from defective oils. So the system pushes the buyer towards the lowest quality product just when they think they are making a sensible purchase.
The proof is within anyone's reach. Put in two glasses an intense refined oil and a decent extra virgin, smell them one after the other and you'll see that you don't need to be a taster to know which of the two was fruit.
Frequently asked questions
How many types of olive oil are there?
Five. Three come from the olive mill—extra virgin, virgin, and lampante—and they are olive juice obtained only by mechanical means. The other two go through a refinery: the one the label simply calls "olive oil", which is refined fat mixed with a portion of virgin, and olive pomace oil, extracted with solvents from the milling residue. Of the five, only extra virgin and virgin reach the consumer as they came out of the olive.
How do I know, by looking at the label, if an oil is olive juice?
If the label doesn't say "extra virgin" or "virgin", it's not juice. It doesn't matter what else it says: "olive oil" simply, "mild", "intense", "0.4°" or "traditional flavor" all describe the same thing, refined fat with a splash of added virgin. And if the word "pomace" appears anywhere on the container, that oil doesn't even come from squeezing the olive.
What's the difference between mild and intense olive oil?
They are not different qualities: they are different amounts of virgin oil added to the same refined fat. Mild has the minimum proportion, just enough to give it some color; intense has a little more. Neither word is defined in the standard, so every bottler uses them as they please. In both cases the base is the same.
Is the acidity of olive oil noticeable when tasting it?
No. It's the most widespread misunderstanding in the sector. Acidity is a chemical datum—how many free fatty acids have been released from their molecule—and it can only be measured in a laboratory. It has nothing to do with whether an oil stings, is bitter, or tastes strong: a very spicy oil can have very low acidity. The old "0.4°" or "1°" on labels expressed that acidity, and today that datum cannot be shown alone precisely because it is misleading.
Can you fry with extra virgin olive oil?
Yes, and besides, it's the best option. Its natural antioxidants make it more stable to heat than almost any other cooking fat, so it withstands frying better and degrades more slowly. The idea that frying with extra virgin is a waste goes exactly against what chemistry says: what is wasted are the aromas, not the properties.
What is olive pomace oil?
When milling the olive, a residue called alperujo remains, formed by skin, pit, water, and pulp residue. Fat can still be extracted from it, but not by squeezing: it's extracted with solvents, then refined, and finally mixed with a portion of virgin oil. It's the product furthest from olive juice and is used mainly in catering and industrial frying.
How is it determined if an oil is extra virgin, virgin, or lampante?
With two tests that must both be passed. First, a laboratory analysis that measures free acidity, peroxides, and other chemical parameters. Then an official tasting panel: eight trained tasters, in separate booths and with a blue glass so as not to be influenced by the color, score the defects and the intensity of the fruitiness, and the group median is used. Extra virgin needs a maximum acidity of 0.8 and zero defects; virgin, up to 2 acidity and 3.5 defects; if it doesn't reach that, it's lampante and goes to the refinery.