Olive oil: composition and health benefits

The production of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) in Spain is very high, it reached 1 million tonnes in the last olive oil campaign, with over two million hectares planted with olive trees. This crop is distributed in over six different bioclimatic zones and with more than 100 cultivars, many of them native from a pomological point of view. Among the olive areas of Spain, Andalusia, Extremadura, Catalonia and Valencia stand out, next to the Central Region (Castilla-La Mancha). Each one of them is respectively dominated by Picual, Manzanilla, Arbequina and Farga cultivars alongside Cornicabra, all highly diversified. In response to this diversification of olive groves in Spain, we have studied…