Vegetables in oil are foods present in everyone’s kitchen cupboards. Ready to use, they represent the ideal condiment to enrich dishes, such as sandwiches and salads, or to have a good appetizer in a simple and quick way.
There are various vegetables used to be put in these tasty jars: cherry tomatoes in oil, peppers in oil, turnip greens in oil and many others. Anyway, where do these delicacies that have always characterized our local cuisine come from? < h2>Preserves in oil for the winter
The preparation of vegetables in oil is an ancient practice that was handed down from family to family. These produts are born as a method for food preservation, exploiting the properties of the extra virgin olive oil. The food, completely immersed in oil, is isolated from the contact with the air and the proliferation of aerobic bacteria is inhibited, i.e. those bacteria that develop in the presence of oxygen. Thanks to this procedure, it was possible to use in the best possible way all the products of our lands and, as grandma Lucrezia would say, “nothing got wasted”. Furthermore, agricultural technologies were once less advanced and, in the event of adverse weather conditions, all crops were lost, leaving farming families without food. Preserves in oil therefore represented a fundamental supply of food to face the long winter.
EVO oil: the best oil for vegetables in oil?
Nowadays, there are many vegetables in oil on the market: but are they prepared using extra virgin olive oil as the tradition dictates? Most of these products in oil use seed oils or olive oil, but not extra virgin. Seed oil is extracted from the seeds of some vegetables (sunflower, rapeseed, peanut …) by means of a complex industrial synthesis and is subjected to the repeated action of solvents (trichlorethylene, hexane, carbon sulphide, gasoline fractions). Rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, it is subject to oxidation, easily going rancid. For this reason, vegetables in seed oil can be kept in the fridge and should be eaten within a few weeks.
The best vegetables in oil are those that contain extra virgin olive oil, like our Aria di Mare ones. In addition to the high quality compared to all other types of oil (due to its cold pressing), extra virgin olive oil has a set of properties that make it particularly suitable for food preservation. It is characterized, in fact, by a marked tendency to oxidative resistance, thanks to the presence of monounsaturated fatty acids, which guarantees excellent thermal stability. Now that you know how to distinguish a good product in oil, you just have to try our Aria di Mare preserves in oil!
