Lumps in Olive Oil?

[woof woof]

I'd never seen lumps in olive oil until recently. I thought it might be due to either exposure to heat or cold and googling tells me it's natural wax pellets forming due to exposure to cold and could clear in a warm environment or when heated. I've now seen this twice at ASDA in recent months with their own brand extra virgin olive oil and I just don't fancy it so bought clear oil from Tesco instead. I wonder why it's happening recently? Maybe supply issues due to recent issues, C19, drivers shortages or whatever or maybe it just got left in a cold lorry overnight? Who knows.

Has anyone else ever seen this and what do you think, would you or do you happily buy olive oil with floating bits of wax or maybe you even prefer it like that?

 

[Nod]

If ours gets too cold, it goes quite cloudy with the occasional waxiness. This is the oil that one of our friends in Crete gives us and is the best we've ever come across - nothing added, just cold pressed and filtered. The congealing only happens when it's in the garage (cool and dark) - it clears quite quickly when it comes inside.
I've seen bottles on the shelves that look almost like they have cotton wool suspended in the oil and that's down to the storage as well. Il Casolare seems to be the brand most affected.

 

[Tringa]

I've not heard of this before, but looking online it appears to be well known. It doesn't seem to be a problem; just the oil being too cold.

Dave

 

[woof woof]

The ones at ASDA look a bit extreme, it's not just clouding or the odd lump, it's the bottom of the bottle being covered and the lumps extending quite a way up the bottle.

I did read somewhere today that this can increase the flavour but as I'd not seen this before it looked strange and off putting. It would be interesting to try just to see if the flavour is any different compared to clear and compared to lumpy but left to clear.

I used to use quite a bit of olive oil but I've replaced a lot with sunflower oil as I watched one of those you are what you eat type shows on TV and they said that was better for you, I had thought that olive oil was "better." These days I only really use it when making pancakes.

 

[Nod]

We use almost nothing but EVOO. Close to 1/2 our luggage allowance coming back from holiday seems to be tins of it!

THIS explains the phenomenon better than I can. Perfectly natural and nothing to worry about.

 

[Sky]

Nothing wrong with that, it's perfectly normal. It'll soon melt once you warm it.

 

[woof woof]

The pictures I've seen online don't really look like the oil I've seen in ASDA. I think this one is the closest...

What are the floating bits in olive oil?

Spoiler: They don't mean that you've got a dud bottle of extra virgin.

metro.co.uk

The lumps in the ASDA branded oil are well defined and look solid and layer the bottom of the bottle and extend upwards with more floating above. I suppose the ASDA oil may just be a rather extreme case or perhaps it also depends on the makeup and contents of the oil.

 

[Nod]

Feel the bottles. If they feel properly cold (rather than just a bit cool), it's normal.

 

[JonathanRyan]

Asda's oil is cheap, right?

10 mins of Google tells me it's a good sign - it shows that it's actually olive oil Warm it up a little.

 

[woof woof]

Asda's oil is cheap, right?

10 mins of Google tells me it's a good sign - it shows that it's actually olive oil Warm it up a little.

I didn't notice a vast difference between the price in ASDA and Tesco, maybe they're par for the course for own brand label oil?

I'd never seen this before until recently and when I saw this the other day it was only the second time I'd seen it, the first being a few months ago. After Googling it I'd be more confident of buying it now. Not that I want to warm it up at all as that's just a waste of energy, if it warms up and clears on the window ledge in the sun then fair enough

The branded ones didn't seem to have any wax build up and I don't know how long the wax takes to form but I assume the wax in the ASDA bottles could have been caused by something as simple as the latest batch being stored in an unusually cool place or when it was on the road to be delivered being stuck in a lorry overnight.

Feel the bottles. If they feel properly cold (rather than just a bit cool), it's normal.

The bottles didn't feel cold at all but I suppose the shops are cooler than the average house will be so it probably wasn't getting enough warmth to change state.

 

[broc]

We accidently left a bottle of olive oil in our motorhome overnight when it was sub-zero outside, it went totally cloudy, almost grey in colour. I brought it indoors and a few hours later it was back to it's normal clear state & colour.

 

[woof woof]

We accidently left a bottle of olive oil in our motorhome overnight when it was sub-zero outside, it went totally cloudy, almost grey in colour. I brought it indoors and a few hours later it was back to it's normal clear state & colour.

Ah. That's one question answered then... Overnight will do it.

As above, maybe it just got stuck in a truck or too near the back doors in the loading bay overnight.

 

[Nod]

in the sun

NO! Sunlight won't do it any good. Just keep it somewhere relatively warm for a while - if it's comfortable for you, it'll be right for the oil. FWIW, we keep ours in the dark until it's needed then decant it into a 200ml bottle which lasts a week or 2 before needing refilling.

 

[woof woof]

NO! Sunlight won't do it any good. Just keep it somewhere relatively warm for a while - if it's comfortable for you, it'll be right for the oil. FWIW, we keep ours in the dark until it's needed then decant it into a 200ml bottle which lasts a week or 2 before needing refilling.

We're talking North Eastern England here so I don't think the "sunlight" here will cause too many problems Normally this goes in a cupboard in the kitchen.

 

[sphexx]

As said, I’m sure it’s just cold but why not take the temperature of the oil if you are worried?

 

[Nod]

We're talking North Eastern England here so I don't think the "sunlight" here will cause too many problems Normally this goes in a cupboard in the kitchen.

Even fluorescent lighting can cause it to go of fairly quickly.

 

[sphexx]

Even fluorescent lighting can cause it to go of fairly quickly.

I haven’t heard of that though not relevant to how I use/store olive oil.

However, I had a brief conversation with another shopper in a supermarket who said she always bought packets of cooked meats/salami from the back of the display because the ones at the front were exposed to the fluorescent light. I’m not at all sure she had any basis for that — and it was Aldi so I doubt the meat was there for more than 0.5sec ㋡ .

 

[Nod]

I tend to reach to the back of the shelf for all perishables - usually longer dated!

Not sure where I heard that fluorescent light was bad for olive oil - it's probably all light that does it no good.

 

[sphexx]

I tend to reach to the back of the shelf for all perishables - usually longer dated!

Not sure where I heard that fluorescent light was bad for olive oil - it's probably all light that does it no good.

Yes I doubt that as I go for long dated too, probably what sparked the conversation.

I expect UV light doesn’t improve olive oil .

 

[woof woof]

As said, I’m sure it’s just cold but why not take the temperature of the oil if you are worried?

When I spotted this in ASDA I thought it could be due to one of two things, exposure to heat or cold. Googling confirms it's because the oil has been exposed to cold and that the oil should clear once brought into a warmer room. Googling also suggests that oil with this waxy build up may be tastier and it may be interesting to try clear, waxed and waxed and then cleared to see if there's any difference in the taste.

I've only seen his twice and it did put me off and I didn't buy any but after Googling and posting here I think I would now buy oil with wax in it if there was nothing else but given the choice I think I'd still rather buy clear just so I don't have to wait for it to clear, unless I now find this all too interesting to resist

So, no. I'm not worried. I was just interested and now I know

 

[TheBigYin]

it's probably all light that does it no good.

Yep, pretty much - which is a big reason why purchases in catering quantities are generally in 5L tins rather than large plastic bottles. Dark green bottles are okay, but the supermarkets often ship the lighter Olive Oils in a plain clear plastic bottle, and I always keep those in the cupboard rather than on the worktop, just to keep them out of the sunlight.

 

[Nod]

The stuff we get given comes in small plastic Coke bottles (or similar!) so goes in the cupboard in the garage until it's needed. Mind you, so does the tinned stuff!

 

[Pixbarmy]

The same thing happens with diesel. The Russian truckers used to light a diesel soaked rag on a stick and wave it under their fuel tanks and lines on the motorway services before starting their trucks. It was eventually stopped by the motorway police as there were fuel storage tanks for the service station close by!!!!!

 

[Nod]

Pretty sure there's an anti waxing additive in UK Winter Diesel these days.

 

[Cobra]

Pretty sure there's an anti waxing additive in UK Winter Diesel these days.

It was certainly in there over 30 years ago, when I was driving fuel tankers.