Black bit in olive oil
Should I be concerned about a tiny black bit in my olive oil? I thought maybe something fell into it or perhaps it's a bit of olive sediment. It looks like a very tiny flake of something the size of a tiny bit of dried herb. Is that a problem? I keep thinking that anything left in oil is a bad thing food safety-wise.
Best Answer
As per your additional comment it's very probably a slice of olive skin and as high-quality olives are preserved in virgin olive oil, this will most likely not make any difference to the food safety nor taste of your product.
Having said that, without a biochemical analysis of the speck we cannot be 100% sure and it could be a speck of Black Nightshade, but the odds against that are enormous.
Though not zero...
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Quick Answer about "Black bit in olive oil"
Good quality olive oils that have minimum processing (mainly those purchased in sealed tins), will often contain fruit sediments. If you decant the oil into a bottle, the sediments gets disturbed and causes the black/brown streaks to appear. They will eventually settle at the bottom of the bottle, so no problem.Why is there black stuff in my olive oil?
These sediments are completely normal in unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oils and they are not indicative, in any case, that the olive oils are damaged. If you do not want to have these remains in your product, simply filter them with a strainer.Is it normal to have bits in olive oil?
When olive oil is placed in a cold environment, the natural waxes start to separate from the liquid, and come together in small fragments or clumps. The white stuff in olive oil might not look appetizing, but this process is natural and won't harm the flavor.How can you tell if olive oil is spoiled?
If your olive oil smells borderline and you are not sure if it has gone bad yet or not, you can taste it. Rancid olive oil tastes bitter, sour and/or stale and lacks the peppery, sharp taste of fresh olive oil.Is olive oil supposed to be black?
The color of olive oil is NOT an indicator of its quality or flavor. Color is determined by the ripeness of the olives at harvest; unripe, green olives create green-hued oil and ripe, purple-black olives produce golden-toned oil.just a little bit more olive oil
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