Olive Oil (Zaitoon) for Desi Cooking: Extra Virgin vs Pomace
Short answer: buy extra virgin olive oil for salads, raita drizzles and finishing, a refined or “light” olive oil if you want olive oil for tadka and everyday salan, and treat pomace oil as the cheap refined grade it is. Frying with olive oil is fine as long as it isn’t smoking. What isn’t worth it: drinking a spoon on an empty stomach as a health ritual. Here’s which bottle to pick for which job, and how it compares on price with canola and sarson.
Quick facts
- Extra virgin: cold-pressed, peppery, best raw; smoke point roughly 190 to 210 °C.
- Refined / pure / light: mild taste, higher heat tolerance, around 230 °C.
- Pomace: solvent-extracted from leftover pulp, refined; the cheapest “olive” grade.
- Calories: all grades, about 120 kcal per tablespoon, same as any oil.
- Storage: dark bottle, cool cupboard, use within a few months of opening.
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Extra virgin vs pomace vs “light”: the grades explained
An olive is a fruit. Olive oil is its juice, squeezed and separated from water, and what happens after that first squeeze (whether the oil is left alone, refined with heat, or pulled out of the leftover pulp with a solvent) decides the grade printed on the bottle.
| Grade | How it’s made | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Extra virgin | First mechanical press, no heat or chemicals, strict taste standards | Salads, dips, drizzling, gentle sautéing |
| Virgin | Pressed the same way, slightly lower taste grade | Much like extra virgin; rarely sold here |
| Pure / olive oil / light | Refined oil blended with a little virgin oil | Tadka, bhuna, shallow frying |
| Pomace | Leftover pulp extracted with solvent, then refined | Frying, bulk cooking, massage |
“Light” means light in taste and colour. Not calories. A light olive oil has exactly the same energy as extra virgin, around 120 kcal a tablespoon, which makes it one of the most misread words in the whole oil aisle and the reason plenty of dieters pour it more freely than they should.
Pomace oil isn’t dangerous; it’s refined and meets food standards where sold legally. It simply loses most of what makes extra virgin special: the grassy smell, the peppery bite at the back of the throat and the natural plant compounds (polyphenols) behind that bite. At that point you’re paying olive prices for something close to any refined oil.
Cooking with olive oil good or bad for desi food?
Good, with the right grade. The old worry that olive oil “turns toxic” when heated is overstated, because extra virgin is rich in monounsaturated fat and natural antioxidants that make it fairly stable under normal home cooking heat, including the heat of a typical tadka.
- Tadka and bhunai run at roughly 160 to 190 °C. Refined olive oil copes easily; extra virgin copes too if you don’t let it smoke.
- Deep frying pakoras and samosas works with refined or pomace oil, but it’s a costly way to fry.
- Flavour: extra virgin’s grassy, bitter note can clash with garam masala and jeera. Many cooks prefer it in salads, hummus and raita, and use a neutral oil for salan.
- The rule for every oil: if it smokes, it’s too hot. Lower the flame, and throw the oil away if it smelled burnt.
Best oil for cholesterol? That comparison, olive against canola, sarson, sunflower and ghee, is covered in cooking oil for cholesterol, so it isn’t repeated here.
Best extra virgin olive oil in Pakistan: what to check on the bottle
No brand name is recommended here, because brands change and imported stock varies by batch. Read the label. It tells you more than the price does.
- Grade words: look for “extra virgin olive oil” exactly. “Olive oil”, “pure” or “pomace” are refined grades.
- Harvest or best-before date: choose the freshest; extra virgin is at its best within about 18 months of harvest.
- Dark glass or tin: light damages olive oil. Avoid clear bottles kept under shop lights.
- Origin line: a named country (Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia) is normal; blends of “EU and non-EU oils” are common and fine.
- Size: buy what you’ll finish in two to three months once opened, usually 500 ml to 1 litre for a family.
- Price sense: extra virgin that costs about the same as canola per litre deserves a second look.
Suspect a bottle is diluted or mislabelled? The honest checks, and why the fridge test fails, are in fake olive oil and loose cooking oil. The general oil and ghee label words are in cooking oil, ghee and atta labels.
Olive oil price per litre vs canola and sarson
Exact prices move with the rupee. Ratios last longer. In Pakistan and India, extra virgin olive oil usually costs several times as much per litre as canola, sunflower or sarson (mustard) oil, and pomace sits somewhere in between.
For a family using two to three litres of oil a month, switching everything to extra virgin is a big bill for a small change. A sensible split:
- Everyday salan and daal: canola, sunflower or sarson, measured with a spoon.
- Raw and finishing: a small bottle of extra virgin for salads, chana chaat and hummus.
- Olive for cooking, if you want it: refined olive oil, not extra virgin.
Sarson oil, a traditional choice in Punjab and Bengal, has a good fat profile of its own. Don’t dismiss it. The cheapest healthy oil is the one you use less of.
Myth: a spoon of olive oil on an empty stomach fixes your health
The trend claims a tablespoon or a “shot” of extra virgin first thing in the morning cleans the liver, melts belly fat and fixes digestion. None of that holds up. Olive oil is a healthy fat inside a normal diet. On an empty stomach it’s simply 120 kcal of fat that you’d otherwise have eaten with food.
Drinking it can loosen stools and bring nausea. Worse, it can quietly add a few kilos over a year. People with gallstones may get pain after a large amount of fat. Why do people believe it? Mediterranean diets are genuinely linked with good heart health, and it’s tempting to bottle that into one spoon. The benefit comes from the whole diet, with vegetables, beans and fish, not from a morning shot.
Every oil is dense in calories, so if you have diabetes or are trying to lose weight, measure it; a switch to olive oil helps only when it replaces other fats rather than adding to them. Never change or stop a prescribed diabetes, cholesterol or blood pressure medicine because you’ve changed oils. The house lines: fasting sugar of 126 mg/dL or HbA1c of 6.5% diagnose diabetes; blood pressure of 140/90 in a clinic or about 135/85 at home needs a review, and 180/120 with symptoms is an emergency. People with gallstones should ask their doctor before eating large amounts of any fat. Never put olive oil or any other oil into a child’s ear.
Storage, rancidity and how long olive oil lasts
Olive oil doesn’t go “off” like milk, but it does go rancid. Slowly. Heat, light and air are the enemies.
- Keep it: in a closed, dark bottle in a cupboard away from the stove. The fridge isn’t needed and makes it cloudy, which is harmless.
- Once opened: use extra virgin within about two to three months for best taste.
- Rancid signs: a smell like crayons, putty or stale nuts, and a flat, greasy taste with no peppery bite. Throw it away.
- Don’t decant into a clear plastic bottle beside the chulha. That’s the fastest way to spoil it.
Olive oil for massage and hair is a separate subject, covered in roghan zaitoon and badam massage myths.
Roghan zaitoon has a long place in Unani medicine and in hadith tradition, mostly as an oil for the skin and for food. That respect is cultural and historical, described here as tradition, not a medical claim.
Surprising facts
- Olive trees can live for more than a thousand years and still bear fruit.
- The peppery tickle in your throat from good extra virgin comes from a natural compound called oleocanthal.
- Pakistan now grows olives commercially, especially in Punjab’s Potohar region and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Olive oil buying and cooking: questions answered
Which olive oil is best for cooking?
For desi tadka and salan, refined, “pure” or “light” olive oil is the practical choice: mild taste and good heat tolerance. Extra virgin can also be used for gentle cooking, but it’s expensive and its flavour suits raw use better.
Is olive oil healthy?
Yes. As part of a balanced diet, it’s mostly monounsaturated fat, and extra virgin carries natural plant compounds. It’s still about 120 kcal a tablespoon, so the amount counts.
Is olive oil safe to drink?
Not as a habit. A spoonful won’t harm most people, but it gives no special benefit on an empty stomach. It adds calories and can cause loose stools or nausea; using it on food is the better way.
Olive oil vs extra virgin olive oil: what’s the difference?
Extra virgin is mechanically pressed and unrefined, with more flavour and natural compounds. Plain “olive oil” is mostly refined oil with a little virgin added; extra virgin for raw use; plain for cooking.
Is pomace olive oil good for cooking?
It’s safe. Where it’s sold as a food oil, pomace is fine for cooking and frying, but it’s a refined oil that loses most of extra virgin’s flavour and plant compounds, so its health edge over canola or sunflower is small.
Olive oil vs mustard oil: which is better?
Both have good fat profiles. Sarson oil is traditional, cheaper and suits desi flavours; olive oil suits salads and Mediterranean dishes; using either in measured amounts matters more than which one.
Can olive oil go bad?
Yes. It turns rancid with time, heat and light, and a crayon or stale-nut smell means it’s past its best; keep it dark and cool, and finish an opened bottle within a few months.
Can you deep fry with olive oil?
Yes. Refined or pomace grades are best, as long as the oil doesn’t smoke, though it’s costly for deep frying, and reused frying oil should be thrown away once it darkens or smells.
Is olive oil good for diabetics?
It’s a reasonable choice. Olive oil doesn’t raise blood sugar, but it still carries calories, so measure it, and don’t change any diabetes medicine because of it.
Can babies eat olive oil?
Babies under 1 shouldn’t have fats such as ghee added to weaning food, and the same caution applies to extra oil. After 1, a little olive oil in family food is fine; ask your child’s doctor if unsure, and never put oil in a child’s ear.
More kitchen-first guides: Desi Remedies.