The important thing about cooking with any Olive Oil is not to heat the oil over its smoke point. The smoke point refers to the temperature at which a cooking fat or oil begins to break down. The substance smokes or burns, and gives food an unpleasant taste and smell. Once the Olive Oil reaches it’s smoke point it also breaks down the “good fats” in the oil being the mono-unsaturated fats and poly-unsaturated fats.
The smoke point of oil varies with its quality. High quality extra virgin olive oils (with low free fatty acids) have a high smoke point. They are an excellent choice, but an expensive one. Mass produced, low quality olive oils have a much lower smoke point.
At Robert Oatley Olive Oils, we believe that extra virgin olive oil smokes roughly between 180-200 degrees Celsius.