The Difference Between Refined And Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Chowhound

Before breaking down the numbers, it might help to quickly explain how olive oil is made. It's an old, very straightforward process: Harvest the olives, crush the olives, filter out the solids from the liquids, and then extract the vegetable water from the oil itself. That extraction determines the grade of an olive oil. To qualify as extra virgin-grade olive oil, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture,…