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First Cold Pressed Oils The pressing of nuts and seeds to extract their precious health sustaining oils, dates back thousands of years. The Egyptian civilization used oils for eating and cooking purposes and, of course, for body care, and so did the Roman and the Greek civilization. Unrefined oils have always been the cornerstone of the Mediterranean peoples' diet. These oils were rich in nutrients and had particular individual taste, color, viscosity, and of course, unique aromas. All of this was carefully sabotaged by the industrial oil refineries who reduced all oils to the bland, colorless and flat tasting clear oils that flood the marketplace: inferior oils that are detrimental to health. However, in many places around the world, they have maintained traditional methods that produce high quality nutrient rich unrefined oils that have incredibly delicious flavor. Since 1978, in France, it has been legislated that "virgin oils" must be obtained uniquely by mechanical means and filtered naturally without any chemical treatment or operation of refining. Good unrefined oils play a fundamental role in a balanced healthy diet. For a more complete and in depth view please refer to the book: "Fats that heal, Fats that Kill" by Udo Erasmus. Because there is no standard for "first cold pressed oils" in North America, it is easy for some manufacturers to literally "pull the wool over the consumer's eyes" by blending or cutting good quality oils with inferior ones and claiming that the oil is "cold pressed". As always: "buyer beware". Guidelines for buying good healthy oils: 1. Always "first cold pressed" from a reliable producer, not a refinery. 2. Certified organic if possible. 3. Always in dark ( green, brown or blue ) glass bottles. Never in clear glass bottles. 4. Oils should taste delicious: fresh, clean, rich. Trust your taste.
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