Your extra-virgin olive oil doesn’t need to be reserved for over-the-top meals or especially dramatic recipes. With olive oil, the extra-ness of “extra-virgin” describes the production process — any oil that’s obtained from the fruit of olive trees is an olive oil, but what differentiates an extra-virgin olive oil from a virgin olive oil, or just plain olive oil, is that EVOO is unrefined. This means it hasn’t been processed with chemicals or heat. An unrefined extra-virgin olive oil will retain high levels of oleic acid, which is what gives the oil its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, along with its rich golden color and distinctive peppery flavor.
Olive oil isn’t the only food that gets a special adjective. “Prime,” as a descriptor for beef, comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). There are eight grades of beef given by the regulatory agency, the top three of which — “prime,” “choice,” and “select” — are likely the most recognizable to American grocery shoppers. The grade is assigned based on a combination of marbling and maturity of the cow, and prime beef is the highest quality in terms of tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. (“Marbling” describes the flecks of fat within the meat that give it flavor and tenderness.)
As we move over to the dairy aisle, what makes cream “heavy,” as opposed to just cream? It has to do with fat content. Heavy cream is homogenized, meaning the fat it contains is emulsified and mixed well into the milk, giving it a thick consistency. Manufacturers add specific proportions of milk fat to the milk, and heavy cream contains no less than 36% milk fat.Take a stroll around the grocery store and you’ll find plenty of items with their own designated adjectives. These are not just for show. They usually have a backstory related to the production, farming, or regulation involved in getting that item to the shelves.
