Olive Oil Could Help to Reverse Heart Failure, Scientists Claim Reply

Olive oil could help reverse a patient’s heart failure “immediately”, scientists have claimed. This is excellent news for Spain, the world’s largest producer of olive oil.

The Independent.co.uk–Oleate – the fat found in the golden liquid – could help a diseased heart pump blood more effectively and use body fat as fuel, researchers at the University of Illinois have found. The most common reason a person may suffer from heart failure is when the muscle becomes damaged, including after a heart attack, through drug or alcohol abuse, and high blood pressure.

Shortness of breath, both during activity or rest; swelling of the feet, ankles, stomach and lower back; and fatigue are all symptoms of heart failure.

5,000 Years of Spanish Olive Oil History Reply

From Foods from Spain.com–Since before the Romans till the 21st century, from traditional cooking to avant garde cuisine, olive oil has been an iconic Spanish product, cherished at home and exported to other countries. Not only is it one of the world’s healthiest food products but traditionally it has also been used in cosmetics, medicine and as fuel for oil lamps. (Inferior olive oil is still referred to as “aceite lampante,” only suitable for burning.)

With origins somewhere in the Middle East some 5,000 years before Christ, olive oil made its way west to Spain via the Cretans, the Egyptians and the Phoenicians, who arrived here around 1100 BC.

Olive Oil of Andalucia, Much More Than a Condiment Reply

Photo: Francis J. Cano–Andalucia, the region comprised of Spain’s eight southernmost provinces, is the largest producer of olive oil in the world. The province of Jaén alone is home to some 150 million olive trees. It is only natural that Andalusian cuisine should be defined, like no other in the entire Mediterranean, by the rich and varied use of olive oil. In other parts of the world olive oil is a condiment; here it’s a staple food that has sustained the people of Iberia for millennia. Poured into a h0llowed-out chunk of bread it’s “un hoyo de aceite,” “an oil hole,” which has often been the only thing standing between the Spanish peasantry and famine.

Two Iconic Spanish Products–Saffron and Olive Oil Reply

Spanish Saffron, A Traditional Delicacy

Spanish saffron, the finest in the world

Did you ever ask yourself why saffron is so expensive or whether you should crush in in a mortar or steep it in wine or why the best saffron in the world is Spanish? It takes 250,000 crocus flowers to make a kilo (35 oz.) of kitchen-ready saffron. This video should clear up your ideas.