Is Olive Oil Kosher?

In the Torah, Israel was gifted a land brimming with abundance. Part of this gift was seven types of food, including figs, wheat, barley, and olives. History preserves this storied past by showing that the first olives were pressed into oil sometime around 2500 BCE. The Israelites used this oil not only in their cuisine, but also in the holiest ceremonies. Olive oil was used in the Holy Temple alongside sacrifices, and they even used it to light the Shabbat menorah.

Today, many who practice Judaism want to know: is olive oil kosher? Is the olive oil that can be purchased on store shelves and online just as high quality as the oil used by the Israelites thousands of years ago? The short answer is yes, but modern manufacturing can complicate things. Vines & Groves uses fine olives and careful manufacturing to produce 100% kosher extra virgin olive oil.

What Does it Mean When an Oil Is Kosher?

The word “kosher” comes from the Hebrew word kashrut, a term referring to a body of Jewish dietary laws found in the Torah. In order for an oil to be considered kosher, it must meet all of the dietary laws. According to Kosher Alliance, there are a few basic rules that apply to kosher foods:

• Meat and milk products cannot be mixed in the same product.
• Products cannot contain any non-kosher animals.
• Meats must come from animals that have been properly slaughtered.

Oils generally do not contain any animal products, so these rules do not typically apply.

Is Olive Oil Kosher Today?

Prior to 1960, it was safe to assume that most commercially-produced olive oils were kosher. Until that year, olive oil was cold pressed and bottled in relatively small factories, and refinement was not necessary. Things changed in 1960 when oil manufacturers perfected their processes for extracting oils from cheap, abundant vegetables like corn and soybeans. Unlike olives, corn and soybeans do not release oil when cold pressed, which means additional processes - namely the application of heat and chemicals - were needed to turn them into cooking oils.

Corn and soybeans are kosher, but some of the additives used in manufacturing may not be. Often, the oil from these vegetables is extracted with heat or chemicals, and the crude product contains an abundance of acid that negatively impacts flavor. These crude oils are also dark and cloudy, and many have an unappealing odor. To fix these issues, chemical additives are needed. Some of these are designed to neutralize the oil’s pH, others are designed to clarify the oil, and still others are deodorizers used to remove the foul odor that crude oils can have.