View Full Version : Olive Oil
How many of you take olive oil on trips.
I have never taken it but have seen where people do. I realize it is good for extra calories but what do you add it to. Seems like it would make things to oily to eat.
Also what do you store it in while bping to keep it from leaking.
Dances with Mice
06-02-2005, 19:20
How many of you take olive oil on trips.
I have never taken it but have seen where people do. I realize it is good for extra calories but what do you add it to. Seems like it would make things to oily to eat.
Also what do you store it in while bping to keep it from leaking.
"...too oily to eat". I do not understand these words. Are you speaking a foreign language?
Add it to any pasta, rice, grits, or potato based concoction. Use it as cooking oil to fry pancakes, if that's your morning thing. It won't hurt oatmeal. Stir it into peanut butter. Dip tortillas into it. Pour it over English muffins.
Store it in any plastic bottle. I use a little Sprite bottle just because I don't use little Sprite bottles for anything else.
Alligator
06-02-2005, 19:49
Dip a nice crusty loaf of bread or a bagel into it. Extra virgin. Cook hash browns in it. Mashed potatoes. Saute fresh garlic in it and throw over pasta. Very simple. Substitute into liptons or anyplace for margarine/butter.
I take it on all my long distance trips, though I wouldn't on shorter (less than 2 weeks), and I carry butter in the winter for the cold nights. Oil gets carried in a 20 oz soda bottle. I add a healthy (1/4-1/2 cup) dose to almost everything, including ramen noodles. You'll be surprised at how good mac and cheese made with olive oil tastes after a long day. If you are only putting in short days, I wouldn't bother putting it in everything.
I carry about 8 Oz on every trip. Sometimes I even put about a tablespoon of garlic powder in for a bit of extra flavor. I find tho that adding to the olive oil shortens it's shelf life some, but as 8 Oz lasts me no more than 9 days, it ain't a problem.
I too add it to almost everything, mostly for the added calories. But as I use extra virgin Olive oil, I also do it for the flavor.
Doctari.
Spent the night with Bert the Baverian from Georgia at the Graymoor Friary ball field shelter on May 25, 2000. Bert was worried about losing weight on his hike, so he carried a bottle of extra virgin olive oil in his pack. I watched him chug straight from the bottle..glug..glug..glug. He da man!
Tha Wookie
06-02-2005, 20:36
I never mess with the stuff. All you need to do is ring out your bandanda over your bowl.
Wait, I remember that the Tai Noodles packets come with a tiny little flavored oil packet. Surely those little packets are available for individual sale somewhere. Go forth thee googling!
Spent the night with Bert the Baverian from Georgia at the Graymoor Friary ball field shelter on May 25, 2000.
Bert's a nice guy. I didn't meet him on the trail, but I met him at a Mountain High Hikers meeting. These folks maintain the Duncan Ridge Trail in Georgia.
http://www.mountainhighhikers.org/
How many of you take olive oil on trips.
I find that it's too hard to get Sweet Pea a babysitter.
I find that it's too hard to get Sweet Pea a babysitter.
I was wondering how long it would take before someone would bring Popeye and friends up :jump
MedicineMan
06-02-2005, 21:47
Like Sgt Rock (i think you said this) I've got a daypack i grab each time, in it are the essentials and one of those is a 2oz bottle full of olive oil (yep you have to remember to change it out every 6-9 months)....and it can be slugged down as is, maybe not to pleasant but i've done it and its not unpleasant either, but if you were cold and shivering maybe wet too, it would be a concise calorie load that will help get you through the night a bit warmer.
I don't leave home w\o it, plus! it cures giardia no?
MedicineMan
06-02-2005, 23:25
Just a simple trail maintaineer!!!! my dad told me that the greatest among us are often the most humble. Nean you are the man with or without olive oil!
At Cost Plus World Markets they sell tiny bottles of baslamic vinegar & olive oil...drool! That stuff is soooo good!! (and reusable bottle too.....) They sell flavored olive oils also in the same small bottles. It is in the bins next to the mini Tabasco packs....
Toolshed
06-03-2005, 13:25
I've almost always carried a small bottle of olive oil with me (I use the tiny 4 oz nalgene PE bottles). Since it is a simply a fat it makes a great substitute for butter on anything - including bread - Some salt pepper, garlic flakes & parmesan and you have a great dip.
My old Italian relatives (on my mother's side), use to drink a shot glass full every day. I beleive they used to call it the fruit of life - I also think olives were civilized man's first cultivated fruits.
Since Olive Oil doesn't really go bad (it is always stored at room temp) it makes the perfect travel companion.
Since Olive Oil doesn't really go bad (it is always stored at room temp) it makes the perfect travel companion.
not doubting you but why no companies have expirations dates on the bottles?
Toolshed
06-03-2005, 13:36
not doubting you but why no companies have expirations dates on the bottles?
Sorry, I should rephrase - It might go rancid over longer periods of time, I think that over a couple of years you might lose some flavor, but over the short run you usually don't notice a decrease in flavor or texture. I beleive it is perfect for a full season of hiking the AT or PCT.
Olive oil lasts a LONG time, be sure to try to get Cold-Expeller pressed, also available in Organic...like Newmans own, a little more $$ but work the taste!
Olive oil lasts a LONG time, be sure to try to get Cold-Expeller pressed, also available in Organic...like Newmans own, a little more $$ but work the taste!
And be sure to get "Extra virgin" Better taste and it lasts longer. At least I think it lasts longer, we go thru Olive oil so fast it's rather hard to tell how long it actually lasts :D
Keep it in a airtight container, semi cool, out of direct sun & it should keep as long as you will need on the trail.
IF you are going to store for a long time (weeks?) do not add anything to it, even "clean" garlic powder has shortened the shelf life to little over a month, while the original bottle was still good several weeks after throwing the contaminated stuff away.
Doctari.
Other than it making you ill, how would you know olive oil has gone bad? I've carried a small bottle of EVOO with me for YEARS, and when it gets low I just add a little more to it. It doesn't smell bad, look bad, and hasn't made me sick. I add about a tablespoon to many trail dinners in lieu of butter, but have never taken a drink from the bottle and have never added any flavoring to the bottle--preferring to add spices, etc., directly in each meal.
The small plastic bottle where I keep my EVOO is stored inside my food bag, which is inside my pack. In other words, usually a cool, dark, dry place.
For that matter, as I am not a big Olive Oil user at home, the same 16-oz. bottle has been sitting on my counter top for years without apparent problems.
Am I just lucky, or is this typical?
generoll
06-03-2005, 20:34
i carry olive oil as a substitute for butter. anything calling for butter as a thickener can use just about any other kind of fat. i prefer olive oil.
MedicineMan
06-03-2005, 22:50
when fats/oils oxidize to a rancid state and release free radicals initially you cannot detect by smell alone and who is going to pay for testing, so the simple man rotates frequently based on the type of oil/fat stored.
one trick to increase the shelf life of stored oils/fats is to introduce the contents of a vit E capsule into the storage vessel since alpha tocopherol will neutralize many of the free radicals given off during the oxidation...thats one reason why vit E is called an anti-oxidant....that and keeping the oil store in a dark cool place are the most economical methods of storing/prolonging the life of the oil.
Then there is Crisco which has the proverbial indefinite shelf life---every crunch down on it?
Toolshed
06-04-2005, 07:50
....
one trick to increase the shelf life of stored oils/fats is to introduce the contents of a vit E capsule into the storage vessel since alpha tocopherol will neutralize many of the free radicals given off during the oxidation...thats one reason why vit E is called an anti-oxidant....that and keeping the oil store in a dark cool place are the most economical methods of storing/prolonging the life of the oil.
Does it matter if it is DL-alpha tocopherol or D-alpha tocopherol?
I almost always take a 8 ounce bottle of extra virgin olive oil with me even on overnight backpack trips - I use it anywhere that butter might be used - on grits, in liptons, spread on breads etc. One thing that I don't do however is to add anything to the oil before I use it in a meal - it is my opinion that adding anything to the oil opens the possibility for the oil going bad and may include the possibility of botulism.
Other notes: olive oil makes a passible thermometer - it freezes at about 30 deg. F and the colder it gets the lighter color the frozen oil takes on. This is another reason I only take about 8 ounces - any more and its a bit much to thaw out by sticking the bottle under your armpit. :bse
Olive oil and toilet paper make a great fire starter too - make a "cup" with the toilet paper and pour in a good shot of oil, gather the top of the cup together into a drop shaped mass, place in the fire pit under some medium sized wood (1 inch type stuff) and light the top - it burns a long time and will start even rather wet wood.
Olive oil and toilet paper make a great fire starter too - make a "cup" with the toilet paper and pour in a good shot of oil, gather the top of the cup together into a drop shaped mass, place in the fire pit under some medium sized wood (1 inch type stuff) and light the top - it burns a long time and will start even rather wet wood.
That is a GREAT piece of advice, HOI . . . always looking for ways to get more than one use out of something we're already carrying!
The only time I have ever experienced olive oil going bad was a bottle given to me by my son. It became rancid in a short time after I opened it. One will definitely know when olive oil goes bad.
Olive Oil warning and update.....
I shipped a food drop to South Mountain PA, and had mailed two packaged from HF, one with two cans of Primus fuel, and one with food ( since the fuel had to be packaged and marked specially). The fuel arrived, the food did not. Had it forwarded to Duncannon......the reason they did not arrive at the same time?
The OLIVE OIL which I had packaged came open and saturated the box, as well as much of the food inside, which was OK, but the baggies were covered in oil. This was a plastic bottle of Bertolli Extra Virgin - BEWARE OF THE DARK GREEN CAP! These caps are not the greatest seals, next time I will double bag the olive oil before shipping.
I do not have much faith in the USPS, but have to give them credit for taking the time to do a serious plastic wrapping job on the entire package before forwarding to me in Duncannon - they didn't have to go to so much trouble, and I am sure that whoever did it had oil all over their hands.
I carry it in a small four ounce heavy milk white plastic nalgene....it never turned bad during the month....however I did use it every night with dinner and refilled when possible.
HINT: If you come to a town with a deli or pizza place, you can sometimes get them to fill it for you if they're nice instead of buying a whole bottle or waiting for a resupply ;-)
badinfluence
08-30-2005, 13:14
As mentioned earlier - I use it in almost all my pasta/rice dishes. Tastes good and is a great substitute for butter.
Any dish that calls for butter - gets olive oil - works just as good.
I haven't had the pleasure of attempting a through hike yet, however, all the sections I've done - I've used the same oil - for over a year! Never went bad, tasted funny or anything of the sort.
Jonathan
I was wondering how long it would take before someone would bring Popeye and friends up :jump
always keeping things lite here @ the BIG WB!
ALSO, Spinach tastes great with a bit of virgin OO!
:D
minnesotasmith
08-30-2005, 17:53
I get a new tiny bottle of olive oil just before each trip that is longer than overnight, and give the bottle and whatever is leftover to my sister for use in her kitchen after each hike. I currently don't maintain a household, and she lives near the AT, so I usually go see her after each section hike (AFTER I get a shower!).
badinfluence
08-30-2005, 18:18
Forgot to mention, if you want to go with a good quality oil in a small bottle, sometimes you can find Colavita in small bottles - like 3 or 4 oz or so.
Great stuff.
Jonathan
Lanthar Mandragoran
08-30-2005, 21:58
Is Colavita a brand of olive oil? or another kind?
Here you go, among lots of other goodies, in individually sized packets...
http://www.minimus.biz/detail.aspx?ID=7492
i carry it in one of those plastic squirt bottles with the flip lid... coughlins brand, i think. campmor in any case... i put it in a ziplock bag, and then put that inside my cooking pot, so it doesn't get squeezed, and i've never had it leak too badly... mostly, it's just the oil that's left in the flip top opening when you close it that comes out. mostly use it to flavor my lipton noodles...
badinfluence
09-01-2005, 10:41
Is Colavita a brand of olive oil? or another kind?
Colavita is a higher quality brand of extra virgin Olive Oil.
Jonathan
Lanthar Mandragoran
09-01-2005, 15:08
Colavita is a higher quality brand of extra virgin Olive Oil.
Jonathan
Thanks, I tend to but extra virgin and us it pretty much all the time. I may look for Colavita next time I'm in the Mercantile.
Not all olive oils are the same...
Olive Oil Scandal (http://www.naturodoc.com/library/News/olive_oil_scandal.htm)
Also, it's been confirmed that olive oil deteriorates when not protected from light...
New Scientist - Olive oil's benefits left on the shelf (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18725145.300.html)
Even after just two months of exposure to light, the raised levels of peroxide caused by oil oxidation meant that the olive oil could no longer be classified as extra virgin.
I'd go to a health or natural foods store and get your oil there (read the lables).
Doug Frost
Lanthar Mandragoran
09-02-2005, 09:10
hmm... interesting... definitely want an opaque conainer... that or store it inside your bag where it stays cool and dark.
I usually buy olive oil from my local whole foods store...
dje97001
09-02-2005, 09:41
News from a couple of days ago, but I just heard this morning:
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=9522916&src=rss/healthNews
Olive Oil is now believed to help with headaches. Take it or leave it.
Thanks dje97001, for the link. I read other reports about oleocanthal in extra virgin olive oil. It's supposed to have anti-inflammatory properties that could possibly explain some of the beneficial effects of olive oil (only extra virgin has oleocanthal, apparently).
I took some extra virgin olive oil on my latest hike on the CDT (in Montana). My mistake was bringing along WAY too much - thanks for the fire starter idea, Hog On Ice, I'll use that on my next trip to get rid of any excess.
By the way, I put the olive oil in a small seltzer water bottle, and it didn't leak.
I carried butter in addition to olive oil. IMO, butter has a better flavor for some dishes.
Thanks, too, to Sly for the link to www.minimus.biz. What a great site!
minnesotasmith
09-05-2005, 08:59
All oils (cooking, mineral, etc.) are hydrocarbons (covalently bonded for those of you who took any chemistry in school), and have the potential for acting as a solvent on plastic containers. A container for any oil that is intended to be ingested would need to be both food-grade and not be subject to having its components be leached out into the oil (like the phtalates in many plastics that can act as estrogen analogs). I can easily see how most containers (other than glass or stainless steel) would tend to be one or the other, but not both.
I have never seen olive oil for sale in anything other than glass, and for the above reason personally carry olive oil for hiking in the smallest original containers I can find. I don't like the extra weight, but dislike what I perceive as a health risk from plastic even more. Now, if anyone has a source for food-grade plastic containers that certified by the manufacturer as being impervious to holding olive oil for weeks or months at a time, I'd be most interested in hearing about it.
I have a gallon of olive oil in my kitchen that came in a plastic container. I got it at Costco and I just saw some smaller plastic containers (16 oz?) of olive oil at Walmart. I hope they don't leach anything into the oil.
I plan on taking some OO with me next time out. So, I'll use one of those smaller containers instead of some soda bottle. Thanks for the info.
I have never seen olive oil for sale in anything other than glass, and for the above reason personally carry olive oil for hiking in the smallest original containers I can find. I don't like the extra weight, but dislike what I perceive as a health risk from plastic even more. Now, if anyone has a source for food-grade plastic containers that certified by the manufacturer as being impervious to holding olive oil for weeks or months at a time, I'd be most interested in hearing about it.
Use the smaller Nalgenie containers, the old style white ones, one ounce sizes and up. Nalgenie originally developed these containers to hold substances that are much more caustic or corrosive than olive oil--they've been a common sight in chemistry labs for years. They're also used in pollution and environmental testing, where maintaining sample stability is important. Dump out the excess and wash the bottle in between trips. Replace your container every two or three years. You'll be fine.
And if I may point out, the health dangers of plasticizers are largely overhyped myth, but the health dangers of being a worrywart are well documented. :eek:
Doug Frost
I have never seen olive oil for sale in anything other than glass, and for the above reason personally carry olive oil for hiking in the smallest original containers I can find. I don't like the extra weight, but dislike what I perceive as a health risk from plastic even more. Now, if anyone has a source for food-grade plastic containers that certified by the manufacturer as being impervious to holding olive oil for weeks or months at a time, I'd be most interested in hearing about it.
The olive oil in my cupboard is in a PET (polyethelene terephthalate) bottle as is the sesame oil. PET is the material used for plastic soda and water bottles. It is FDA approved for use with foods as well as pharmaceuticals, household chemicals and preservatives.
minnesotasmith
09-05-2005, 16:52
Clanky, I'd think that the original containers for a cooking oil would be safe for that oil, as the manufacturer can be presumed to probably know what he was doing when he selected that particular material. Containers used for other cooking oils are probably okay, too, as liquid oils should IMO only vary moderately WRT how they can affect containers.
I'd still want those Nalgene bottles to be food-grade as well as immune to cooking oils softening and dissolving them. Most plastics/polymer products are not FG, even if they can be made that way.
OTOH, Crisco is basically a wax, though, closer to beef tallow, lard, etc., IMO in its desirability for human consumption; it keeps in part BC it's hardly food anymore (post-hydrogenation). For that reason, I don't ever buy it.
i wonder if olive oil comes in a glass bottle and common vegetable oil comes in a plastic bottle sort of for the same or a similar reason green olives come in a glass jar and black ones come in a can... tradition or perception of value (sort of like how gucci leather purses are kept displayed behind a locked glass case, but are seldom bought by wealthy women. sort of a marketing ploy.)
i believe the coughlans/campmor food canisters are 'food grade plastic', and i know i've seen the canisters in places like Blue Ridge Mtn Sports, EMS, etc, labelled as 'food grade'...
Lanthar Mandragoran
09-06-2005, 11:13
http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/store/subcategory.asp?categorysubcategorycode=17
I'm pretty sure that:
Made with LDPE
Sturdy and reliable
Economical
FlexibleDishwasher Safe (top rack only)
Withstands temperatures from -100ºC (-148ºF) to 80ºC (176ºF)
Recommended for:
Liquids, Condiments, Dressings
means that they will be fine for olive oil...