Olive oil is to be found in the finest delicatessens in the United States, on the menus of the grandest restaurants, and powering the market in natural cosmetics.

The turning point for this oil, prized by the Greeks and Romans, came in the 1990s, with studies on the so-called "French Paradox" -- that apparent contradiction between a relatively rich diet and a lower percentage of cases of cardio-vascular problems for the French, compared with figures for northern Europeans or with the United States.

Researchers explain the anomaly by a high intake of fruits and vegetables, wine and olive oil.

And scientific studies on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet reinforced this positive image for the product.

Olive oil usage spread worldwide. Olive plantations multiplied, even as far afield as Australia.

In France, where production has reached around 4,000 tonnes a year -- less than Spain's 1.2 million tonnes -- the expansion in orchards has been measured.

"We put priority the individuality of our oils, not the quantity," explains Olivier Nasles, president of AFIDOL.

In Maussane, the olive oil pressing plant Jean-Marie Cornille sticks to its traditional methods, even if it means a limit on output.

Each November, when the harvest is picked, the olives are stored in airless granaries to mature -- "a crucial stage for achieving the fruity blackness," emphasises the director of the olive oil pressing plant, Sophie Denis.

Ground and mixed by granite grindstones, the olives form a paste which is then pressed again to yield a mix of oil and water. Decanted once more, this mix gives birth to the so-called virgin oil.

Produced on such a small-scale, French olive oil retails at around nine to 10 euros a litre (12 to 14 dollars), compared with between two and two and a half euros for Spanish olive oil. To survive, the French olive-growers play up the image of their 'soil' and the 'earth' -- and hunt down fraudsters.

Even top-rated establishments are not spared.

The owner of the reputable L'Oustau de Baumaniere, a restaurant in Les Baux de Provence which holds a two-star Michelin guide rating, was ordered by a French court to pay a 15,000 euros fine in 2005 for having sold an olive oil labelled as AOC Vallee des Baux at 33.5 euros a quarter-litre -- when in fact it was oil bought in Spain at 7.5 euros a litre.

Source-AFP
LIN/P