What lampante olive oil is, and why its price matters
Lampante is virgin olive oil that is not fit to eat as it is. It is pressed from olives in the same way as extra virgin oil, but a defect in the fruit or in its handling leaves it too acidic or with off-flavours, so it has to be refined before anyone can eat it. The name comes from the oil lamps it was once burned in.
The three virgin grades
European rules sort virgin olive oil into three grades by two tests: a laboratory measure of free acidity, and a tasting panel that scores defects and fruitiness.
| Grade | Free acidity | Tasting panel | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extra virgin | up to 0.8% | no defects, some fruitiness | sold to consumers as it is |
| Virgin | up to 2.0% | slight defects allowed (median up to 3.5) | sold as it is, or blended |
| Lampante | above 2.0% | stronger defects (median above 3.5), or no fruitiness at all | refined before it can be eaten |
How oil ends up lampante
The usual causes are in the fruit and its handling, not in the variety: olives damaged by pests or frost, fruit picked up from the ground, or olives left too long between harvest and the mill. Each lets the fruit start to break down, which raises acidity and brings off-flavours.
Lampante is not a separate product that anyone sets out to make. It is what part of every harvest becomes when conditions or handling go wrong, which is why its share of the crop changes from year to year.
What happens to it
Refineries neutralise the acidity and remove colour and smell. The result is refined olive oil, which is blended with some virgin oil and sold as "olive oil" (in the EU, labelled as composed of refined olive oils and virgin olive oils).
So lampante is not waste: it is the raw material of the oil sold simply as "olive oil".
Why its price matters to the whole trade
Lampante is the lowest grade that is still olive oil, so its price shows what the bottom of the market is worth on a given day. The gap between extra virgin and lampante shows how much buyers are paying for quality at that moment.
The gap is not fixed. It differs from one origin to another and changes through the season, so watching both prices together says more than either price alone.
| Origin | Extra virgin | Lampante | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain (Jaén) | €3.40 September 25, 2026 | €3.15 September 25, 2026 | €0.25 |
| Italy (Puglia) | €4.71 September 25, 2026 | €2.90 September 25, 2026 | €1.80 |
The same grade in other languages
Spanish and Italian: aceite de oliva lampante, olio lampante. French: huile lampante. Turkish: ham zeytinyağı, defined in the Turkish Food Codex as oil not fit for direct consumption and suitable for refining or technical use.
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2104, olive oil marketing standards (EUR-Lex)
- International Olive Council, trade standard COI/T.15/NC No 3/Rev. 20 (November 2024)
- Türk Gıda Kodeksi, Zeytinyağı ve Pirina Yağı Tebliği (2017/26), Resmî Gazete
Prices by origin and grade, every figure dated: OleaIndex prices · how they are calculated