Hydrogenated Olive Oil: What It Is and Why to Avoid It
If you have come across hydrogenated olive oil and wondered what it is, here is the short version: it is olive oil that has been chemically altered to make it solid and shelf-stable, and it is almost never something you want to eat. Hydrogenation takes a liquid oil and adds hydrogen to its fats, turning it firmer and more saturated. The result behaves nothing like a fresh, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil — and in food, the process has a troubled history with trans fats. This article explains what hydrogenated olive oil actually is, where you are likely to meet it, why it exists, and why, if you are after the olive oil people talk about for its flavour and its polyphenols, hydrogenated is the opposite of what you are looking for.
For our own oil, see our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil.
The Short Answer
- Hydrogenated olive oil is olive oil with hydrogen added to its fats, which turns it from a liquid into a semi-solid or solid and makes it more saturated and more stable.
- You will mostly meet it as a cosmetics ingredient — an emollient and thickener in creams, lotions, and balms — listed as "Hydrogenated Olive Oil". It is not intended for eating.
- Partial hydrogenation historically produced trans fats, which are now restricted in the UK, EU, and US because of their well-documented harm to heart health.
- Full hydrogenation does not create trans fats, but it makes the oil highly saturated and strips away the flavour and polyphenols that make olive oil worth having.
- Genuine extra virgin olive oil is the exact opposite: unprocessed, liquid, cold-pressed, and rich in the compounds hydrogenation destroys.
- If you are choosing an olive oil to cook with or finish a dish, you want cold-pressed extra virgin — never hydrogenated.
What Hydrogenation Actually Does
Olive oil is liquid at room temperature because it is mostly unsaturated fat — predominantly oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid. Hydrogenation is an industrial process that bubbles hydrogen gas through the oil in the presence of a metal catalyst, usually nickel. The hydrogen attaches to the unsaturated fats and converts them to saturated ones. As that happens, the oil firms up: it can go from a free-flowing liquid to a soft, semi-solid, or fully solid fat, depending on how far the process is taken.
The point of doing this is stability. A saturated, hydrogenated fat resists oxidation, lasts longer, and holds a solid texture — useful properties for manufacturing. But those gains come at the cost of everything that makes olive oil distinctive. The delicate flavour, the green colour, the antioxidants: none of them survive a process designed to overhaul the oil's chemistry.
The Trans Fat Problem
Hydrogenation's reputation is bound up with trans fats, and the distinction is worth getting right. Partial hydrogenation — stopping the process partway — was for decades the main dietary source of artificial trans fats, the kind strongly linked in the research to raised cardiovascular risk. The evidence became clear enough that regulators acted: artificial trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are now banned or tightly restricted in the UK, the EU, and the US.
Fully hydrogenated oil is a different case chemically: taken to completion, the process does not leave trans fats behind, producing a fully saturated fat instead. That is why "fully hydrogenated" is sometimes presented as the safer option. But "no trans fats" is a low bar. A fully hydrogenated oil is still a heavily processed, highly saturated fat with none of the qualities people seek out olive oil for. The honest framing is not "which hydrogenated oil is least bad" but "hydrogenated olive oil is not the olive oil you are thinking of".
Where You Actually Find Hydrogenated Olive Oil
Here is the part that surprises people: hydrogenated olive oil is overwhelmingly a cosmetics ingredient, not a food one. On a skincare label you will see it under its INCI name — "Hydrogenated Olive Oil", or "Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Hydrogenated" — where it works as an emollient that softens skin and as a thickener that gives creams, lotions, lip balms, and solid balms their texture and body. In that role it is doing a sensible job: it is stable, it is smooth, and it sets at the right consistency. It is formulated and tested for use on the skin, not for the plate.
So if your search for "hydrogenated olive oil" started with a product label, the context matters. In a moisturiser, it is a functional ingredient. In anything you intend to eat, it is a red flag — a sign of a processed fat standing in for the real thing.
Why the Unprocessed Oil Is the Point
Step back and the contrast is stark. Hydrogenation exists to make a fat more uniform, more stable, and more industrially convenient. Extra virgin olive oil is prized for the opposite reasons: it is alive, variable, and minimally handled. It is essentially fresh olive juice, pressed from the fruit and separated mechanically, with nothing added and nothing chemically altered. That is why it keeps its polyphenols — oleocanthal, oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol, and tyrosol — and its green, peppery flavour. The EU even recognises a registered health claim (Regulation 432/2012) for olive oil polyphenols helping protect blood lipids from oxidative stress, at a defined intake level. Those are precisely the compounds a hydrogenation process is built to override.
Put simply: every step that makes an oil hydrogenated takes it further from what people value in olive oil. If the appeal of olive oil is its freshness and its polyphenols, then the more processed the oil, the less of that appeal remains.
Why Sidr & Stone
We exist at the opposite end of the spectrum from a hydrogenated, industrially stabilised fat. Nothing about our oil is engineered for shelf life at the expense of what is in the bottle. Here is what it is instead.
- Single-estate — one family-owned grove on the plains outside Marrakech, Morocco, with no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed — no irrigation; the trees take what the season gives them.
- Organically grown — no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, or herbicides.
- Single harvest — a small, limited batch, harvested only when the season says the fruit is ready, sometimes weeks later than neighbouring farms.
- Cold-pressed within hours of harvest — flavour, aroma, and polyphenols preserved by pressing while the fruit is fresh.
- Unfiltered extra virgin — minimally processed, never refined and never hydrogenated, and it may show a little natural sediment, which is normal for a genuine unrefined oil.
- 100% natural — a single ingredient, olive oil, with nothing added and nothing chemically altered.
- Dark glass with a gold label — protective packaging that shields the oil from the light that degrades polyphenols.
- Halal certified, with 10% of profits going to charity, and fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
We will not tell you Sidr & Stone is the best olive oil — that would be the kind of unverifiable claim we avoid. What we will say is that our oil is single-estate Moroccan, rain-fed, organically grown, and cold-pressed within hours of harvest as an unrefined extra virgin oil — about as far from a hydrogenated fat as an olive oil can be.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is hydrogenated olive oil?
It is olive oil that has had hydrogen added to its fats through an industrial process, turning it from a liquid into a more saturated, semi-solid or solid, shelf-stable fat. The process strips away the flavour and polyphenols of fresh olive oil.
Is hydrogenated olive oil bad for you?
Partially hydrogenated oils contain trans fats, which are well-documented as harmful to heart health and are now restricted in the UK, EU, and US. Fully hydrogenated oil has no trans fats but is heavily saturated and processed. For eating, fresh extra virgin olive oil is the far better choice.
Is hydrogenated olive oil used in food?
Rarely as a stand-alone cooking oil. It is overwhelmingly a cosmetics ingredient. If you see it on a food label, treat it as a sign of a processed fat rather than the fresh olive oil most people are looking for.
Why is hydrogenated olive oil in my skincare?
As an emollient and thickener. It softens skin and gives creams, lotions, and balms their texture and consistency. In that role it is a functional, skin-tested ingredient — quite separate from olive oil as a food.
Does hydrogenated olive oil have any polyphenols?
Effectively no. Hydrogenation is an aggressive process that overrides the oil's natural chemistry, and the heat-sensitive polyphenols and flavour compounds of fresh olive oil do not survive it.
What is the opposite of hydrogenated olive oil?
Cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil. It is unrefined and unprocessed — fresh olive juice pressed mechanically at low temperature — and it keeps the flavour, colour, and polyphenols that hydrogenation removes.
Can I buy Sidr & Stone olive oil now?
Our single-estate Marrakech extra virgin olive oil is available to pre-order ahead of its first harvest, with fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US. It is a small, limited first pressing, and you can reserve yours from the product page.
Is olive oil a medicine?
No. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine. It has a long traditional history — including being honoured in the Prophetic Sunnah — and a substantial body of modern research, particularly around polyphenols, cardiovascular health, and the Mediterranean diet pattern. It can be a worthwhile part of a healthy routine, but it does not cure diseases and is not a substitute for medical care. Be cautious of any olive oil marketed with specific disease-cure claims.
Final Thoughts
Hydrogenated olive oil is a useful illustration of what processing does to a food. The hydrogenation that makes an oil solid and stable also strips out the flavour, the colour, and the polyphenols — and, in its partial form, historically introduced the trans fats that public-health bodies have spent years removing from the food supply. As a cosmetics ingredient it has a legitimate job. As a food, it is the thing to avoid, not the thing to seek.
If what drew you to olive oil in the first place is its taste and the research around its polyphenols, then the oil you actually want is the least processed one you can find: cold-pressed, extra virgin, fresh, and unrefined. That is the version that carries everything hydrogenation takes away.
Our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil — single-estate, rain-fed, organically grown, and unfiltered extra virgin — is available to pre-order now, with fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Pre-Order Sidr & Stone Organic Marrakech Olive Oil — Limited First Harvest →
Disclaimer: This article explains hydrogenated olive oil and olive oil processing at the time of writing; standards, regulations, and product specifications may change, and readers should check current sources. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for medical treatment of any condition. For any health concern, consult a qualified medical professional.
