Olive oil (extra virgin) is part of my kit. Most of the time it just provides calories and added taste to my diet. But there are many other uses for it.
Ear ache. Warm some and pour it in the ear canal*
Good for constipation. Just add extra to your food.
Good for shaving
Good for scratches/chafing and burns (after copious cold water has been pored on it and obviously if other burn treatments are not at hand)
Great for bees stings, just rub in as soon as possible.
(BTW, bacteria cannot grow on olive oil)
A drop on toilet paper or better still cotton, will make a good fire starter.
And as a lubricant.
Franco

* If you need a "Make sure it isn't too hot or you will burn yourself " warning, well maybe you should not go around unsupervised

The Romans used it as a "soap".
lather it on and scrape it off.

A neat trick for gardeners is to rub the hands with it then wipe the excess off, then play in the dirt. The hands will wash a lot faster after the work is done.
Franco

Right after a hard rain, I used a half a cap of Olive Oil and some TP to make a great fire starter. Worked well.

Olive oil is good, but sometimes I want a buttery flavor. So I pack a couple ounces of ghee as well. It has a long shelf life.
You can make it yourself.
I get it at my local Indian market, but can be purchased online as well.

The big advantage of olive oil is the anti bacterial properties, it cannot go "off" .
Before we had a fridge (40 years ago...) my mother used to make ghee. All I remember was the smell and that we had butter for the winter.
My grandparents were high country farmers.

Franco

Add a little hot chili oil to your olive oil to spice it up a bit. You can then leave the Tabasco/Tapitio at home.

Excellent for chapped hands + feet also --> make sure you keep it cool and not exposed to light, if at all possible, as it does go rancid rather easily under warmer + brighter conditions.

Has anyone successfully used it as fuel for cooking?

Saponified olive oil is probably already used by many (dr. bonners) on the trail.

Edited by biointegra on 03/15/2010 12:06:59 MDT.

I carry olive oil on all my trips. I always add some to my meals to boost calories.

I have never used it for this purpose, but, methinks it would probably work well for chapped lips. Has anyone tried this?

-Sid

If you you use a Kelly Kettle (KK)--or hopefully the soon to be sold Backcountry Boiler, you can use this as stove fuel. A few tablespoons added to tissue paper will burn very well in the kettle--can boil about 3 cups of water in the standard size KK. It does leave a slight oily residue in the KK chimney--but much less so than that chemical gunk you get from burning Esbit tabs.

Edited by Steve on 12/12/2010 17:24:18 MST.

This is a staple for me, so much that some fellow bay area bpl's have given me the trail name "OliveOil". Franco, you would not originally be from Tuscany, would you?

"And as a lubricant."

Er... do I want to know?

Katharina
Strangely enough I come from the top of Piedmont, only a few Km from Switzerland.
My folk have been high country farmers for generations so I grew up with butter , real milk and cheese...
We only used olive oil for salads and frying chips at home.
Then , after I left Italy I did not use olive oil for about a decade; I grew to dislike the taste.
Started using it again about 20 years ago and now I love it.

Dean
You are a doctor, you already do know.
Note the label : not to be used for the other use.
Franco

Use as a lubricant is restricted if you have followed the recommendation to add hot chili oil!

I don't have the problem , so I cannot test this myself but I was wondering ( since it is the multi use thread) if olive oil and hot chili oil could be used as a substitute for Preparation H.
(I am thinking along the lines of using the heat to relieve pain)
I would appreciate very much if we could get a few to volunteer for this test.
Franco

I'm thinking this would be the equivalent of putting icy hot on your genitals to make you run faster.

you people are just plain nasty! haha

also great for:
dandruff/scalp on thrus
massaging muscles
oil lamps, less toxic and cheaper than lamp/kerosene...make a lamp out of anything

in winter i carry olive oil to add calories to my food, this time my wife lost our BB the first day of a 5 day hike in a no fire zone.
I ended using the oil in a candle lantern aluminium cup to heat water :)

Edited by Fre49 on 05/16/2010 23:25:02 MDT.

I just got a handful of packets from Subway Sandwiches of Extra Virgin Olive Oil / Canola Oil. Handy little 1/2 oz foil packets. Good source of free trail fodder.