Process





Steps of Production
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1. MANUAL COLLECTION
– Olives are hand-picked or combed onto nets beneath the trees.
– Striking branches with sticks is another method but risks damaging fruit and causing debris to fall.
– Olives can also fall naturally onto nets and be collected, though this risks rot, mold, and over-ripening, leading to lower-quality oil. Prompt crushing preserves oil quality. -
2. TRANSPORT
Harvested olives are stored in perforated boxes to ensure ventilation and preservation during transport to the mill. Transport should occur within 24–48 hours to prevent exposure to bacteria, overheating, or fermentation. Shorter time between harvesting and pressing ensures higher oil quality.
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3. WASHING
Before pressing, the olives are washed in water and sifted with special grids to separate them from other foreign bodies. It is preferable to do an initial defoliation using special sorting machines.
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4. CRUSHING & KNEADING
Frangere, meaning 'to break,' refers to crushing olives, including skins, pulp, and stones. Traditionally, granite millstones ('molazze') were used to crush olives, a method now rare but still in use in some mills. Today, modern crushers, like hammer or disk systems, work faster but may heat the paste, affecting flavor. Advanced crushers combine modern efficiency with granite stones to preserve natural qualities. Malaxation follows, where the olive paste is mixed to help oil droplets unite and separate more easily. Mechanical crushers inevitably heat the paste, unlike traditional cold-press methods.
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5. EXTRACTION
After preparing the olive paste, extraction divides it into pomace, vegetation water, and oil.
Traditional Pressure Method: The paste, spread on fiber discs with steel spacers, is pressed to extract oily liquid in about an hour. The leftover pomace is often used as fuel.
Modern Techniques: Centrifugation and percolation now dominate, providing faster and more efficient oil extraction.
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6. CENTRIFUGATION
In a horizontal centrifuge, high-speed spinning separates olive paste into oil, vegetation water, and pomace, leveraging the components' specific weights after liquefying the paste with water. Percolation (sinolea) uses oil's surface tension to collect it on steel blades dipped into the paste, extracting only part of the oil; the rest is separated by centrifugation.
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7. CLARIFICATION
Clarification removes water, mucilage, and impurities from raw, cloudy oil. Traditionally, oil was left to settle, and residues were removed manually with decanting ladles. Today, oil is either left to rest or filtered immediately through cellulose-equipped separators to remove impurities.
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8. CONSERVATION
Oil is perishable, with light, heat, and oxygen being its main threats, damaging its quality.
Yesterday: Oil was stored in ceramic containers, later replaced by underground stone cisterns to shield it from light and temperature changes.
Today: Stainless steel tanks or silos are used for large-scale storage.