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Washing:
After being sorted out to eliminate the twigs and leafs,
the olives are washed with cold water.
Crushing
and kneading:
The grinder with two millstones crushes the olives with
the stones. The stones contain an antioxidant which is a
natural preservative. The obtained smooth past is then kneaded
until it becomes very homogeneous.
Pressing:
The
most common way of extracting oil is still the hydraulic
pressure in the cold state. The paste is divided into portions
of 2 to 5 kilos each and put on round plates called “scourtins”
which have to be both very resistant and permeable so as
to allow oil to go through. The “scourtins” covered with
a layer of paste are stacked in heaps of twenty five or
thirty to be pressed. They retain the solid part of the
paste while allowing the juicy part to flow making a mixture
of oil and water called “margin”.
Allowing
oil to settle or centrifugation:
Allowed to settle, the oil is gathered on the surface
of the « margins ». Centrifugation
is a rapid and effective process and the oil obtained in
this manner is considered to be pure oil.
Stocking:
The
oil is then immediately stocked into stainless steel vessels
in order to prevent oxidation. Once put into bottles, the
oil has to be kept away from the heat and light and consumed
preferably within
two
years. |
