L’olio d’oliva Oil of olives

Oil of olive It is a juice made from olives It is the most important ingredient used for cooking and giving flavor to fresh vegetables in the Mediterrean diet.

Olives They grow on very big trees, which in Italian are called “ulivi” They can be “green” or “black” and they are mixed to make oil

Olives (rude)

Olives (for eating)

The first step to make oil is the olives harvest. It usually takes place in October/November

The Olives Harvest

Olives harvest Oil must be done within 24 hours from the harvest Olives put in opened boxs are brought from the countryside to a place called “frantoio”(in English Oil Mill) Olives are washed

After the washing, olives are pressed Did you know that the ancient Greeks used to press olives 5000 years ago? The method used by Greeks is still used today. They used the olive press, which is a very heavy stone, that was usually pulled by a donkey.

Olive Press

Olive press

The olive paste It generally stays under the stones for 30 to 40 minutes. This has three objectives : to guarantee that the olives are well ground to allow enough time for the olive drops to join to form the largest droplets of oil to allow the fruit enzymes to produce some of the oil aromas and taste

When the paste is ready… It is put on fiber disks, which are stacked on the top of each other These disks are put on a hydraulic piston, forming a pile. Pressure is applied on the disks, thus compacting the solid phase of the olive paste and percolating the liquid phases

Finally, the liquid is purified The process is called “Decantation” and it separates liquid from all the small solid substances througout a faster vertical centrifuge

Oil is ready to be used e put in bottles