[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Our Story Section” _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”30px||1px||false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Manrope|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_letter_spacing=”1px” text_line_height=”1.6em” header_2_font=”Manrope|700|||||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.55)” header_2_letter_spacing=”2px” text_orientation=”justified” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”4px|||||” header_2_text_shadow_style=”preset1″ header_2_text_shadow_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.1)”]Crushing the fruit is the second phase of the harvest. Various wineries and olive mills provide this service, and for a small fee, you can have your olives turned into the freshest olive oil available! You can also find olive mills that still use stones to grind the olives.
An olive press works by applying pressure to olive paste to separate the liquid oil and vegetation water from the solid material. An industrial decanter is used to separate all the phases by centrifugation. The Sinolea method to extract oil from the olives was introduced in 1972 In this process, rows of metal discs or plates are dipped into the paste; the oil preferentially wets and sticks to the metal and is removed with scrapers in a continuous process.
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The Trees
In the first year, my little farm produced 35 liters of oil. Many people had a smaller harvest because of the cold snap that year. And I’ve learned olive trees are bi-annual, so while they fruit each year, alternate years will produce more.
This year we harvested early to avoid damage from the Olive Fruit Fly. We did this on October 13, but one would typically wait until later in the month. It’s the first week of November, and some folks are just starting their harvest. Time is running out as the nights are getting very cold, and a frost is lurking behind the autumn fog. Getting this done early was a good strategy, and we had 880lbs/400 kg of fruit that produced about 60 liters.
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Mazzola Winery
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The Winery
Mazzola is a small winery that also crushes olives. They’re about one mile/1.6 km from me in the tiny town of Scapezzano. Manuel Giobbi and his partner Ilka Ilieva built an award-winning winery. Both speak English, which is always a special treat for me.
This year had the COVID influence. You had to sign in and out and only one extra person in the area at a time. Manuel took it seriously, which I appreciate. I think most of the people leave their olives and come back to pick up the oil. I’m only guessing, but I don’t think many people are hovering about taking snapshots and videos of the whole process while dancing around Manuel, trying to stay out of the way. He was very patient, gracious and helped out with a few photos.
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Patiently waiting to be crushed
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The Crush
Even the second time around, the crush is fascinating to me, but I like machinery. A series of machines turns hard raw olives into this precious liquid—the nectar of the Gods. It’s amazing. Grapes are easy to crush by comparison. Grapes are juicy, and you can mash them by hand or foot-stomping. But olives are hard and inedible until they’re processed either by crushing or curing.
The crush begins with dumping the olives in a bin that separates the leaves and sends the fruit up a moving ladder. The olives get a good shower on the way down to the crusher.
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The control center
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My oil!!
I must say my oil is perfect, but I am biased. It has a strong flavor of black pepper, spicy with a big bite in the finish, and a delightful fresh olive aroma. This oil will taste good with everything from using it to dip warm crunchy bread, adding spice to sauteed vegetables or pasta, or finishing a hearty tomato sauce.
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Here it is. Never fresher.
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The crusher! It’s one noisy, hard-working piece of equipment. It takes quite a long time to crush 400kg of olives. From delivering the olives to driving away with 70 liters of emerald green elixir – that will enhance your food and your health – was 2.5 hours, and most of that was crushing. The olives grind their way through a long heavy-duty metal tube, creating this rather ugly pulp. The pulp and oil are separated, and the final product is a beautiful golden-green health food.
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The filter system
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On the tree in the morning in the bottle that night
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My beautiful olive oil!!!
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