How to produce extra virgin oil

Unlike the manejo del olivar (which lasts throughout the year and requires a constant presence in the olive grove), the harvest is a more punctual activity, but just as crucial in the process of obtaining olive oil and what is more the most expensive, since it represents 60% of the total production cost.

Olives are harvested manually or mechanically: manual harvesting is applied to table olives to avoid damaging the fruit, thus degrading the quality, but it takes more time and is very expensive. Mechanical harvesting is carried out in olive groves where the olive trees are generally younger, and where the morphology of the land allows it: traditional olive groves, also called mountain olive groves, are very rarely mechanized, and therefore at risk of abandonment.

A crucial factor is time: harvest too early, and the fruit will not have had time to develop its sensory richness. Harvest too late, and the olives will be overripe and the oil extracted will be of inferior quality.

It is therefore advisable to harvest the olives just before they ripen, which will give a smaller quantity of olive oil, but of very high quality: excellent chemical and sensory characteristics, green fruitiness and, depending on the variety, more or less rich in polyphenols.

Have fun comparing the color of different oils (early harvest and ripe fruity) and especially tasting them, one after the other (if possible without bread!).

Oil extraction is a process of decisive importance in the production of excellent quality olive oil. The quality of the machinery, the use of water at a temperature not exceeding 27 degrees, cleanliness, proper storage, the use of packaging approved for food and other parameters, determine the quality of the olive oil that we have access to the market. The requirements of the legislation for the application of good practices in oil extraction are strict and must be respected by all oil mills.

Extraction should ideally take place within twelve hours of harvest. The olives are transported to the mill where they will be washed with fresh water and the foliage removed.

Then they are crushed and then kneaded, the aim being to extract the oil from the olive drupes . A paste is thus obtained, containing the stone, the skin, the oil and the water?
Two actions will follow, that of decantation (to separate the solids from the liquids) and then the centrifuge (to separate the oil from the water).

The result is unfiltered extra virgin olive oil.

The oil is then filtered before being stored in stainless steel tanks under controlled temperature conditions 12 to 15 degrees Celsius the containers are filled to the maximum point thus eliminating oxygen in case of a long stay and while the container is emptying the addition of nitrogen is deemed necessary to avoid unwanted oxidation.

From the moment olive oil is bottled, whatever the bottle, upside down from the wine, it is susceptible to deteriorating factors (light, heat and air) and therefore begins to gradually degrade - hence the "use by" date. It is therefore preferable to look at the bottling date in addition to the harvest date.

In addition, on the way to the next step, the choice of bottle, label design etc. also play a role.

We consider that the marketing stage is also part of the extra virgin olive oil value chain, because without sales it will be very difficult to finance the production of extra virgin olive oil the following year.

It is therefore a question of understanding market demand and best serving the needs of increasingly informed and demanding consumers.