Wednesday, May 6, 2009

How Do You Get Olive Oil From Olives?

By Brandino Z Borgattelli

Using a traditional press to extract olive oil from olives has been used for hundreds of years. This process consists of extracting the oil and water from the olive paste. A complete process is needed in able to make olive oil, which once finished with the pressing process; it must also be put through a decanter in order to separate the vegetation water from the olive oil itself. Here is the full process that is needed:

After the olive harvest has taken place, the olives are placed under a millstone or ground stone for thirty to forty minutes to ground them to a paste called olive paste. The olives are left under the stone for this amount of time to achieve the flavor they need and to form large olive oil drops. The aromas that the olive enzymes let out are also need to create a better aroma for the oil.

After the necessary time the olive paste is removed from the millstones or ground stones and put onto special disks called fiber disks. The paste must be spread over the disks and completely cover it. They are then placed into the press, piled on top of each other. The machine will then press the paste and begin to compact it so the oils will start to percolate. So the percolation is easier water is poured down the sides of the press.

After the pressing process is over the liquids are removed from the presser and taken to a separate machine called a decanter. The decanter is used to remove the excess water from the olive oil, leaving a pure olive oil. There is another process that can be used to separate the water from the oils, it is called vertical centrifuge and is normally a lot faster than using a decanter.

Every time the process of extracting oil from the olives all of the machines must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. This is because any paste or oils left on the machines can ferment and therefore contaminate any new oils that will be done in the future. After the cleaning is finished, a final inspection will take place to make sure they are fully disinfected.

The advantages of making olive oil using this traditional pressing method include a better grinding of the olive and easier to pomace as less water is added. But there are also disadvantages that include a difficult clean process, a lot more manual labor and a longer time space between harvesting the olives and pressing them.

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