The Olive Press
We use a traditional olive oil press imported from Tuscany. We built a custom designed press shed to house it.
How the oil is processed:
The fruit is weighed and fed into a hopper where they are propelled by a power operated elevator and dropped into a mill. The olives are then crushed into a coarse mash. The mix is then kneaded for about 45 minutes. This causes the oil to be released from the flesh and is known as the malaxation period. The mash is then fed onto nylon mats and stacked in a tower on the press. The press is a hydraulic ram working at a pressure of 6000 pounds. A mixture of oil and water is squeezed out of the mash and is pumped into the decanter and left to settle before the oil is siphoned off. Settling takes approximately forty minutes. The whole procedure takes approximately four hours.
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