Our olives are picked and put into 20kg crates which are then transported to the mill. We use the crates to protect the olives from damage in transit. The time it takes from picking the olives to processing them is never any more than 8 hours, which also guarantees much higher quality olive oil.
Once the olives have been selected according to their variety, they are put into a small hopper, together with leaves, sticks and other organic matter. First of all they pass through an air-blowing machine. The strength of the machine’s fan eliminates any unwanted particles which may alter olive oil production (leaves and sticks). The olives then continue along a small trough where the remains of earth are washed off with pressurised water. The olives then continue to the crushing machine.
After the washing stage, the olives are sent to a hammer mill, which crushes or breaks up the olives. At this stage, the whole olives are turned into a paste made up of its skins, pits and flesh. This paste then goes to a malaxing machine which starts the malaxing process. This is where the oil is extracted at a temperature of between 23ºC and 25ºC. The paste is in the malaxer for around 45 minutes and soon the oil starts to float on top of the paste, showing that the oil is being extracted nicely.
Once the malaxing stage is over, we start to decant the oil. By using a centrifugal force, we separate the olive oil from the paste and its vegetable water. In this final stage, the oil is still mixed with impurities such as vegetable water and this has to be eliminated so that the final oil is as clean as possible.
In order to remove any remaining impurities, we put the olive oil in a decanting vat. By using a natural process based on densities, within 24 hours the clean oil floats to the surface whilst any impurities sink to the bottom of the conically shaped vat. The impurities are then separated off by using a tap which is located at the bottom of the vat. The clean oil is put into other vats and in two weeks time is filtered to eliminate any final impurities which may cause problems for the oil’s quality at a later date. The oil is then bottled.
