Olive oil in Italy is special. Olive oil in Umbria is very special. Early autumn finds the stores and restaurants closed and people are out in their fields picking olives. Trees are picked by hand or by “combing” the trees to release the olives into nets which are then collected up and placed in baskets. Each basket weighs approximately 15 or 25 kg.
Once all the trees are picked the baskets are then taken to the local Frantoio (fran-toy-o), which is the mill for the pressing. Just like going to the doctor you must book an appointment to press.
The day – or night, as during olive season the Frantoio works around the clock – of your pressing, you show up, and dump your baskets of olives into the funnel pit, which also weighs the olives. From there the olives ride up a conveyor belt where they are put through a washer and washed with water to clean the olives and remove the leaves, stems, twigs and other debris.
The olives move to the crushing tank where they are crushed into paste. The crushing tears the cells to help with the release of the oil. After 45 minutes of “malaxing” or mixing the paste in the crushing tank, they are ready to release their green goodness.
The oil travels from the crushing tank and is separated by centrifuges from the rest of the olive wet paste.
The oil then pours into an open tank for skimming. The skimming is done by hand and the oil is poured into containers and sealed. The containers are placed on a scale and the oil is weighed.
The video above shows the olive oil making process.
Some statistics from this pressing: 642 kg of olives resulted in 128 L of oil.
Elin, Your olive oil is delish! We just cracked open that last vintage and it is lovely and green tasting, fresh and not bitter at all! Thanks for all your hard work and for sharing!
Glad to hear that you are enjoying it! I love the colour.
An added benefit? I will certify that it is 100% authentic (and hand picked!).