Ever wonder how Extra Virgin Olive Oil is made? Contrary to popular belief, olive oil is not typically "pressed". Rather, the oil is extracted from olives using modern equipment. Contemporary olive oil extraction processes result in higher quality olive oil and better yields from the fruit. Read on to learn more about how olive oil is extracted.
1. Harvest - To produce high-quality EVOO it is essential to choose the perfect harvesting time. Per tradition our harvest begins around the 2nd week of October. We harvest the olive by hand and transport to the mill to be pressed within 48 hours.
2. Washing - At the mill, olives are washed in order to remove all foreign matter such as leaves, twigs, stems or other debris to avoid any adverse impact on olive oil organoleptic characteristics.
3. Crushing - After the olives are prepared for extraction, they are crushed or ground using mills or grinders. The mills may be stone or metal hammer mills. The result is an "olive paste".
4. Malaxing - The olive paste is put into a malaxer which is a trough with spiral mixing blades. The temperature within the malaxer is monitored to ensure that the olive paste is not heated above 27ºC (80.6ºF).
5. Extraction - After malaxation, the mix is passed to a centrifugal extractor. The objective is to separate the pomace (skins, pits and olive solids) from the oil.
6. Polishing/Separating - The olive oil may be passed to another separator which spins the olive oil and removes any remaining water from the olive oil.
7. Storage - Important to note that our Vitaleone olive oil is unfiltered and unrefined olive oil stored in temperature controlled steel tanks, which are free of oxygen and light, until it is ready to be bottled.
8. Bottling - The olive oil is bottled and labeled with the appropriate indications. Bottles are kept away from light and warm temperatures until they are transported to our warehouse.
WATCH THIS VIDEO TO SEE THE PROCESS