Production process

Steps in the creation of our oil

The process of making olive oil starts in the field, where all the cultivation care must ensure healthy olives at the right point of ripeness. The goodness of the oil is closely linked to the quality of the olives, the care in the production process (harvesting, fertilisation, pruning, phytosanitary defence) and processing (pressing and all the work to arrive at the finished product). The olives generally ripen in mid-October for the autochthonous Ottobratica cultivar and later for the other varieties. There are numerous olive harvesting systems that can be grouped into two broad categories: manual and mechanical harvesting.

After harvesting, the olives are transported to the oil mill and, before pressing, which takes place within 24 hours using a mechanical procedure, they are thoroughly washed to remove any foreign bodies that could adversely affect the quality of the oil. Very important in the processing of the olives are the kneading and pressing phases.

Gramoling

Before being pressed, the olive paste follows the process of kneading: the olive pulp and kernels are stirred to reduce their volume and to separate the vegetation water from the oil, breaking up the emulsions of oil and water produced during pressing. Also at this stage, special attention must be paid to the temperature, which must be low and not too long, so that the contact of the oil with the air and light is as short as possible, while maintaining a good extraction yield.

Extraction or pressing

It is done through continuous cycle oil machines, by centrifugation and keeping the temperature under control; with this system the oil production speed is facilitated and the processing and storage times of the olives are shortened. Through the subsequent decanting operations and natural filtering with cotton wool, the quality of the final product becomes a close goal.

Storage

The oil is stored in a modern and well-maintained department, in stainless steel tanks. This preservation technique ensures that the oil maintains its compositional characteristics unchanged over time and space, avoiding contact with two of the fats’ greatest enemies: light and oxygen. To this end, Olearia San Giorgio carries out storage under inert nitrogen.