Production Process

The process consists mainly in the following phases or stages:

Harvest of the Olive:

The date of the beginning of the harvest of the olive varies depending on the place where it is grown, but in general it could be established at the end of November. The fruit is harvested when it reaches its optimum degree of maturity. It is necessary to differentiate between the fruit that is picked from the olive tree (“aceituna de vuelo”) which is the fruit of maximum quality, and the one which is picked from the ground after falling from the tree (“aceituna de suelo”) which gives a defective olive oil.

Transport to the Mills:

It has to be done carefully so as not to damage the fruit, because it would affect the quality of the oil.

Washing and Milling:

If the fruit is not clean it has to be washed to eliminate the impurities it could bring. Then the fruit is crushed obtaining a mixture which is injected in the horizontal centrifuges or decanters.

Spinning:

The crushed olive mixture to which, only at the beginning of the process, a small quantity of water is added in the modern systems of two phases, is centrifuged and thanks to the difference of density we obtain on one side the virgin olive oil and on the other side the vegetable water of the fruit and the resultant oily juice “alperujo”. he temperature should not go above 30º C.

Storage of the Virgin Olive Oil:

In order to preserve all the qualities of the obtained virgin olive oil, it must be kept at a temperature between 15 and 18 degrees centigrade, so that the oil matures, but not favouring oxidation. It must be stored in a place with low light. The material of the hermetically closed tanks has to be inert (polyester, stainless steel, etc…) and its walls and ceilings should provide insulation to keep the ideal temperature. The bottom of the tanks has to be conical or sloping to drain the remains of water or impurities which fall to the bottom and which could originate defects in the oil.
The quality of the olive oil depends in part on the correct development of all the phases of the process of production, so it is very important to ensure that during the process no incidence that could alter its qualities occurs.