Selection and cleaning of the olives

When the oil is a half green and half purple color (turning color) our farms more qualified, they start collecting.

After being delivered to our mill, the olives are appropriately selected for variety (Coratina, Cima di Bitonto, Leccino and Peranzana), divided into lots of processing, stored in perforated crates capacity of about 250 kg and then stored in a cool, ventilated for a period not exceeding forty-eight hours. Before sending to milling the olives, the same are subjected to defoliation (separation of leaves and twigs of olives), the vibrovagliatura (soil removal and various impurities) and then if necessary to wash under running water before being sent by conveyor belts to crushing.

Crushing

It 'the first true process of transformation of olive oil. Performed in the traditional way, the olives are crushed in a circular tank capacity of 350 kg (from the second half of the nineteenth century) on which bottomed in granite millstones rotate four Sardinian granite, which crush and grind the olives for about thirty minutes, in order to obtain a homogeneous mixture (the dough).

Kneading

The homogeneous mixture obtained by crushing is sent with stainless steel screws to the first process of separating oil from water and pulp. The cheese in stainless steel tanks, sealed, undergoes a slow and continuous stirring for a period of about thirty minutes, at a controlled temperature of 25 ° C (cold extraction).

Extraction

The extraction process may be effected by centrifugation (continuous process) or by pressing (batch process). You have both our mill processes, uses them for his first selection of extra virgin olive oil:

Extraction by centrifugation:

pasta finished the process of kneading, is sent via a piston pump into a centrifugal separator, decanter said that using the centrifugal force and the different weights of the elements separating oil, water and pomace (pulp residual). The oil thus obtained is sent to a pump driven by a further centrifugal separator, the water (vegetation water) is collected in a tank (known as hell) and the residue, by screws, sent to sansificio .

Extraction by pressing:

once the process of kneading, the dough is prepared by dosing on filter discs (Straining) stacked on mobile carts, and then placed in hydraulic presses, and with a pressure of about 250 atmospheres separate the liquid, oil and water (must), from the solid (residue).

Separation

The oil extracted from the decanter (extraction by centrifugation) or the "juice" obtained from the presses (pressing extraction), is sent by pump to a centrifugal separator that exploiting the different components of the specific weight permanently separates water and other particles impurities still present in the oil.

Storage of olive oil

The extra virgin olive oil, obtained through a sophisticated and accurate system of pipes strictly stainless steel, is sent to the 30 silos in stainless steel capacity of 50 tons each, and here in a cool, dry place away from sources of light and heat left to settle naturally, without any filtering and forced at a constant temperature.