The process of olive oil extraction can be divided into different stages.
1. Crushing: olives are selected and washed in order to expel topsoil and leaves; then, they are submerged in a bath for a few hours. At this point the milling phases starts with a mechanical action of the millstone that smashes drupes into a paste of oil, water and solid parts.
2. Kneading: this process involves a blending of this paste extracting oil from water in order to obtain the oil. The process of separating liquid substances from solid ones is called extraction of oil. Lastly, oil is extracted from vegetation water.
Working days in the oil mill start very early in the morning and working rhythms are frantic.
The oil mill worker cannot make mistakes as plants must run without stopping.
The daily activities are intense: the oil mill can process a predefined quantity of olives and therefore its productive capacity is dependent on the time. For this reason, the working days start in the dawn and end at the beginning of the new day.
However, although tiredness trickles from workers’ faces, you can feel a cheerful atmosphere and an evident excitement by noticing the frantic curiosity of clients and deafening trepidation coming from the instant before the flowing of the new oil, in the attention and smiles of oil mill workers and in the roaring chatters of peasants.
The new extra virgin olive oil tasting takes place home, after coming back from the oil mill, as it is an intimate joyful moment, a satisfaction to be shared with the teamwork members, a pleasure that awards one year of work.
The new extra virgin olive oil, which is green chlorophyll, emanates fruity scents with soft underbrush and moss fragrances, bursts a strong-smelling sensation that awakes taste buds and reveals a light and ephemeral perception of bitterness.