You have not seen me for a week because we had to pick up the olive and to make olive oil. Believe me, I'm half dead. I'm working mostly sitting near the PC and the 3-4 pick up periods a year are very hard for me. We begin with cherries in may, than come walnuts in september and olive in october-november. With these we earn some money. Not much and the work is maybe too hard, but I like these periods because they are very special.
We have only some olive trees and normally they produce olive one year yes, one year no. Probably the earth is not very good and than there is not so much humus on the rocks where we live. So we had oil last time only 3 years ago. But this year was exceptional. We picked up 400 kg! Here you see how we do it.
When we are ready we go to the oil mill. Here we put the olive in the machine. First they go up to the place where the leaves are absorbed. Than they are washed 2 times in hot water and fall in the place from where they will go to the mill.
The mill (the photo is not clear but you can believe me) works like meat chopper and olive become brown cream. All other parts of process are covered but this cream is washed and washed with water.
Finally the oil is visible before it's last washing.
And here is the real genuine olive oil that comes out from the machine. Very beautiful. And there is something from miracle in this moment. What I can't describe you is the perfume that is there in the room! The oil is very perfumed too, but when you are there near that machine ... I don't know how to tell you about it.
What remails from this work, oilcake, the machine throws out and it's owners have mountains near the house. Bad notice: after they finish this period, they sell the oilcake to other oil mills and they rework it once more and sell that second oil in the shops as extravergine olive oil.
We had 400 kg and received 47 liters of olive oil today.
By the way. It is not good to conserve olive oil in other recipients as in inox.
From the history.
Olive tree comes in Italy with Antient Greeks. They took them on the ships when the Motherland could not give them to eat more and sent them in other lands to open new colonies.
Qualities of the olive oil.
The quality of the oil depends from the % between green (non mature) and black (mature) olive used for oil. The best is -say the locals- when they use right % of green olive for oil. Only green or only black have bad taste, say they.