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Making Olive Oil |
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Making Olive Oil in a Few Easy Steps |
- Set up an orchard, grow olives and pick them - See Growing Olives, and Business plan
- Get the olives to the mill within a day or so to keep down oxidation and acidity. You could buy your own mill like the one below for the price of a new car, buy the hobbyist mill for a few gallon production, or you could take your olives to a commercial mill. Milling costs range from $250 to $400 per ton. Contact us for prices on new or used micromills like the one pictured below. (The apple cider press you found in your grandma's attic won't work).
- The Cleaner
separates dirt and leaves from the olives
- The Mill grinds or hammers the olives and pits into paste which is extruded onto the plates which go onto the press. Don't let heat build up during the milling or pressing or the flavor will be affected. For pros and cons on the different types of mills, see Mills and Presses
- Malaxation is a slow mixing of the paste which allows the oil - water emulsion to coalesce. Small microscopic oil droplets join together into large drops which will come out during centrifugation or separation. The malaxation tank in the long horizontal chamber in red in the picture above.
- The Press is usually centrifugal in larger machines. The press separates out the olive juice and oil and leaves behind a fibrous "pomace". Toss the pomace or sell it to someone who wants to chemically remove more of the oil for industrial uses such as soapmaking. From each ton of fruit anywhere from 12 to 50 gallons of oil can be produced. For pros and cons on the different types of presses, see Mills and Presses
- Separate the oil from the water using a decanter or centrifugal separator.
- Bottle the oil, keeping it away from heat and light. See suppliers for bottlers, bottles, labeling machines and labels.
- Invite your friends for an olive oil tasting party, sop the oil up with bread and enjoy! Be critical and review the top Ten Factors in Producing Quality Olive Oil By Paul Vossen
- Sell some of your oil at the local farmer's market or grocery store to pay for the land, trees, consulting, mill, etc.
- The public finds you, clamoring for more - you are forced to contact a business consultant to expand to satisfy the demand.
- Let us know when you're in business so we can put you on the internet.
- See; now wasn't that easy?