Olive oil

Olive oil is an edible oil with a very high content of monounsaturated fats. The virgin oil type is obtained by the mechanical pressing of the olives, which are the fruit of the Olea europaea species. Other commercial types of oil made from olives, but with different organoleptic and dietary properties, are obtained by the rectification of virgin oils and by extraction with solvents from the olive pomace.

Being a product originating from the agricultural and food tradition of the Mediterranean, the olive oil is currently produced in other regions with Mediterranean climate as well.

Extraction
The most important type of production of olive oil is based on extraction processes which are exclusively mechanical. Thus we can distinguish, from a commercial point of view, the virgin olive oils from those obtained through processes based on physical or chemical methods (seed oils, rectified and refined olive oils, pomace oil).

Other techniques involve the use of physical and chemical methods. However, it should be said that the quality standards set out that an olive oil can be described as “virgin” only if exclusively mechanical methods have been used for its production. The oil obtained by resorting to the use of chemical and physical-chemical methods is thus identified by commercial designations which are different and distinct from that of “virgin oil”.

The work lines for mechanical extraction differ according to the methods used in each stage, and therefore there are different types of machines. Apart from their technical characteristics, the machines also differ markedly according to their capacity of work, the level of mechanization, the organization of the work, the qualitative and quantitative yield, the production costs. In general, the production line of an oil mill includes 5 basic stages:

Preliminary operations.
 
• Milling.
• Extraction of oil juice.
• Separation of the oil from the water.
• Storage, settling and bottling.