Producing EVOO - Oleo Estrella

Extra Virgin Olive Oil production process

In olive oil mills, such as Oleo Estrella, during the olive harvest season, the farmers collect the olives from their olive fields daily, and transport them to the factory, where they are weighed and prepared to go through the different stages of production of extra virgin olive oil.

This is the whole process in our facilities.

Cleaner

At the beginning, when the olives are brought to the factory, they come mixed with leaves and some stones from the harvest. They enter the CLEANER, where the olives are first cleaned by an air jet, causing the leaves to fall down to a conveyor belt, thus separating the leaves from the olives, which have fallen on their own to another place.

Washed

In the WASHING process, we begin washing the olives inside a machine that is like an inverted pyramid. A stream of water is applied to the olives, whose purpose is to remove any remaining dirt or stone. All of this falls to the bottom by gravity, and with another conveyor belt, they are separated from the olive.

Flotation process: The olives are now floating in water as the current carries them to another belt where they are now clean and ready to be weighed again.

Grinding

In another tank called the “hopper”, the clean olives are now stored for GRINDING.

First the olives are crushed into a paste with the hammer mill.

Blender

The paste then goes into the BLENDER, where it is blended using rotating blades for about 45 minutes. It is vital that the temperature is controlled to 27°C to make it easier for the oil to be extracted, but without losing any aroma or flavor. To ensure the highest quality oil, it is imperative to pay close attention to the temperature, so that the oil is of the best quality.

This machine mixes the paste by beating it, making the paste consistent. This is where the oil extraction process begins, in the form of “pearls”, and from here we move on to the next phase.

Decantation

The HORIZONTAL DECANTER is similar to a centrifuge, but for olive oil, and also is where the oil is separated from the rest of the paste by centrifugal force. The oil stays in the inner part, weighing less with vegetation water, and the rest of the paste, a mixture of water, pulp and pits go to the other end. On the one hand we extract the oil with the vegetation water, and on the other hand that mixture is what we know as pomace.

After the decanter, another centrifugation is carried out by means of “centrifuges“, this time vertical, where the oil is separated from that vegetation water and some solid particles that have been missed in the previous stage.

We now have clean oil, and it is deposited in the VERTICAL DECANTER. They are large and Inverted with a conical shape bottom, so that the little water that may still be remain is separated from the oil. It is important that the oil is not in contact with the water for a long time, because that would lower its quality.

Storage

The completely clean and pure extra virgin olive oil is then stored in the large containers in the CELLAR, where we also have a filter for impurities and humidity, that the oil passes before packaging, so that it arrives in optimal conditions for consumption.

Packing

In our facilities we also have PACKAGING and LABELING machinery, where we carry out the bottling of the oil, in the different formats that we offer for sale to the public. This completes the entire EVOO production process, from when it arrives with the freshly picked fruit until it is packed, labeled, packaged and shipped.

Please watch the video of the packaging machine in action!

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DISTRIBUTOR REGISTRATION FORM