PRESSING

The oil pressing phase is without any doubt one of the most important for the quality. This process is sometimes long and complex and can be more or less industrial, the latter compromising the final quality.

The VAL DI LAMA farm, which has always placed the greatest importance on the quality of its products, has opted for the cold pressing technique. This type of pressing involves a continuous oil extraction cycle at a constant, monitored temperature of between 24 and 26° for the entire production process.

Cold pressing offers numerous advantages. The oil obtained is clean and transparent and maintains its qualities such as fragrance and the typical bitter, pungent flavour for much longer. It should also be remembered that oil produced in this way contains a high number of anti-inflammatory polyphenols that are useful for the prevention of several illnesses such as cardiovascular diseases and liver disease, etc.

To further improve the quality of the final product, the farm has devised, designed and built a new machine for removing the olives before pressing. With this new procedure, in fact olives of a certain size are removed in addition to any that have deteriorated, olives that are too dry and any residues from harvesting that would otherwise finish up in the oil.

The olives selected in this way are then washed and dried, and reach the press in the best possible condition for shredding. The pulp obtained is consistent and smooth, and makes it easier to keep the temperature constant at 24 - 26 °C.

The efforts of the VAL DI LAMA farm to obtain maximum quality with its in-house production are clear to see on this video, which shows all the phases of production, from harvesting to pressing, right up to the final packaging phase ;