It turned out that our 2pm appointment at the 71 year old Lagar de Azeite do Siveirinho was in fact today not tomorrow - and the job is now done and dusted. We had far more olives than we thought, weighing in at 418 kilo's. It was so interesting to see the process in action. I so wish I had asked more questions and understood more answers!
Once the sacks had been weighed, they were emptied onto the bottom of a tall conveyer belt which separated them from any remaining debris and dumped them into a cold water rinse.
They were then washed in hot water and squished into a thick paste.
The pulped olive paste was then layered onto round mats and sandwiched together in a tall tower before being transferred onto huge presses which squeeze the oil out.
The oil, which at this point looked like a dirty puddle was washed down into a vat, along with hot water. A colander type tray below separated the remaining solid matter from the liquid. The oil floats to the top of the water in the vat and is carried through pipes to another large vat, the heavier muddy puddle of water below, was released through a pipe at ground level.
(The remaining dry and very flat pulp was collected from the mats and placed onto a separate conveyor belt and deposited onto a mountain of the stuff. This will later be pressed again by the mill, although you would never believe something which felt so dry could hold more oil!)
Using centrifugal force the last of the water is separated from your oil and collected in yet another vat below. This wonderful hot oil is then measured into your containers...
The whole place is hot and humid and the smell just incredible.
The staff at the Silveirinho Lagar were welcoming and helpful, lifting heavy sacks, showing me around the machinery and putting up with having a tourist and a wacking great camera in their space for the afternoon. Jorge even took me to the cafe across the road and bought me an expresso whilst I was waiting!
The olives were weighed at about 2:45 to begin the process and we were carrying our oil out of the doors at 5:30.... 418 kilo's of olives were turned into a fantastic 62 litres of oil, (pressing fee €49-)
I had a wonderful afternoon and now understand most of the mystery of the whole process.
I can't imagine what they must of thought of me last year turning up with a few kilo's in my hessian shopping bags. Bless! (I'm a learner).
Having dunked some fresh bread into my lovely warm oil at 6pm, I can tell you it tastes bloody gorgeous. Jobs a gooden. Bring on 2012!
:)
No comments:
Post a Comment