What to Do
Episode: # 13 07/07/07
Presenter: Kim Syrus
Olive oil, filled with mono-saturated fats, is an important part of a healthy diet. The good news is, olives are so easy to grow in Adelaide and making your own olive oil is something you can also do. It all begins with finding a tree and picking the fruit.
The best time to pick olives is when they are firm and just turning colour. Over ripe fruit quickly spoils and has reduced oil production. Start by laying a piece of shade cloth or hessian under the tree, this will catch the olives as they fall. Use a long pole to knock the branches or a special rake or hop into the tree and watch the olives go.
Collecting the fruit is simple, gather up the cloth and tip the fallen olives into a bucket. Then it is off to the presses.
There are a number of Olive Presses around, so check the Yellow Pages for the closest one to you. The olives are weighed and then tipped into a stainless steel hopper where a conveyor takes them to be washed.
A vibrating table removes leaves, stalks and other impurities, leaving only the fruit to roll on. The olives are then milled into a pulp which is pushed into a ‘malaxer’; this machine mixes the pulp, turning it into a fine even paste. The paste is then pumped into a centrifuge where the oil, water and pulp are separated. The water and paste are removed leaving only the pure olive oil to be collected and decanted.
The first thing you notice about fresh olive oil is its strong green colouring. Now this is called Extra Virgin it is pure olive oil, intensely flavoured and the absolute best quality. It can be used straight away, however, letting it stand for 2 to 3 months, allows the sediment to settle and the oil to turn a lovely golden colour.
When it comes to olives, oils ain’t oils. The amount of oil an olive produces will vary from variety to variety, the best types return around 20% their weight in oil.
Older varieties like Manzanillo and Koroneki along with a couple of new ones like Leccino and Picholine are all good oil producers
Why not have a go at making your own, pure and fresh olive oil, remember, you will need plenty of olives if you want plenty of oil. If you can’t, then look at buying a locally produced one and that is the good oil from the gurus.
Presenter: Kim Syrus
Olive oil, filled with mono-saturated fats, is an important part of a healthy diet. The good news is, olives are so easy to grow in Adelaide and making your own olive oil is something you can also do. It all begins with finding a tree and picking the fruit.
The best time to pick olives is when they are firm and just turning colour. Over ripe fruit quickly spoils and has reduced oil production. Start by laying a piece of shade cloth or hessian under the tree, this will catch the olives as they fall. Use a long pole to knock the branches or a special rake or hop into the tree and watch the olives go.
Collecting the fruit is simple, gather up the cloth and tip the fallen olives into a bucket. Then it is off to the presses.
There are a number of Olive Presses around, so check the Yellow Pages for the closest one to you. The olives are weighed and then tipped into a stainless steel hopper where a conveyor takes them to be washed.
A vibrating table removes leaves, stalks and other impurities, leaving only the fruit to roll on. The olives are then milled into a pulp which is pushed into a ‘malaxer’; this machine mixes the pulp, turning it into a fine even paste. The paste is then pumped into a centrifuge where the oil, water and pulp are separated. The water and paste are removed leaving only the pure olive oil to be collected and decanted.
The first thing you notice about fresh olive oil is its strong green colouring. Now this is called Extra Virgin it is pure olive oil, intensely flavoured and the absolute best quality. It can be used straight away, however, letting it stand for 2 to 3 months, allows the sediment to settle and the oil to turn a lovely golden colour.
When it comes to olives, oils ain’t oils. The amount of oil an olive produces will vary from variety to variety, the best types return around 20% their weight in oil.
Older varieties like Manzanillo and Koroneki along with a couple of new ones like Leccino and Picholine are all good oil producers
Why not have a go at making your own, pure and fresh olive oil, remember, you will need plenty of olives if you want plenty of oil. If you can’t, then look at buying a locally produced one and that is the good oil from the gurus.
AS SEEN ON 
