Processing steps

The Miccoli’s family, the guardians of the secular tradition in the production of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, continue with dedication the project that our dear ancestors had started in the mid- 1800s.

In fact, we are the only ones in Andria in the Apulia region and among the few who continue to produce oil using the ‘cold-pressed’ system, the “old mill ” and ” the historical crushing system”. It’s a process that may seem to be elementary when analyzed a phase at a time, but it gets amazing when viewed as a whole and when you think of the few technological possibilities that existed in the past centuries .

Thanks to technology, there have been many developments in the cultivation and processing of olives. Our company has modernised itself, but it still remains forever connected to the idea of traditional mill .

The olives of our farm are hand-picked and stored inside the mill in some bins or in a space that’s kept for them . Here our workers separate manually the olives from their leaves.

Qui un nostro operaio si occupa della defogliazione delle olive in maniera manuale.
There after, through a steel conveyor belt, called “auger”, the olives get into the tank, called “muller”. The latter consists of a granite base, steel walls and four wheels that are also made of finer granite. The homogeneous crushing of olives depend on their placement inside the tank.

After about 15 minutes the paste of the crushed olives is poured inside another steel tank, containing large propellers that mix the paste in a consistent manner.
Through a dough mixer the paste is homogeneously distributed on the strainer. At this point, a worker takes a strainer and places them on a trolley . By activating the piston below, the trolley is pushed up and strainers, filled with paste are pressed.

Thus, the precious drops of olive oil drop down, still mixed with water. This now go into a large container through the channels.

The vibrating screen the solid substances present are separated from the oil. Practically a steel belt, with hundreds of holes, takes the advantage of the vibration force passing the “water and oil” inside another container and retaining the olive seeds.

Now this mixture of oil and water is ready for vertical separation.
The oil mixed water is brought to the separators, machines that use the physical principle of the centrifugal force. These machines separate them perfectly by rotating at high speed, up to 5000 revolutions per minute. Under these conditions, the water is pumped on the walls far from centrifuge and is collection in specific drainage pipes. The oil, however, flows through central holes and is collected in stainless steel tanks.

Finally, the extra virgin Miccoli olive oil is collected in large underground tanks, placed the appropriate position to store oil in a cool, dry and dark place.

Certainly, the traditional mill uses a slow and laborious process, but it allows us to follow the various stages of processing.
Our goal is to grind a few tons of olives per hour focusing on their careful selection.