2. Introduction
The cultivation of olives and the production of olive oil are
spread mostly in the Mediterranean Area. The European
Union has 70% of world production of olive oil. The major
European producers are: Spain (45 %), Italy (16 %) and
Greece (10 %). Outside the European Union the largest
producer are: Syria and Tunisia.
Italy produces about 550.000 ton. of olive oil and is the
second largest in the world after Spain. The main Italian
regions producers, in the order are: Apulia, Calabria, Sicily,
Campania, Lazio and Abruzzo.
3. The Origin of Olive Trees and Oil
Olive trees appeared for the first time about 6.000
years ago in Asia Minor between the Armenian plateau,
Turkestan and the Pamirs, from where it spread in
Greece and later, thanks to the colonization, also in
Sicily and in the mediterranean coasts. The olive oil
extraction is an activity which has been with humankind
since time immemorial.
From archaeological findings in Crete, it
seems that olive oil was extracted through
the crushing of the olives against a flat
stone. The crushed olives were collected in
basins and pressed with rudimentary stone
mortars and presses. The juice dripped
was collected in “Pithoi”, terracotta
amphoraes used for the storage of olive oil.
4. Key factors in the cultivation of olive trees
• Soil and climate: Olive cultivation is indissolubly linked to
Mediterranean climate, characterized by mild winters, hot dry summers and
rainfall concentrated in the autumn and spring.
• Protection from pests and disease: The defense of the olive
doesn't require a large number of interventions and, especially in cool
climates, it can produce healthy olives with more than two pesticide
treatments annually. The insect key in all Italian regions is the olive fly (olive
fruit fly), whose larvae dig tunnels in the fruit pulp feeding.
• Pruning: Pruning is a necessary practice to be performed taking into
account the prerogatives biological olive, including the natural behavior of the
species and variety, the high vegetative activity, types of buds and branches,
and the alternation of production.
5. Centuries-old olive trees
In Italy there are a lot of old olive trees especially in Apulia
where they are really important for natural heritage, in fact
there are about 15 million centuries-old olive trees and some
exceed the thousand years. This year some ancient olive
groves have been nominated to become World Heritage Site
by Unesco. They have a very large trunk and they usually show
irregularities caused by the various damages suffered over the
time, some of them present such big cavities which would
allow us to go inside. In Sicily there are Saracen olive trees
planted by the Arabs more than a thousand years ago.
8. The importance of the olive harvest
In the production of oil each stage can determine the
quality of the final product, and the harvest in fact must be
done according to specific methods, and in the right period
of maturation. The olives ripen usually in October, on the
coast where temperatures are mitigated by the action of
the sea, or in December and January, in the cooler and
higher areas.
In addition to the type of olives and temperature, the
perfect time for harvesting varies according to seasonal
weather conditions and growing techniques used. So it is
important that the collection takes place at the
appropriate time and with the most appropriate methods
called: shaking, beating with poles, combing, spontaneous
fall and hand picking.
9. Cultivar and different types of olive oil
The olives are similar but are not all equal. We talk of
cultivars or varieties to indicate plants with genetic and
morphological characteristics (scop, form and size) which
produce several different olives and oils. From the cultivar
depend three main characteristics of the oil that is: the
fruity bouquet, feelings of bitterness and pungency. Finally
the level of acidity indicates the quality of the oil.
Name Acidity Extraction methods
Extra virgin oil ≤ 0,8 It is obtained by extraction with only mechanical methods.
Virgin oil ≤ 2,0 It is obtained by extraction with only mechanical methods.
Refined oil ≤ 0,3 It is obtained by rectification of virgin lamp oils with physical
and chemical methods and subsequent refining.
Pomace oil ≤ 1,0 It is obtained by wastes processing of the olives and refining.
10. Extraction of oil
The step of the olive oil production involves the extraction
of oil from olives; this process is done in mills which use the
method to traditional pressure or the method of extraction
by centrifugation.
• Method to traditional pressure (batch process)
• Method of continuous centrifugation with three-phase
system
• Method of continuous centrifugation with two-phase
system
• Method of continuous centrifugation to save water
11. Panel test
After extracting the oil, and completed all the various
processes of decantation, bottling etc it is necessary to
taste it to see if it has the right characteristics for being
considered a good oil. This task is given to the Panel test, it
is an analysis that takes place in a tasting room where 8-12
exeperienced tasters, using a specific dark glass and staying
in a climate-controlled enviroment,
express an opinion on the merits
and defects of the virgin olive oil.
The individual opinion (subjective)
will then be processed to obtain the
objective result of the entire group
of tasters.
12. Olive Oil and Health
The most interesting aspect of the fats contained by the
olive oil is that thanks to its chemical quality, olive oil is
healthy. The olive oil contains monounsaturated fatty
acids, unsaturated and, with reference to the quality of
long oleic fatty acid, olive oil is considered noble for its
chemical properties and its value to food and nutrition.
Polyphenols, compounds responsible for the flavour and
aroma of the oil, are among the most powerful
antioxidants which protect the human body from
degenerative phenomena typical of aging inhibiting the
formation of radicals free, with beneficial effects on the
cardiovascular system, neurological and immune.
13. Made By Giuseppe Romano
Scientific High School ‘Ernesto Basile’
Class 4^A
