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<pre>Peter

>While the delay at the oil mill does cause problems with the olives, I
>disagree that going to modern methods is not always the best path to take.

I agree with your statement above.


>A large number of the high quality (and high priced) oil on the market are
>from small mills that do traditional methods.

Traditional methods are always high cost due to the extensive labor and the
high maintenance required to operate the mill. It requires significantly
more people to operate the mill at a lower production yield, thus the
average cost per liter of olive oil produced is much higher. That is why
the selling price of the olive oil is higher.

>Crushing with the
>traditional stone millstones (some bottles have pictures of such stones or
>the method is mentioned on the label) and pressed with an upright (usually
>hydraulic) press, giving "cold pressed" oil.

Don't the heavy granite stones generate heat due to pressure on the olives
during the 30 minutes crushing period? We got rid of ours back in 1972,
when we got our first continuos plant. Our traditional mill was one of a
handful in the region at that time. However, we introduced the separator
"DeLaval" back in the early 50s.

>Most of the people I've talked to in my research prefer the cold pressed
>oil to oil produced at centrifugal mills. I think as modern bulk produced
oil
>erodes the market of the traditionally produced oil, taste preferences
shift
>towards the modern oil as it is the only oil people are then accustomed
too.
>I found the oils produced at the traditional mills to be much more
flavorful and
>exciting than the oil from the modern mills I visited. I think it would
>be to the benefit of all that some traditional mills continue to produce,
>rather than switching over to the centrifugal process. Proper exposure
>and sales could allow them to produce a quality product.

You might be right. I currently have a bottle of olive oil from Lebanon
that was produced using the traditional method. I like it, but I prefer the
oil from the new methods. There might be a few mills around that still
produce the best olive oil using the traditional method, but they are very
few. As far as I know the Italian manufacturers quit making the vertical
presses back in the 70s (you might recall Barakane and the old Rapanelli
presses). I would love to see a statistics about the sale of "New or Used
(remanufactured)" traditional mills vs. "New or Used (remanufactured)'
continuos plants. If anyone on this list have this information, please post
it.

Peter, since you have visited some of these old mills with the traditional
method I am sure you have difference the difference in the cleanliness of
the mill itself compared to the new mills. What guaranties do you have that
the mats were cleaned properly after each use? What about the wells they
keep the oil in, are they perfectly clean? In many of these mills they
don't even have a separator, so they keep the oil in settling tanks to
separate the vegetable water.

As you can see I am a full supporter of the new methods because of the
overall advantages. Mill owners in Jordan compete in providing the best
quality service at reasonable cost and fast production rate.

Sincerely
Jamal Sadoun

P.S. Dear members, even though I love the recipes being posted on the list,
a few members have complained to me, as the list manager, that the recent
posts have been dominantly recipes. May I suggest that if you are planning
to post a recipe that you start the subject line with (Recipe: then the
name of the food). Thank you.
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