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Originally Posted by weaseldog2001
Hello, I joined the original forum, after purchasing two olive trees for my large suburban yard. Though I have no intention of being an commercial producer, I am interested in olives and oils on a hobby basis.
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Welcome, and be warned, there are plenty of simple questions but the answers may be far from simple!!
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Originally Posted by weaseldog2001
I planted the trees in early spring and they show signs of getting over their transplant shock. They are still small, only a few feet high. They haven't grown much since planting but they are throwing out some new leaves. I realize it will be years before I see any olives from them, but I am patient.
My trees are Mission and Lucca varieties.
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From memory, Mission are a "dual purpose" cultivar, so you should be able to get reasonable oil from them early in the season, and brine the later fruit for eating. Not sure about Lucca.
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Originally Posted by weaseldog2001
As I'm interested in only very small scale production, any equipment I purchase will be hand operated. I'd also like to make it dual purpose so that I can use it for other fruits, vegetables, nuts etc... Can a fruit press be used effectively for small scale use?
I've purchased a cast iron, Enterprise 12 Quart Fruit Press that I will be picking up this weekend. It's first use will be for the 50-100lbs of mustang grapes I'm expecting this year. Will this be an effective tool for pressing olives?
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I'll leave this to others to comment on as I have no knowledge of the beast you are getting. (12 quart?? That's an odd measure for a fruit press?
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Originally Posted by weaseldog2001
Also, can grain mills be used for milling olives?
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Probably not. The mill I use in my Enorossi Mod80 press is a hammer mill that drops the fruit through a set of 4 rotating hammers. These smash the olives through a stainless seive which has holes (about 5mm diameter) in a ring of 5mm plate. It has to be that thick to withstand the ounding it gets from all the bits of fruit and pit.
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Originally Posted by weaseldog2001
Jack Dingler
North Central Texas, USA
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I hope you get some assistance from others in the forum, and hope your trees survive the shocks of winter. Let us know how they get on, won't you!
Cheers
John Attwood
Tamworth NSW Au