the olive crop

It may be taken for granted , but the human factor is of fundamental importance in the harvesting operations, because for people working the land and living in the country oil represents not only the fruit of their work, but also their philosophy of life. So the characteristics of this oil are the final result of the rigorous application of rules followed skillfully in the whole working cycle: in the olives harvesting, in their processing and in the oil preservation. That’s why the olives picked from the tree between the last week of September and the first one of October are not completely ripe. To protect both the fruits and the plants, olives are hand-plucked directly from the tree, as soon as olives’ colour begins changing, that is at the beginning of ripening. After a first grading, olives are laid down carefully in small boxes and immediately carried to the crushing mill, within eight hours from the crop.

Oil production

The technological factor is of fundamental importance only in this phase of working.

The crushing mill has been selected out of the area boundaries : Basile Bros chose Padova’s crusher in Pozzallo because there olives are processed at low temperature , so oil extraction is less aggressive : in this way its organoleptic characteristics are preserved for a longer time. The quantity of obtained oil is surely much lower (about 12% less), but Rosa and Giorgio Basile have an eye to quality rather than quantity.

The two-stage olive pressing assures a reduction of friction. The olive paste is braked another time at low temperature (less than 26°) for about 30 minutes and this cold working avoids loss of fragrance.

The final extraction of oil takes place by a three-phase centrifugation. At the end of processing , the oil is preserved in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature with an antioxidant system. At last, after a period of natural decantation and clarification, the production cycle ends in the bottling of oil in a sterile environment.