urgent
Description
Our oil mill began operations in 1996 and over the past twenty-five years has progressed from traditional processing with a stone mill and three hydraulic presses to a modern facility, one of the best in Dalmatia. The modernization of the mill and working conditions has contributed to the recognizable quality of our olive oil.
Processing olives accounts for approximately 30% of the quality of the produced olive oil.
At the Barčot oil mill, oil processing is carried out using a cold process on the world's most advanced machines, produced by the Swedish company Alfa Laval, a leader in this industry.
The olives are first separated from branches and leaves, washed of impurities in clean water, and ground with two different mills to achieve the finest possible molecules and a homogeneous mixture/paste. The mill has the capability for partial correction of the pungency and bitterness flavor profile, achieved by varying the grinding speed of the fruit. Afterward, the resulting mixture is pumped into mixers. Mixing is the most crucial phase of the processing, which largely determines the positive and negative properties of the oil. At the Barčot mill, the mixers are hermetically sealed and independent of each other to reduce oxidation and produce the highest quality oil. The mixture is processed in the mixers for about thirty minutes to break the oil-in-water emulsion and then the oil droplets combine to a size suitable for separation. After mixing, three-phase decanting of the mixture follows, where the oil is separated to one side, dry pomace to another, and vegetative water from the olives to a third side. Finally, a separator ensures that the oil contains minimal sediment and water, and that the oil percentage is optimal.
It is very important that during the processing, the chemical composition and oxidative stability of the olive oil are preserved, which directly depend on the temperature and mixing time. At the Barčot mill, all processing stages (the entire processing process) are carried out at a temperature below 27°C, controlled by computer, minimizing the possibility of error.
Automatically translated from Croatian