Olive Pressing
The following information is for those who wish "The Press House" to turn their harvested olives into delicious Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
"The Press House" operates a traditional hydraulic press which extracts oil from olive pomace (ground up olives) under pressure of up to 5,400 pounds per square inch. It is a batch process where up to 90 kg of olives are pressed at a time.
Olives are harvested during April and May each year. Different varieties ripen at different times and are green through black when harvested. A "squeeze test" on an olive to see if it contains oil will determine when it is ready for pressing.
Do not start picking your olives until you have arranged for someone to press them as once picked olives must be pressed with in 24/48 hours or they will rot and become unusable.
BOOKING & CONTACT DETAILS
The press can be found at:
163 Midgley Road, Mangonui, Northland 0494
Contact Keith & Anne-Marie:
thepresshouse@xtra.co.nz Tel: 09 406 2115
MAKE A BOOKING FOR PRESSING YOUR OLIVES
Terms & Conditions
It is essential to make a booking for the pressing of your olives as far in advance as possible as press time is allocated on a first come basis.
The press operates from the first booked pressing sometime at the start of April to the last booking sometime in May. The press will close without notice when there are no more bookings to service so please make sure your pressing requirements are known well in advance to ensure you have a pressing scheduled.
When making a booking please advise the approximate weight of the olives to be delivered as this is required to determine the number of batches that will need to be pressed. Please see below for batch calculation information.
You will be expected to fill the number of batches determined at the time of booking. If booked batches are not filled then a charge for the unfilled batch(s) will be levied at invoice time. (Please see price list below for current charge)
All bookings must be for multiple batches of olives unless otherwise agreed at the time of booking. If a single batch of olives is to be pressed for a customer and no other pressings are booked for the pressing day then a single batch surcharge will apply. The Press House will endeavour to book olive batches from multiple customers on any day to avoid the levy of a surcharge on any customer.
We loan picking baskets, free of charge, if you require them so please arrange for these to be available when making a booking
DELIVERY OF OLIVES TO THE PRESS
It is essential that all olives delivered to the press are fresh and ready for processing by adhering to the following rules:
- All olives are to be delivered to the press house the afternoon/evening before pressing unless otherwise arranged when the booking is made
- NB: Please deliver the booked weight of olives as there may not be capacity to press over weight olives unless prior warning is given.
- Batches of olives must be between 75 - 90 kg each. A maximum weight of 360 kg can be pressed per day. I.e. 4 batches of 90 kg per day. Please calculate the weight delivered to the press so that multiple batches can be pressed. E.g. 240 kg = 3 batches of 80 kg each. Olives which are in excess of booked batches will be returned to the owner.
- Disease fruit will not be pressed. E.G. Leccino are prone to a fungal disease and any affected fruit must be removed before delivery or they can not be pressed.
- Olives picked more than 48 hours before delivery will not be pressed regardless of how they are stored prior to delivery. Cool store storage is not an option as this degrades the quality and yield of the final oil.
- Olives which contain a high proportion of bad/rotten fruit will not be pressed.
- Leaves affect the taste of the final oil and small twigs block the water flow of the olive cleaning machine. So, no leaves or twigs - some stalks are OK as long as they are not excessive. The above picture shows a typical basket of olives ready for processing. Non de-leafed olives will be rejected for pressing and returned to the owner.
COLLECTING YOUR OIL
Suitable containers are to be provided by you to take away your oil. These are to be clean and suitable for the transportation of the olive oil and must be delivered at the same time as delivering the olives for pressing. Sealed, purpose made containers are preferred to prevent oil spillage. Open containers/buckets with sealing tops will be accepted with the proviso that it is the customers responsibility to ensure they are correctly sealed prior to transportation of the oil to avoid spillage.
Please allow for at least 22 litres of oil per 90 kg pressing.
Your oil will be available from 10:00 am the day after pressing unless otherwise arranged when booking