The harvest.

Harvest:

Manual:

The olives destined to the processing must be healthy and intact. The best method is the direct harvest made by hand from the tree, which also is the most ancient technique, whether is utilized by the natural fall of the fruit (drop) or when is made manually (picking). In both cases it's necessary the use of nets to collect the fruits, because it prevents the damages, due to the breaking of the fruit at contact with the ground and its destructive agents. This is the method used by the company.

Mechanical:

Generally, the machines are based on the principle of shaking the tree or the branches; a good portion of the fruit is collected with the nets, a small fraction slips to the collecting system and is eventually recuperated later. The olives recuperated later can, depends by the modality and the collecting times, be of inferior quality in respect to the ones recuperated right away, and therefore not capable (or less prone) of giving an olive oil of quality. The mechanic harvesting is valid especially when the olive grove has an installation fit for the utilization of the machines, whether for the structure or the ripening times. Our company does not use this method.

The possible fruit damages:

Except the infestation, it's important to remember that the fruit integrity is an indispensable condition to the preparation of a quality olive oil. The abrasion of the fruit, in anyway done, generates, especially at the contact with the ground, a series of enzymatic actions that tends to alter the oil contained in the cells. In particular there are a number of enzymatic autooxidation reactions and the proliferation, at the expense of the fruit, of microorganisms that give a bad taste to the olive oil.

The olive's transportation:

Even if there isn't a necessity for particular machinery to transport the olives, it's useful to remind that in this stage damages could happen. The olive is a fruit and like any fruits is vulnerable to bumps. Even if the main purpose of the olive harvest is the transformation in oil the presence of damages in the fruit and an extension of the pressing times, cause irreparable damages to the quality. For this reason we should avoid a bulk loading, but care to prepare containers that allow the creation of layers not to thick, about 25 cm which permits stacking in a relative limited space, without causing compressions. In fact, for this reason the company utilizes plastic cases well aired so to avoid the olives overheating.

The olive's storage:

There are different methods of storage, which reduces at minimum the damages that could be done to the fruit. The company does not consider any methods, since the olives go to the transformation within a few hours from the harvest.

The principal conservation methods:

There are two main actions that the enzymes contained in the fruit can do: one hydrolytic and one oxidative because of the presence of lipase and of lipoxidase in an environment considerably watery. The hydrolytic action prevails on the oxidative one because of mechanic problems related to the transportation of oxygen inside the fruit, very easy only when the fruit is badly damaged. Because the above indicated actions can affect the oils quality, two are the determinative factors: the non integrity of the fruit that has the double function to put in contact, through the cells rupture, the oil and the enzyme, and also to provide oxygen through the contact of air. Enzymatic systems different from the olives own could be present as a result of the pulp contact with the ground and the establishment of colonies in microorganism's development. The other factor is obviously the preservation time of the fruit that tends to grow exponentially. It can also be affirmed that as a general guideline the first result of the alterations is against the organoleptic qualities more then the chemical characteristics. Often, as confirmation of the entity of the transformation happened, it can be observed alteration of a certain degree, at level for example of the minor components. In any case it's preferable to harvest as promptly as possible the fruits, avoiding their contact with the ground, and preserved not in bulk but in aired containers in layers of about 25 cm. This method is not very costly in regard of space, but really productive in regard of conservation. Any other method of conservation (in watery solution variously treated, in inert atmospheres, in refrigerators etc.) turns out inapplicable in part for technical reasons, in part for the costs, but mainly for quality protection.