The various production phases of the Doges' extravirgin olive oil of the Farm Bruno Casagrande

THE PROMPT PICKING AT THE RIGHT LEVEL OF MATURITY 
  The oil quality is heavily influenced by the olives maturity level: the picking is executed at the start of the maturation phase (‘invaiatura’ that means ‘to become dark’: when the olive begins to change colour, presenting however the pulp still clear).
  The picking is prompt and continues for a month at maximum, following the maturity graduation and then picking first the more early varieties and afterwards the more late ones. The olive picking happens manually with the support of special equipments: the fruit are subsequently carried to the mill with fit vehicles and directly crushed.
  We take great care to maintain intact the health fruit until the moment of crushing, for prevent the triggering of reactions of hydrolysis and oxidation of the oil contained in the olive fruit, what would lead to increasing the free acidity and the number of peroxides. The olives are never picked from the ground.

THE FIRM OIL MILL
  The our modern mill (with press made by ‘Rapanelli’) has a continuous module with centrifugation and possibility of separating the oil by percolation: the olives are pressed in the same day of the picking. The oil is extracted without heating and the temperature is continuously controlled in every working phase. We take care of every moment of the transformation.

DEFOLIATION
  The effective defoliation enables to improve considerably the quality, eliminating the perceivable taste of sour-bitter (typical of the leaf); it cause also a smaller content of chlorophyll with positive effects on the storability of the oil.

WASHING
  It serves to guarantee the best cleanliness of the olives before the crushing, always for eliminating sensations of dirt and soil in the oil.

CRUSHING
  The adjustment of crushing depends on the maturity phase and on the olives variety.

KNEADING
  In this operation the olive paste is slowly shaken to make easy the oil aggregation in drops with dimensions such as to enable the following separation by centrifugation. Times, temperatures and quantity of air in contact with the paste in kneading are the key-parameters of this operation in order to the oil quality.
Times. The kneading lenght is defined according to the olives variety and the maturation phase: normally it changes from 20 to 30 minutes; higher times would lead to a bigger yield of oil, but with decline of its quality, facilitating the reactions of oxidation to damage of the unsaturated fatty acids and of degradation of the phenolic antioxidant.
Temperatures. The oil is extracted without heating and then the temperature in the various working phases get maintained under 27° C. Higher temperatures lead to bigger oil yields, but cause a larger oil oxidation and appearance of bad tastes as burnt, rancid and metallic.
Air quantity. With correct kneading lenght, the time of the contact of the air with the paste is reduced to the minimum as also the oxidation of the oil.

EXTRACTION
  It happens with a continuous method in three phases; yield from olives to oil: 11-14% (this is a low yield because the olives are picked just at the colour change, the extraction is without heating and the kneading times are correct).