First Pressed Versus Cold Extracted?
First cold pressing is an outdated concept, but is still used as it is were a mantra. Before the appearance of continuoius manufacturing systems currently used in the vast mayorityof mills, the only extraction system for olive oil was that of presses (hydraulic press). After each harvest, the olives were deposited in stone mills or in beam presses that squeezed the fruits to obtain all their juice. The first juice that was extracted and cold pressed directly was of higher quality than those obtained on subsequent pressings. At the present, extra virgin olive oil is produced using cold extraction with centrifuges at a temperature of less than 27C, a system that guarantees maximun quality by preserving all the organoleptic and nutritiional properties of the olive juice intact.