Beyond the Ranch

Harvest 2017 Recap

Here at Pasolivo, harvest is one of the most exciting times of the year! This process only happens once a year and lasts anywhere from 2-3 weeks. If you have...

Harvest 2017 Recap

Here at Pasolivo, harvest is one of the most exciting times of the year! This process only happens once a year and lasts anywhere from 2-3 weeks. If you have ever wondered how olives get turned into olive oil, we have all of the equipment and tools needed for this process at the Pasolivo Ranch. All of our olives are grown, picked, and milled on-site and we do not use any chemicals or heat which is required of true extra virgin olive oil. The first step in this process is picking the olives. Here at Pasolivo, we have over 6,500 olive trees on our property and 11 different olive varieties. Every day we have a minimum of 80 people hand-picking. Olives are moved by tractor to the mill where they are unloaded into the hopper. The olives are lined up and ready to be milled Bins of olives are transferred from the olive trees to the mill The hopper is a machine that helps to separate the leaves from the olives. This is the cleaning process where stems, leaves, twigs, and debri are removed. The olives go through the hopper and then are then washed with water to remove dirt and pesticides. A tractor moves a bin of olives to the hopper The olives are dumped into the hopper which will help rid the olives of debri, stems, and dirt The olives are cleaned and washed of stems and debri The olives are then given a "bath" before turning into paste The final cleanse before the olives get turned into oil The olives are ground into an oatmeal-like paste. This process was created to release the oil from the olives. The oil is first cold pressed so there is no heat that is added during this process and the olives...