Something like 40% of the world's production of olive oil is from Spain. Olive oil production used to be a major industry on the island and many farms had their own mills. Oli verge de la Serra de Tramuntana (virgin olive oil of the Sierra de Tramuntana) is still obtained from Mallorcan olives that are grown at an altitude of between 300m and 600m. According to the manager of the refugi, it is now a cottage industry as people are prepared to pay a premium for oil made in the "traditional" way.
In the refugi* where I am staying, the traditional press can still be found and there are plans to make this part of the building a museum as well as set up a new press to encourage locals to produce oil from this area.
cuixera-leg (thigh)
bassi-puddle
biga-beam
cavall-where the horse is attached
quintar-500 kg stone weight
cofto-
formal-furnace
fumeral-chimney
pica-sink
trull-mill
premsa de biga-press beam
Traditionally, the olives were ground into paste using large millstones (a horse was attahed to the machinery and walked in circles.). The olive paste generally stayed under the stones for 30 to 40 minutes. After grinding, the olive paste was spread on disks, which were stacked on top of each other in a column, then placed into the press. Pressure separated the vegetal liquid from the paste. Traditionally the oil was shed from the water by gravity but now the process has been replaced by centrifugation.
The optimum temperature for oil extraction is around 25 degrees centigrade.
Inside the cauldron (second grade oil is produced by adding hot water and then extracting the oil)
tremuja-hopper
rutlo-maybe some type of grinding stone
sumola-looks like the tray were the oil is collected
arbre-tree (?)
*These are like hostels and there area number of them on the western side of the island. They are popular bases for walkers (If you took all the tracks, the distance is around 300 kms)
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