# Pressing Olives for oil



## wvstuck (Sep 19, 2008)

As part of our long term prepping mindset we are considering options that don't always include lard as the only cooking grease available. While we certainly have plenty of it to render from hogs we were thinking about olive oil. Also we would like a source of olive oil for making Castile soap once things get hard to come by.

Olive oil is simple to produce... Grow olives and press them.

Has anyone here ever made homemade olive oil and if so what kind of press did you use. I have an extra fruit press that is small and wondered if it would work for olives.

The shelf life of homemade olive oil seems to be less than that of commercial olive oil.... Anyone know for sure.

***Picture of the extra press I picked up at a yard sale for $5.00***


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## Becka03 (Mar 29, 2009)

this is a very cool idea! I hope someone can answer for you! I do not live in an area that I can grow them!


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## MawKettle (Sep 13, 2006)

Love the idea - but aren't olive trees really hard to grow in the US????

I thought they were most at home in either the Med or in California?

:shrug:


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

wvstuck said:


> Olive oil is simple to produce... Grow olives and press them.
> 
> Has anyone here ever made homemade olive oil and if so what kind of press did you use. I have an extra fruit press that is small and wondered if it would work for olives.


I haven't done it but at the cooking academy we were instructed and given hands on demonstrations on how olive oil is made. 

Do you have the equipment for grinding up the whole olives with (or without) the pits? A fruit press will work for pressing out the oil but the olives and usually the pits too, have to be ground up into a paste first. If the olives are pitted first you can do that but it's time consuming and the olive fruit still has to be ground up into a paste before it can be either pressed or put through a centrifuge.

Here is the traditional Spanish method for making the different grades of olive oil and what the acid levels have to be. http://www.top-tour-of-spain.com/how-to-make-olive-oil.html

.


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## wvstuck (Sep 19, 2008)

MawKettle said:


> Love the idea - but aren't olive trees really hard to grow in the US????
> 
> I thought they were most at home in either the Med or in California?
> 
> :shrug:


There are a couple of dwarf to semi-dwarf trees that are fairly cold hardy that will grow in zone 6... It's a gamble, but I'd like to try it now, before I depend on it. Small investment for a potentially large gain (not to big a loss if it doesn't work)


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## MawKettle (Sep 13, 2006)

wvstuck said:


> There are a couple of dwarf to semi-dwarf trees that are fairly cold hardy that will grow in zone 6... It's a gamble, but I'd like to try it now, before I depend on it. Small investment for a potentially large gain (not to big a loss if it doesn't work)


I agree completely - please let us know what your progress is!

I've been thinking more of sunflowers for oil (because they SHOULD grow just fine at my altitude)....but I'd really rather have olive trees....

Unfortuneately, our land is in zone 5B....so I'm thinking olives are out and sunflowers are in.

(and corn....lots of corn)


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

That press for five bucks was a great find. Growing olives for oil is a great idea. I saw a show that very briefly showed how they make the oil in italy. They first crushed the olives into a meal with a large rolling stone, then they took the meal and pressed it. 

Another resource for cooking oil are sunflower seeds. People in africa cook with this oil a lot. Same thing, crush them, press them. 

Sun flower is also good for making rope and clothes from the fibers in the stems.


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## KIT.S (Oct 8, 2008)

There is a family about 20 miles north of Salem, Oregon who are growing olive trees. They announced planting their orchard about 3 years ago, so by now they may be getting some olives. 

I saw the same show that City Bound did, and thought my apple juice press would work just great. My son set up a 12 ton hydraulic press from Harbor Freight with a platform and we use a small chipper-shredder to chop the apples. It isn't as pretty, but it works much better than a friend's who has one like you bought (that was a steal! Congrats!).

I'd like to try it myself, but it'll be a while before we can plant more orchard.
Kit


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

one important thing about making olive oil is that you want to make sure that heat from friction is low, heat can make an poor quality oil.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I'm going to look into olive trees... last month, a human interest article on our county surveyor had an in depth look at his .....drum roll.... olive tree grove. He's growing, harvesting, and processing em, less than ten miles away. Thought I'd known they guy... reckon not!!!

I'm thinking, even if olive oil goes rancid, it'd still be good for lamp oil and soap making...


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## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

When I lived in Phoenix I had a few olive trees. It takes about 8-10 years for the tree to get big enough to produce anything worthwhile. Your press should work for the FIRST pressing, but you need a stronger one for the second. Store the oil in glass only in a dark area and it will last a while longer that if stored differently.


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## JuliaAnn (Dec 7, 2004)

I planted some olives about 6 or 7 years ago, varieties adapted to our zone. So far, nothing. I'm hoping in the next couple of years they'll do *something*. The wood is fairly brittle, but they are very drought resistant. Saw an article a while back about people starting olive orchards down by the coast.


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