Imperial Valley press., 1912-12-04
HOME MADE OLIVE OIL

Written for the California CultivalOr
by l.. j. Phelps: | beg to submit for
the benefit of your readers method
of making a small amount of olive oil
for family use. | have followed the
plan for number of years with per
feet success.
When picking the olives for picking
leave all the small ones on the trees
Some time in the next month or two
when | have leisure ] go through the
grove again and pick as many of the
small ones as | wish for oil. | get
one gallon of oil from about so pounds
of olives. | spread The fruit out in
drying trays So that they stand not
more than one inch deep and stack
the trays in the shed with strips be
tween or stack cr0ssways to allow
ventilation. They remain thus til
some time during the winter. when
the berries have become somewhat
shriveled. This part is not necessary,
hut they work better when about one
quarter dry.
Some day in January or February
when it rains too hard to work out :
side | make my oil. As the weather
is uSuSally cool enough to CONCEAL the
oil it is necessary to provide some
artificial heat. ! first put a quantity
of the berries in tub of warm wa
ter. about 100 degrees, then grind
them through my cider mill into tub
| have prepared some squares of bur
lap about twice the size of the crib
of my press and pack the crushed
olives in the crib in layers with the
burlap after the time honored meth :
od of building cheese in a cider
Stats between the layers
For a settling tank take a iO-gal-
Ion olive cask. knock ont the head
bore a half-inch hole in the side near
the bottom Tor spigot and stand a
piece Of inch gas pipe in it just
long enough To reach above the side
Into this tank put the juice a,
ii comes from the press. When the
cheese is as dry as can get it |
take il from The press. strip the lay
erS of pOmace from the burlap, throw
them into a tub and heat them ,p
with warm water, not hot. and press
them the second time, after which |
throw the pomace away.
] usually let tile second cheese stand
in the press until the next day fore
ing down the screw from time to time
If my settling tank Is not full when
have finished all my olives. | nearly
till it with warm wafer to facilitate
skimming off the oil. pouring the wa
ter from the spout of teakettle
through the gas pipe So that the wa
ter enters the bottom without disturb
ing the oil on the surface.
The juice should he allowed 10 stand
in the settling tank two or three weeks,
occasionally drawing off few quarts
Of the liquid from the spigot and re
placing il with warm wafer through
the pipe. When a considerable depth
OF oil has appeared on the surface
skim il off with spoon. being care
ful not TO disturb the turhid Juice be
low the oil until the last skimming.
Then when have got all the clear oil
take about an inch of the juice off
and place it i'll a small open vessel to
re skinned again later
For tiItpring The oil | use 4 common
tin funnel. lining il with galvanized
mosquito netting and using common
filter paper. prOcurabIe at any drug
store.
suppose that / get only about half
the oil out of the olives by this meth
Cd, but what gel is far superior io
anything that can be bought on the
market. II is The first new virgin
oil. The last run under heavy ny
draulic pressure is not really fit for
table use, but the manufacturers mix
it in with the virgin Oil, thereby in
creasing the volume at Inc expense Of
the quality.