## 1 Introduction
The olive is classified as a drupe [17], a fruit with a kernel, with an oval form and a weight between 0.5 and 20 g. The olive structure is composed of an epidermis (epicarps), pulp (mesocarp rich in oil) and a kernel (endocarp). The epicarp is commonly called the peel or skin and represents 1-3% of drupe weight. The epicarp contains the chlorophyll responsible for the green colour in unripe fruits, as well as carotenoids and anthocyanins responsible for the dark violet colours in matured fruits. The mesocarp, known as pulp, accounts for 70-80% of fresh fruits and is rich in oil. The endocarp, known as the kernel, accounts for 18-22% of whole fruits and is composed of lignified cells with the seed inside [18]. The chemical composition of olives varies according to the variety, growth phase of the fruits and the weather. On average, olive mesocarp is composed of 22% oil, 50% water, 1.6% proteins, 19.1% carbohydrates, 5.8% cellulose and 1.5% minerals [19; 20]. Other important compounds present in olive fruit are pectin, organic acids, pigments and phenols [21]. These particular nutritional and functional characteristics of the olive drupe and olive oil suggest that these OBs have great potential in food preparations. In addition to the stabilising properties of the emulsions due to the composition of OBs, the presence of antioxidant elements from the drupe can confer a non-negligible functionality and, at the same time, a longer shelf-life [22]. Another relevant consideration is related to the extraction method used to obtain the OBs. Most OBs can be extracted using an aqueous medium or an organic solvent, mainly hexane. The key difference is that in the first case, an oil-in-water emulsion is obtained, with intact or partially disrupted OBs, while a solution of oil in an organic solvent is produced in the second case, with a remarkable impact on health and environment [23]. An aqueous extraction method consists usually of a series of mechanical steps. Usually, the first step is the wet grinding in which the seeds are homogenised in a medium, and in a second step, the slurry is filtered. The filtrate is centrifuged appropriately. Successively, an upper layer called \"cream\" is recovered, resuspended in a fresh medium and washed by a further centrifugation step [24]. Here, for the first time, the olive paste was used as a raw material for the extraction. Olive paste is an intermediate in the olive oil production process obtained by milling olive drupes. First, we performed OBs extraction using a conventional extraction aqueous method broadly used for oleaginous seeds [24], by adapting it for our raw material. Thus, we defined a first extraction method for the olive paste, so-called \"Method 1\". Despite the improvements applied, comparing it to the patent protocol [24], Method 1 was time-consuming and hence not so competitive for a desirable scenario of an industrial application. Afterwards, we were successful in defining an extremely rapid and simple protocol in order to define an enhanced method specific for olive paste, called \"Method 2\". Plainly, we chose the faster and easier method to extract the OBs and then we made a full characterisation and conducted a morphological analysis of its extracted cream. In other words, our goal was to define a simple extraction method for obtaining the \"cream\", which might be adopted in the manufacture of novel food products by substituting the oil/fat droplets of the traditionally prepared food product with oil droplets naturally emulsified. Due to the proteins present in the OBs, it may be possible to use them as emulsifiers. Moreover, we have re-evaluated an intermediate product (i.e., the olive paste) as a raw and key material for an innovative process such as OBs extraction. We believe that the OBs could be used as emulsifiers in the food emulsion industries to prepare mayonnaise and whipping and cooking creams.