Cold Pressed? ...First pressed?

We are being constantly asked… are your olive oils “cold pressed”? Is this the “first pressed” batch you’re selling me?

We consciously decided with Petros back during launch and bottle label design times not to use those popular terms on our Papa’s Grove packaging. The reason is simple. They do not apply anymore in modern olive oil production and extraction methods!

These terms stem from the not so distant past, when olive oil making was primarily made from the pressing of layers of olive paste in huge oil presses (pic attached). Back then, the first oil that run down from the press was considered superior in quality and phenolic content. The pressing procedure was repeated a few more times, tightening the screws a bit more every time, in order to “get it all out”. And these follow up batches yielded olive oil with more pulp and less purity.

Oil presses also used to overheat after a while. Machines got hotter the more they worked throughout the day. Olive oil quality starts to get affected and phenolic content destroyed when temperatures rise. Back in the day it was essential to be first guy in the day or the first guy after afternoon “siesta” extracting olive oil, so that the machines would still be cold! Keeping the extraction process under 26o Celsius meant the oil qualified as “cold pressed”! Loads of under the table negotiation was going on between producers and factory press owners in getting those slots 

[Of course being first in the day naturally meant that you would have not plucked the olives that same day… they would been at least a night sitting in a bag or basket, which also defeats another rule of proper olive oil making: extracting the olive oil within a few hours they come off the trees!]

Modern olive oil extraction methods have naturally advanced. The oil is (mostly) nowadays extracted with the method of decanter centrifugation. You can read about specifics on the internet  or maybe my next post but the point here is that modern machinery ISO certified, which Papa’s Grove is using, ensures that during this process temperatures never exceed 26oC. This means that by definition these days properly handled and extracted Extra Virgin Olive Oil is “cold” and certainly not pressed. First or last!

Habit and marketing are the two most powerful tools in consumer behaviour. Prolonging the usage of those outdated terms by many brands probably serves them well.

It was our conscious choice not to mislabel, not to misguide, not to missell even if this meant losing out on some customers fixated to those terms.

Education helps. Understanding helps. Until then we hope you trust us that with us you’re only getting the best.

Kalimera!