THE PROCESS
At “Aceitunas Escamilla” we still pick our own olives following the traditional method: by hand, one at a time. Thus we avoid damage of the fruits. After harvesting we use the most modern technology in our 41,000 m2 big installations.
Once we receive the fruits from the field, we start cleaning the olives removing any branches, leaves and mature fruits (which aren’t of use for seasoning). We separate these elements using technological advances as our sorting machine, which can separate the green olives, used for seasoning, from the mature fruits which are used later on in a different process.
After they have been cleaned, the olives are treated with an alkaline solution which extracts the bitterness of the olives and afterwards they are washed properly and placed into brine for posterior fermentation and conservation. Once finished this part of the process the olives could be consumed. At Escamilla we prepare them in different ways, with stones or stoneless, stuffed, seasoned, etc.
Each day we process more than 350,000 kg in our packaging line, offering glass, tin or pouch solutions.
The green olives are picked before they are ripe and when they have a normal size. These olives are firm, sound and resist a slight pressure with the fingers. They don’t have any spots than the ones due to their natural pigmentation. The color of the olive goes from green to yellow.
Natural or purple olives are produced from rose, rose wine or brown colored fruits which are harvest once they are ripe.