ORGANIC Olive oil/Spain

Since 1853, the Valderrama family has been cultivating their olive grove with care and dedication. That is a prerequisite for virgin olive oil extra of exquisite quality. Back in 1920, José M. Valderrama's grandfather founded the first olive oil factory on the family's finca property in Montilla, around 50 km northeast of Córdoba. The combination of 100 years family experience and tradition with modern technology standards make Valderrama so special. Immediate processing of the olives guarantees a product of high quality. It only takes some 45 minutes from the harvesting until the first drops of "fresh olive juice" are extracted. This results in a maximum of aroma and taste of the final product.

Thanks to the gentle production process of the olive variety "ocal", the fully ripe olives produce a very mild olive oil with a fruity-fresh taste. The bitter taste and scratchy throat sensation of many other olive oils are hardly perceptible in this oil. The mild, fruity taste of this olive oil makes it a special Mediterranean enjoyment. It is ideal for Mediterranean salads, tapas and warm dishes - and too precious to be used for frying.

The olive plantation is situated in the province of Córdoba, near Montilla. On the finca San Rafael, you can find around 12 000 old olive trees of the varieties Arbequinos, Hojiblancos, Picudos and Ocales - some of them are more than 100 years old.

Production process and extraction of olive oil

The production process starts with the harvesting of fully ripe olives. They are shook from the trees  through strong vibration or with combs, collected on a clean blanket and transported to the oil mill in baskets. In the oil mill, the freshly harvested olives are washed first and milled only few minutes later.

Both the pulp and the kernel and crushed between two grinding discs to a fine paste, containing olive oil. In the next step, the paste is centrifuged to separate the olive oil from watery pulp. The extraction of the olive oil only takes a few minutes and the temperature in the gentle production process does not exceed 20 °C. This entirely mechanical process preserves the valuable ingredients of the olive oil as far as possible. Around 9 to 10 kg fully ripe olives are needed to produce one liter of precious olive oil.

The entire process of the olives, from the tree to storage in olive oil tanks is completed within a few hours. The oil is stored well chilled and covered with inert gas (nitrogen) to prevent oxidation of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids until bottling.

An especially mild and fruity oil of the rare olive variety ocal. It does not taste bitter and does not scratch the throat.
Ideal for salads or Spanish tapas, for fish or meat marinades, cheese and antipasti. Goes well with baguette or bread as a simple yet delicious starter.