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Let's not have the wrong idea that France is a very great
producer of this so healthful oil. They have an interior need every year of
24,000 tons of which only 2000 comes from their own soil. And it is in the area
between the chaine des Alpilles, vallee des Baux to more south that we have the
greatest density of olive trees in France. A lot of (connoisseur) oil gourmets
pretend that the taste of the French olive oil is too sharp. They prefer a
melange of different foreign olive oils with the French one that should be (in
their opinion) milder.
But how did the olive tree get into France? It seems that
the Ionic Greeks, who brought these plants to the just created Massilia (later
Marseille) planted the olive tree all around their colony. Another important
source were the Phoenicians. Carrying with them some plants, growing abundantly
at the foot of the mountain Lebanon, and having set up a large number of trade
settlements along the Mediterranean, they imported the plant through Spain, despite the oil continued for a while to be imported from
the Iberian peninsula.It is exclusively the "oleo europea" specie and
the "oleo europaea sativa" that are used. The first one should be an
excellent homeopathic cure against high blood pressure, the second is the one
whose fruit (olives) we all eat.
And what about the colour? Why green or black? Well, it's very simple. The colour is only function of the period of the
year when the olive is harvested. Green in the start of the harvest (September)
to black at the end (February). This harvesting is an expensive operation, hand
picking costs a lot today (social costs, syndicates) despite the new method of
using machines that shake the trees heavily and picking the fallen olives from a
plastic safety net. This method necessitates of course wider planting spaces and
that diminishes the output and efficiency .
And how is the oil extracted? There are three phases,
impossible to avoid. First break the skin, pressing the pasta which is left of
the olive and finally the cleaning and filtering of the pressed oil of all the
remnants and scorias that are still polluting the olive oil. The best and purest oil is what is called "huile
vierge, premiere pression a froid". How is this obtained ? Let's leave the
different methods dating already from the Romans, but let's just explain the way
they obtained this pure olive oil from the 19th century on.
Hydraulic activated metal piston presses crush the olives
(after a rest of a few days). Then the obtain a "pasta" that is
"spread " on absorbing large disks, piled up one on each other and
submitted to a pressure of 100 kg per square centimeter. The obtained mixture of
water and oil is now sent into a centrifugal machine which separates finally the
pure olive oil. This is labelled in French: "huile vierge, premiere
pression a froid".
Provencals believe strongly that olive oil is ideal for keeping white teeth, getting lissom, shining hair, against wrinkles,
breaking nails and constipation!
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