Vocational Visit with Bruce and Joo Yee Lieu

Today we were the guests of Bruce and Joo-Yee Lieu at their Olive Farm , Wollundry Olives.

After a great lunch once again supervised by Michael Knight and his team of Wal Paton, David Benn and Wayne Jenkins among others, we were given a very interesting and informative walk around the process of Olive Oil making, in particular Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

The 2000 tree grove consists of mainly four varieties of olive: Nevadillo Blanco and Monzanillo, which are Spanish; Corregiola, Frantoio and Leccinno which are Italian origin, and Kalamarta which is Greek. (Someones phone went off during Bruce's presentation, but it would be cruel to identify him, as there wasnt a Fine Session. He'll bring his mioney next week!)

The various varieties have different characteristics, and produce different taste and colours.

As we went around the shed, we were told that the olives are first washed then mashed to a pulp, seeds and all.

Next that liquid is sent to the Malaxor, where some of the impurities are taken off. A centrifuge futher separates the pumice from the oil, as well as some of the water. Finally it is further refined in a separator similiar to the machine a lot of us used in the dairy.

The machinery operates in "batches", and this system can handle about 500kg per hour.

This season has not been the best and Bruce tells us that many of the trees are stressed and not producing good fruit. But that's farming as we all know!

 

It was a great visit. Thanks to you both!