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This is how the oil was extracted in Ibiza

By Helena Sánchez
1 Sep 2018 10 Share
Close to the centre of San Carles there is an old finca from the 17th century, called Ca n'Andreu, which can be visited in order to see an example of traditional Ibiza architecture and utensils to obtain wine or to make shoes, since the house has been turned into a museum. Also, it still has a trull which dates back from 1775 and that is still possible to use today. 

A “trull” is an olive press that extracts the oil from seeds or organic matter. The one at Ca n'Andreu is one of the few that still remain on Ibiza and Formentera. It worked like this: in the first phase, the olives were crushed to turn them into a paste. The olives were then tossed into a kind of wooden box shaped like an inverted pyramid that acted like a funnel in order to place the olives onto a round stone that served as a base. Above this one, another stone with the form of a truncated cone would girate, squashing the olives. Other stones that were inclined towards the centre would stop the paste from spilling over the edges. In order to make the whole mechanism work, you needed a beast of burden who would pull while walking in circles. The resulting paste was deposited in baskets made of esparto grass that were piled up on top of each other. Then, the pressing began, which would be repeated a few times. They also added boiling water, which helped to reduce the acidity of the oil. By decantation, the oil was separated from the rest of the liquid. The remains were then used for fuel and feed for the pigs. Most of these olive presses used to be family properties.
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