Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 March 1900 — MODERN OLIVE OIL. [ARTICLE]

MODERN OLIVE OIL.

The Machine Process Not So Satisfactory aa the Old System. Improvement in processes does not always spell progress, it appears, as the introduction of machinery in the olive districts of Italy has caused an increase of the quantity of oil produced, but a reduction of quality as far as the best grades are concerned. A typical province is Taranto, where machinery has effected very considerables changes in the olive oil. Under the old system three or more distinct qualities of oil were produced, the olives being passed and repassed several times through handworked presses, each time producing an oil of poorer quality. When no more oil could be extracted in this way, the “sansa,” or “grounds,” was treated with sulphuric acid to produce an inferior oil, which is used in the manufacture of soap. The introduction ofthe hydraulic press, however, has done away with these distinctive grades; a larger quantity of oil is produced, but the quality, taken as a whole, deteriorates and the higher class of eating oil can only be obtained by repeated filtration/Though the oil produced in this way is excellent in color and appearance, after continual straining it loses much of its flavor and lacks the fruity taste which distinguishes the best oil produced by the old method of extrac-tion.-—Merchants’ Review.