OLIVE OIL!

After two years of caring for and nurturing the six olive trees on the property, we were rewarded yesterday when we loaded up our 10 feed sacks of olives in the tuk tuk and transported them to the mahsara zeitoun, the family run operation with the old Italian equipment for processing the olives into oil. It was a fascinating experience, made even better by the friendliness of the people doing the work. 

Meet Mohamed and his donkey partner. The donkey was taking a break while we were there, but Mohamed was doing his job of helping to load the hopper, picking up olives that fell to the floor, and ensuring that the olives were feeding into the conveyer pipe properly. While we took care to remove most of the twigs and leaves from the olives when we harvested, the ones we missed were loaded into the hopper and processed right along with the olives. 

Our bags of produce were weighed before being loaded into the hopper. Our 2025 harvest added up to 456 kilograms, or 1005.31 pounds. The numbers seem impressive, but in my mind's eye I am picturing all of the work that went into that production, with an ever increasing appreciation for the value of hard physical work.

As soon as the hopper was full, a switch was turned and the olives began being taken into the conveyer pipe and dumped into the mill. Abdoul tells me that he began coming to this mill with his father when he was a small boy, and that the mill back then was operated by donkey power.

It did not take long for these massive millstones to begin turning the olives and twigs/leaves into a gray paste. When the millstones stopped, there was not an olive, leaf or twig visible in the vat. Meantime, the chef du jour was sitting near the vat, hard at work making the lunch tajine for the crew.

Next, the paste was scooped up in a cut off water container, and plopped down on a circular mat made of natural fibers. The mats were layered onto a vertical post of steel and then wheeled across the room to the hydraulic press. 

The mats with their load of olive paste were first given a water bath, then the actual pressing of the olive paste began.

When all of the oil has been pressed, it disappears into pipes under the floor and is transferred to steel tanks. The mats are removed from the press and the dry material that remains is removed from the mats.

This olive paste waste is thrown outdoors where it piles up every harvest season. My immediate reaction was an overexcited imagination regarding the possibility of using it in compost, and I am in the process of researching the data on this potential.

The final bit of my day of olive education was the sight of a pink bucket of pulverized olives and oil that was not  grey but an intense black. This was the unfinished “black soap” that Morocco is known for. This Beldi soap is used for deep cleansing and exfoliation in hammams and is known for its gel-like texture, Vitamin E content, and ability to leave skin soft, smooth, and revitalized.

The day after we were at the mahsara zeitoun, we picked up 

our olive oil-all 60 liters of it!