Another delicate step is milling. My goal, at this stage, is to obtain healthy fruit, because molds easily develop in damaged fruit, whose flavor inevitably passes into the extra virgin olive oil. Preservation is also very important, again due to the possibility of bad flavors developing. The DOP Colline Salernitane specification requires milling within the day after harvesting: I am even more fussy, because I take the olives to the mill the same day, taking advantage of the fact that in winter the working day in the fields is very short. So, after separating them from leaves and twigs and placing them in small perforated boxes, I transport them. I described my method in detail in a previous article . I chose to use a modern continuous cycle mill, because the operating temperature can be easily controlled, while in the old grinder mills this is not possible, in fact their friction producing a lot of heat would prevent cold milling, that is, at a maximum of twenty-seven, twenty-eight degrees, with the consequent loss of nutritional values. I insist, but it is now customary, that the tanks be washed between one milling and the next, so if the olives processed before mine had a defect, the water eliminates it. But what should the taste of an excellent extra virgin olive oil be ? Once a friend of mine boasted of having bought an oil that you couldn’t “feel at all” in your throat and mouth. I replied that I was sorry, but that he hadn’t bought extra virgin olive oil, because a good oil must be well felt, it must have a strong and robust flavor! Nowadays oil is like wine and the great starred chefs recommend pairing it with various foods depending on their characteristics. An excellent extra virgin olive oil, well preserved away from light and air, must not give off the taste of oxide, rancidity, earth and mold; it must be bitter in the mouth and spicy in the throat: signs of richness in polyphenols, antioxidant substances and guardians of our arteries and our health. The smells must be those obtained by rubbing a bunch of wild herbs between your hands; you can smell the artichoke, the green tomato and so on by experimenting.
