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//Processes olives
Processes olives2018-10-11T19:38:55+00:00

Processes olives

In Hutesa Agroalimentaria, S.A. we are specialists in all handling processes, which start with the reception of the olives directly from the Andalusian olive groves until their packaging into the different formats we offer. There exist a big amount of different processes since the reception until the loading of the finished product, but some of them are quite curious and will surely surprise many of you.

1. Cleaning and Fermentation

Hutesa: lavado y fermentación

When the olives reach our installations, the preparation process starts and the olives are cleaned before they undergo the cooking and subsequent fermentation process. It is during this process that they reach their optimum levels of colour, flavour and texture, before they are classified according to size and shape during the following process of selection.

15.000 kg/h for selection

Hutesa: lavado y fermentación
Hutesa: lavado y fermentación

2. Production and packaging

Hutesa: producción y embalaje

Only the olives that fulfil our quality requisites will pass lastly through the pitting or stuffing process before they are tinned.
Our current capacity is 15.000kilos/hour for selection and 7.600 kilos/hour for our pitting/stuffing/slicing lines. Our stuffings range from almonds and fresh garlic to chill or bitter almonds, which combine and are the height of craftsmanship and innovation both in flavours and presentation.

Current capacity:  7.600 kilos/hour for our pitting/stuffing/slicing lines

Hutesa: producción y embalaje
Hutesa: producción y embalaje

3. Sterilisation and Conservation

Hutesa: esterilzación y conservación

During the packaging process, our green OLIVES are pasteurised guaranteeing “sterile goods”, that is, 100% free from pathogenic organisms, and our black OLIVES are submitted to the thermal sterilisation process.

Our Olives are 100% Free from Pathogenic Organisms

Hutesa: esterilzación y conservación

More information on oxidation, deboning and filling

The oxidation of the olive

The black olives we eat are in reality not collected with a black skin from the tree. They are originally green. One week before they are filled in glass jars or tins we introduce the green olives in big tubs with a capacity of around 7000 kg. Following we inject air with such a power that the olives are moved and mixed constantely and are always exposed to the injected air. You could compare it with a hydromassage for olives. Afterwards they are immersed in caustic soda, to give the olives their soft and fleshy texture. Finally we add ferrous gluconate to stabelize and maintain their colour. The whole process takes one week and after that time the olives are ready to be filled in their glass jars or tins. The sterilization at 125º is the last step which stabelizes the black colour we see, when we consume black olives.

Hutesa aceitunas negras

Pitted and stuffed olives

There exist special production lines, with the only aim to get the stone out of the olives and to stuff them. Although they are very similar, they are separated lines. We will present you the two processes, indicating the differences between them.

The olives are first transported to a machine with a small funnel. At the end they fall on a rotating disc, equipped with teeth between which there is space for only one olive. This disc separates the mass of olives at the beginning of the funnel and works them one by one. This is very important and we insist in this detail, as the surprising point of this process is the fact that the stones are taken out of each olive separately – one by one. This operation repeats itself at enormous speed by rotating the drum with separating disc, passing them finally on to a band. Once the machine has individualized the olives, they have to be orientated in the right direction. While they are on the band, which will transport them to the main drum, they pass through several brushes, which orientate them in the accurate way. Once the olives reach the main drum, they are pinched by an awl one by one lengthwise, separating the flesh of the olives from its stone. Please imagine this machine like the bullet chamber of a revolver, which rotates at 1500 revolutions per minute.

The next step would be the filling. Here the olives are stuffed with the corresponding filling by another symmetric awl. Finally the pitted/stuffed olives are ejected to another band, where they are inspected and from there directly filled in barrils for their storage.