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Discover the journey of your La Española olive oil from the roots. Here, you can find everything about our process, in a transparent way, so that you know the individual story of your product, from the tree to your table.

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OUR HERITAGE

Spain is the largest olive oil producer in the world. Nearly 60% of the world’s total olive oil is produced in Spain. La Española has been producing and packing olive oil in the Andalusian region in the south of Spain since 1840. In recent years, the average annual olive oil production in Spain has been over 1.75 million tonnes.

We would like to share with you the journey of your olive oil from the sun drenched olive groves in Spain to your local table.

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THE FARMS AND OLIVE TREES

Each bottle of La Española olive oil is produced from the olives grown on local farms in small villages in the southern provinces in Spain.

Olive trees have a life span of 300 to 600 years and need to be carefully looked after to produce the best quality olives.

We work together with the local Spanish farms and co-operatives to help farmers with crop management throughout the olive growing season.

The main olive varieties grown in Spain are picual, arbequina and hojiblanca.

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THE HARVEST

The olive harvest takes place during the winter months between October and February.

Olives are harvested at the beginning of ‘veraison’ which is the period when the olives are at their best. This produces the highest quality extra virgin olive oil, preserving all its healthy attributes and highest quantity of natural antioxidants and polyphenols.

The olives can either be picked by hand or collected by machinery. A machine vibrates the entire olive tree so that the olives fall effortlessly and are caught by nets to ensure they never touch the ground. This process doesn’t damage the olive tree which continues to grow and thrive year after year.

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THE MILL

After the harvest, the olives are immediately transported to the mill. This is usually a short journey which ensures the olives preserve all their attributes.

This process is commonly called ‘cold extraction’ as no heat, solvents or chemicals are used to extract the extra virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil always comes from this “first cold pressing” of the olives and has less than 0.8% acidity. This is the finest quality oil and it must meet very strict guidelines in order to be classified as extra virgin olive oil.

01

WASHING

The olives are cleaned, washed and weighed ready for crushing.

02

GRINDING

Through a metal tooth grinder, the olives are ground resulting in a paste.

03

MIXING

This paste which contains oil, solid residue from the stone, pulp and water, is now mixed to facilitate the pooling of the oil.

04

SEPARATION AND CENTRIFUGATION

The olive oil is rotated at high speed in a centrifuge to separate the oil from the pulp and residual water. This process is done in 2 phases involving a horizontal and vertical centrifuge machine.

BOTTLING & DISTRIBUTION

The olive oil is stored in large stainless steel tanks to protect it from light and heat until it leaves the mill in a tanker to the local packing plant.
The bottles are cleaned and prepared to be filled with olive oil. The bottles move along the production line where they are filled, sealed, capped and labeled.

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The bottles are then packed into fully recyclable cardboard boxes and stacked onto pallets ready for transportation to the US.

Harvesting, milling and locally packing our olive oil provides an exclusive level of transparency. We are able to trace each and every bottle of extra virgin olive oil right back to the farm where the olives were first harvested. This is unique in our market and ensures that we only use 100% Spanish olives in our olive oil.

Each bottle of La Española olive oil comes with the quality and origin you can trust.

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