In the third episode of Origen PONS, our podcast, Eduard Pons, CEO of the company, opens the doors to the oil mill and explains what happens to the olive from the moment it enters until the oil comes out filtered.
His first statement is disarming: according to Eduard, no quality is produced at the mill. What is done there is to separate the excellent fraction that the olive already brings from the field. Everything else is technology placed at the service of that selection: controlled temperature below 26 °C throughout the circuit, cutting mills configured daily based on olive analysis, short churning without contact with oxygen, and rapid-geometry decanters.
26 °C, the line that is not crossed
Regulations state that an oil is cold-extracted if it is produced at 27 °C or less. Pons works with its own stricter limit: 26 °C, throughout the entire circuit, from reception to filtering. The furthest farm is 12 kilometers away; the journey to the mill does not exceed 30 minutes, in covered containers of less than 5 tons so that the olive does not compress or gain temperature. The mill does not have receiving hoppers: it is a continuous process, without accumulation, synchronized with the arrival of each batch.
Why it matters: when the temperature rises, enzymes (lipoxygenases) are activated that degrade biophenols and aromas. Lost in this phase, they are not recovered later.
A different adjustment every day
The day before harvesting, an FOS analysis team provides the moisture and ripeness profile of the olive that is about to arrive. With that data, the mill is configured each day: number of blades, screen size, speed. There is no standard setting. Fewer blades and a smaller screen preserve more biophenols and aromas, but at lower speeds, the mill runs the risk of clogging. Finding that balance is the miller's craft.
Short churning, without oxygen
After cutting comes churning, the transition between the mill and the centrifuge. At Pons, it lasts between 8 and 12 minutes, depending on the variety, in 9 vertical, closed churning tanks with no oxygen contact and thermal jackets that maintain the 26 °C. The industry standard is open churning for 45 minutes to an hour. Short churning extracts less oil but better preserves biophenols and aromas.
12% yield, by design
Olives can contain up to 23-25% oil. Pons retains 12%, while other mills reach 20%. The reason lies in the decanters: rapid geometries designed to separate the best oil as soon as possible, rather than extracting every last drop from the paste.
“Quality equals cold and speed. Quantity equals high temperatures and longer processes.”
Filtering, done continuously with paper filters, immediately removes any trace of water or solids that could oxidize the oil. An hour earlier, that bottle was an olive on the tree.
“The mill produces absolutely nothing. Its only goal is to extract the best goodness of the olive harvested at the optimal moment in the field.”
Listen to the full episode
Eduard Pons opens the doors to the oil mill and tells, minute by minute, what happens to the olive from the moment it enters until it comes out filtered.
Listen to Origen PONS