About us
Frantoio Olive BarbaranoLocated at the foot of the Berici Hills in the town of Barbarano Vicentino, Frantoio Olive Barbarano has been operating since 1963, the year in which Armido Strazzacappa – helped in the business by his sons Adriano and Amedeo – built what was then called Oleificio Berico. The olive mill, which is the only one in the Berico region, is now managed by Adriano entirely in keeping with the family tradition that has been enduring and in operation for half a century.
The complex has been completely restructured, extended and renovated with the addition of a more welcoming and spacious shop in 2009. The building style was inspired by the historic rail and tram station of the county town, Barbarano.
Thanks to several decades of experience gained in the edible oil sector and the constant propensity towards new and more efficient technologies, Adriano is able to produce an outstanding oil that expresses all the characteristics, flavours and aromas of the tradition and territory of Berico.
The commitment and results achieved by the company are evidenced by the award it received at the 4th A.I.P.O (Associazione Italiana Produttori Olivicoli/Italian Association of Olive Producers) Competition in 2007 in the Veneto D.O.P. Extra virgin olive oil category.
The mill produces various types of fine oils which include Verde-Viola, Verde-Oliva, gondola and the single-variety of Rasara, together with other products featuring Barbarano D.O.C. wine vinegar.
Production process
The olives are processed using modern continuous two-phase systems with certified cold extraction. Olive harvesting and processing take place within 24 hours in order to preserve all the nutritional and health qualities of the oil. The great technology of machines used allows:
very high productivity thanks to continuous cycle systems;
greater hygiene control of the production process (all operations take place in food-grade stainless steel machines, whereby products are not handled by the operator);
production of an overall superior quality oil, with a spicier flavour and with a higher chlorophyll content and natural antioxidants.
The complete processing cycle includes several operations:
1. automatic defoliation to remove leaves, small branches, earth, parasites, etc.;
2. weighing and splash washing in mineral water;
3. mechanical crushing;
4. malaxing;
5. separation, which separates the oil from the water and pomace.
The plant is equipped with a modern crushing machine which grinds the nut into 6-8 parts. During the malaxing phase, the pulp obtained from the grinding of the olives is continuously stirred by four horizontal knives, composed of a spiral axis inside them. The malaxers are able to process four quintals of olives in sequence each.
When the pulp comes out of the pressing cycle, it is sent to the decanter, a horizontal centrifuge that uses high-speed centrifugation and the different specific weights of each element (oil, water and pomace) to separate the oil and water from the pomace.
In the last phase, the extracted oil is re-filtered by the centrifugal separator to remove any impurities and residual vegetation water.
Finally, the Mill includes a storage and bottling room kept at a constant temperature, to guarantee that the oil produced is of a high quality standard.
