The oil mill and its history

We have been producing quality extra virgin olive oil for over 60 years with the utmost care and passion to best meet the needs of our customers, buy it directly from the shop on our website.

The Cooperative Social Oil Mill of Canino, established in 1965, today has over 1,200 producer members who cultivate about 3,350 hectares of olive groves with over 260,000 olive trees in a purely agricultural and intact area from a naturist and ecological point of view. The olives, protected from parasitic attacks through the integrated pest management technique, are pressed in plants that have a daily working capacity of 6,000 quintals.

Geographical location: territory of Canino and neighboring municipalities of the province of Viterbo, in a volcanic soil at an altitude of 200/350 meters above sea level.

Varieties of cultivated olive trees: caninese (prevalent), pendolino, leccino, maurino, frantoio.

Production potential

The oil mill transforms an average of 80,000 quintals of olives per year from which it obtains about 900,000 liters of oil which are packaged in:

– 5 liter cans

– Bottles of 1 – 0.75 – 0.5 – 0.25 – 0.1 litres.

The following are also produced:

– Canio PDO Extra Virgin Olive Oil in 3-liter cans and in 1 and 0.5-liter bottles

– Extra virgin olive oil from organic farming in 3-liter cans and 0.5-liter bottles

Production methods: The olives, manually picked from the plant, are delivered every day to the Cooperative which carries out the milling within 24 hours and obtains, through an extraction system by centrifugation at room temperature, a typical and high quality oil that is stored in stainless steel tanks located in rooms at a constant controlled temperature and in the absence of light and oxygen.

A characteristic product of the agriculture of Canino and the neighboring municipalities, it is a valuable oil with very low acidity and rich in polyphenols (anti-oxidants) that favor the preservation over time of the peculiar organoleptic properties typical of this product and which can be summarized as follows:

Appearance: clear – shiny (or opaque if unfiltered)

Colour: emerald green with golden reflections (more intense as soon as it is produced)

Taste: strong, with a fruity aroma with a bitter and spicy aftertaste

Aroma: full and pleasant reminiscent of healthy fruit, fresh as soon as it is picked at the optimal point of ripeness

Acidity: medium, expressed by weight in oleic acid, of 0.4 grams per 100 grams of oil

Peroxide number: ten or less

All the extra virgin olive oil marketed by the cooperative social oil mill of Canino is obtained from the pressing of olives conferred by its members who own olive groves located exclusively in the Canino area.

Genuine and natural

Because it is obtained by simply pressing the olives using physical means of extraction and operating in full compliance with health and hygiene standards with the utmost care and attention in the various phases of production, storage and packaging of the oil, which are all carried out in the mill owned by the Cooperative without ever adding foreign substances such as flavourings or preservatives.

Controlled and healthy

Because to protect the consumer and the integrity of the precious characteristics of the oil with its peculiar nutritional and health properties, the operations related to the transformation of the olives take place at room temperature after a meticulous selective control to ascertain their quality and also aimed at verifying the accurate work that, during the production cycle, the members carry out in the countryside with the aim of protecting their olives from parasitic attacks while respecting the ecological balances existing in the territory.

Typical, precious and rare

Because it is produced in limited quantities and varies according to seasonal trends, working olives with the right degree of ripeness picked by over 1,200 farmers who are members of the Oil Mill exclusively on the plants in the social production area and quickly sent for extraction in the mill owned by the Cooperative.

Use and storage

The extra virgin olive oil produced by the Oleificio Sociale Cooperativo di Canino with its taste of fresh fruit – the so-called “fruity” – is not only very suitable to be used raw on vegetables or in soups but also for cooking; in fact, it resists high temperatures well enough to be used safely for frying. It is also advisable for those interested in a correct diet because, being very rich in flavor, it is used in smaller quantities than other oils.

 

The oil must be stored in a cool, dry environment and away from sources of light and heat; cWith low temperatures, the product may freeze and, in this case, before consumption, it is advisable to bring the container back to room temperature (18 – 20 C) for a few days, taking care to shake it repeatedly to facilitate the return of the oil to its natural state.