How to Use a Cider Press As an Oil Press

You can use a cider press to get oil from ripe olives.

While a typical cider press can't generate the amount of pressure needed to extract oil from seeds, it can force the oil out of olives. Squeezing oil from olives is not very different from squeezing juice from apples, although you do have to air dry the olives first. It also helps to insert a mesh bag in the press to keep olive pulp from being pressed out between the slats of the pressing cage. With those caveats in mind, pressing your own virgin olive oil with a cider press is a simple process.

Things You'll Need

• 1 bushel ripe olives
• Cider press, screw- or ratchet-style
• Mesh pressing bag
• Pitcher to hold oil

Instructions

1. Dry-cure the olives by spreading them out on a flat surface out of direct sunlight. Let them dry for 10 days, turning them twice a day. This will eliminate water from your oil.

2. Place the mesh filter bag in the pressing cage of the cider press and fill with the dried olives to about an inch and a half from the top of the cage.

3. Place the pressing plates over the fruit if your cider press uses them. Place a pitcher under the pour spout of the press.

4. Turn or ratchet down the press plates onto the olives. Bright, greenish oil will begin to flow from between the slats in the cage and into the surrounding tray, and then into the pitcher.

5. Apply pressure until the olives no longer provide oil easily. Stop pressing if you hear the olive pits begin to crack.

Tips & Warnings

• The oil extracted in this way is known as cold-pressed, virgin (or first-pressing) olive oil, which is considered the most desirable. Commercial oil extraction uses greater pressure and heat to get more oil from the olives, but it also extracts bitter flavors that detract from the quality of the oil.

• Failure to use a mesh bag when pressing olives may cause pulp or even large pieces of olive to mix with your oil, so you'll need to do additional filtering after it's extracted.

• Do not apply so much pressure to the olives that you crush the pits. This will impart a bitter and unpleasant flavor to your oil.

References

• Waldecks: Olives
• University of California: Homemade Olive Oil
• Organic Reviews: How to Grow and Use Olive Trees

Resources

• National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service: Oilseed Processing for Small-Scale Producers