This explains "first cold press" olive oil. This is the most paleo. Don. Newsgroups: alt.support.diet.low-carb,alt.support.diet Subject: Re: Neanderthin From: "Opinicus" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 07:47:06 +0300 I spent a year in Ayvalik, an olive-growing center on the northern Aegean in Turkey. In December and January huge baskets of ripened olives are brought in from the groves to the processing plant and then hosed down in cold water to get the mud and other gunk off them (some of it anyhow). The olives are then placed in a big cylindrical tank. The weight of the mass crushes the olives near the bottom and the first "cold press" oil is drawn off. This is the most prized and valuable oil. Next pressure is applied from the top compressing the mass to a large fraction of its original size. This oil is second quality, but still very good. (In Turkish it's called "naturel" grade.) Next they really squeeze the HELL out of what's left, compressing the mass to a small fraction of its original size, and draw that oil off. This is the stuff that goes to the refinery because it's so highly acidic. It's sometimes blended with "good" oil to make it more palatable. (Sometimes it's used to adulturate the better oils to make them less expensive.) The pressure causes the mass to heat up, which is why the first-quality oil is called "cold-press". The leftovers--flattened cakes of olive skins and pits--are used for animal feed. I should add that NOTHING from the olive-tree is wasted. For example the water used to wash the olives and oil at various stages is centrifuged to separate the water from any oil that might be contained in it. That oil is drawn off and used to make soap. A side note to a poster who asked about processing olives. As someone else said, ripe olives off a tree can be eaten; they just don't taste very good. The olives that MUST be processed are the green (unripe) ones. The processing involves the use of lye and is not for the faint-hearted. Bob Munching on a couple green olives in Istanbul