❄️ Cold pressing
Also known as: Cold-pressed olive oil, Cold extraction
Making oil without heating the paste above 27 °C; a label term for quality oil.
Cold pressing is the production of olive oil without heating the paste above 27 °C. Two similar terms are allowed on labels in the EU, and they mean different things.
"First cold pressing" may only be used for extra virgin or virgin olive oil obtained below 27 °C from a first mechanical pressing of the paste in a traditional hydraulic press. "Cold extraction" is for the same oils obtained below 27 °C by centrifuge or percolation. These rules are set by EU Regulation 2022/2104, and before that they were in a 2012 regulation.
A traditional press works like this: the paste is spread on round mats made of esparto or synthetic fibre, the mats are stacked, and a hydraulic piston squeezes out the liquid. Water is usually not needed here. A centrifuge, by contrast, often needs added water, and because of this some of the phenolic compounds are washed out.
What turns up on the shelf. More than 80 per cent of the world's olive mills now run on centrifuges. For that reason the words “first cold pressing” legally appear only on oil from mills that still have presses, and most quality oils carry the cold extraction label. After pressing, the pomace still holds a little oil: it is taken out with a solvent, and that makes a separate category, pomace olive oil.
How it connects to Olives
❄️ Cold pressing → then → 🫒 Olive oil → made from → 🫒 Olives
Links
- Next step
- 🫒 Olive oil
- Previous step
- 🌀 Malaxation
- Where it happens
- 🏭 Olive oil mill
- Equipment
- ⚙️ Decanter centrifuge
- What it yields
- 🏷️ Extra virgin olive oil, 🏷️ Virgin olive oil
- Part of
- 🏭 Olive harvest and the oil mill
- In other topics
- 🍷 Pressing (wine)
Frequently asked questions
What does “first cold pressing” on a label mean, and how is it different from “cold extraction”?
The first points to a traditional hydraulic press, the second to a centrifuge or percolation; in both cases the paste stayed below 27 °C.
Is it true that there is a “second pressing” of olive oil?
Not in that sense: oil is taken from the pomace with a solvent, and that is a separate category, pomace olive oil.
Why are most quality oils labelled “cold extraction”?
Because more than 80 per cent of the world's olive mills use centrifuges, and only some still run presses.
Guides
What to read next
- 🏷️ Extra virgin olive oil — Top category of olive oil: mechanical extraction only, no taste defects, free acidity up to 0.8 g per 100 g; confirmed by a tasting panel.
- 🌀 Malaxation — Slow mixing of olive paste before the decanter centrifuge so that tiny oil droplets merge; usually 30–40 minutes at 18–27 °C.
- 🏭 Olive oil mill — A facility where oil is extracted from olives.
- ⚙️ Decanter centrifuge — A horizontal centrifuge that separates oil from water and paste solids.
- 🍷 Pressing (wine) — Squeezing the liquid out of grapes before fermentation or out of the pomace after it; according to the OIV, slowly and progressively.
Similar
🔄 Olive oil filtration · ⚙️ Olive crushing · 🌀 Malaxation · 🧺 Olive harvest · 🍷 Wine press · 🍇 From grapes to must
Sources
- EUR-Lex: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2104 on olive oil marketing standards
- Olivaterm (Universidad de Jaén): load
- Campestre C. et al. The Compounds Responsible for the Sensory Profile in Monovarietal Virgin Olive Oils. Molecules 2017, 22, 1833
- International Olive Council: International Olive Oil Production Costs Study (2015)
- PROTA: Olea europaea L. (Pl@ntUse)