OLEOTURISMO

The province of Jaén, with 62 million trees, alone produces 41% of Spain's olive oil (65% of which is ordinary or lampante oil, unfit for consumption as is, reserved for industry or the trade for blends). In the heart of the Comarca de la Loma, Oleoturismo, a dynamic entity created by the Oleícola San Francisco company, offers an introduction to the world of olive oil with a visit to the almarazara (oil mill), the tour includes an explanation of the production process (as in the old days, with ancient presses, or nowadays, with modern centrifugal machines, and no longer actually cold-pressed, as is often misleadingly stated), the fate of the skin, pulp, flesh and stone (geothermal energy), and the screening of an explanatory documentary. The visit concludes with a tasting session(cata) of oils. The Cooperative Oléicole San Francisco produces several excellent oils, including, according to the label, a green, a red and a blue one with an olive at different degrees of ripeness.