The Millstones moved in a circular and simultaneous way, pressing and crushing the Olives to produce the olive juice which at this stage was a dough type of mixture. This mixture would fall into barrels through the hole in the middle of the Millstones and then be taken to the pressing machine.		The dough mixture is then placed in baskets made of rope and these were then placed in the pressing machine shown here on the right. A worker would pour hot water over the baskets during the pressing process. The remaining mixture in the baskets would be used to make the common use green soap.
The picture above is the washing machine. This is where the process to produce olives oil begins. The olives are placed in the washing machine to remove the soil and leaves prior to been taken to the millstones.				The water and olive mix from the pressing machine would then be directed to the separating machine. This would separate the mixture into three parts, the clean olive oil, called aloupos (a thick dark green/black colour), and the water. The olive oil would float on the water which made it easy to separate.
Visit our Museum at The Old Olive Mill Taverna, Kolossi, to see the machines that were used in the production of Olive Oil                 We welcome your comments