Cold Pressed: An Outdated Term

The term cold-pressed when referring to olive oil is anachronistic and predominantly unregulated label description. According to Tom Mueller, author of Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, “Cold-Pressed is an outdated production term, now used for marketing purposes and largely devoid of meaning. Until a half-century ago, when oil was made with hydraulic presses, after the first pressing had removed the best oil, the nearly spent paste was drenched with hot water (as saint Sanctulus of Norcia taught) and pressed again, yielding a second-press oil of inferior quality. Nowadays, extra virgin olive oil is ‘first-pressed’ and ‘cold-pressed’ almost by definition. (EU Regulations state that ‘cold-pressed’ can be used only when the olive paste is kept at or below 27 degrees Celsius during the malaxing process-a level respected by nearly all serious producers - and when the oil is actually made with a press, nowadays a rare occurrence.)”

Stamatopoulos & Sons extra virgin olive oil is always first cold-pressed. All truly 100 percent pure extra virgin olive oils are first cold-pressed by definition. Stamatopoulos & Sons extra virgin olive oil is created from hand-collected olives processed within four hours of being picked using the industry’s best practices in a ISO 22000-certified facilities. After the olives are crushed, they go into a malaxar, which spins at a fast rate of speed to separate the oil from the fruit. The malaxar is never used long enough to produce enough heat to achieve 27 degrees celsius. After processing Stamatopoulos & Sons is always stored in sealed stainless steel containers until bottling.

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