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After the olives had been crushed, and the first
flow of oil had been collected, the remaining
mash was further processed.
Depending on which expert account you read, either the bags of mash
or the mash, transferred from the trapetum
or the mola olearia
into baskets, would then by placed in a press to further extract
oil.
In general, Roman presses were designed to make
efficient use of pressure to extract oil from the sampsa
(olive mash). There were number of different types of presses, the
best documented being the Torcular,
Cochlea
and the Wedge
and Beam Press.
The oil obtained from the first pressing of the
live mash (oleum primae pressurae) was the finest
and the quality of the oil diminished with each additional pressing
(longe melioris saporis quod minore vi preli quasi lixivium defluxerit).
The product of each pressing was kept separate
since each had a different market value (plurimum refert non
miscere iterationes multoque minus tertiationem cum prima pressura).
The lowest quality
of all (oleum cibarium) was made from olives which had been
partially damaged by pests, or which had fallen from the trees in
bad weather into the mud, so that it became necessary to wash them
in warm water before they could be used.
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