Francisco Bordés Ruiz dedicated a lifetime to the development, design, optimization and creation of oil mills until ultimately retiring. He has worked with more than 1,000 oil mills, putting his blood, sweat and tears into the sector. He lived through the olive mill transformation period, which was a revolution of replacing the old conical stone presses with systems of three phase oil decanters, which later led to two phase oil decanters. He was responsible for the Technical Office of Fuentes Cardona, and later for the GEA Westfalia Separator. His experience in the sector speaks for itself.
What do you think the sector did better in the past than it does today?
I think that manufacturers were more romantic before (they liked to feel like manufacturers, and they all said they had the best oil in the region), and the only thing they really looked at was production, because the prices of the product were almost all the same. They were the same for the first oils, as well as for the following ones (extra or ordinary), but not for the last ones, because the quality was very bad. This is because they did not look at cleanliness, nor do I believe they knew how to separate the broths well (we fought a lot to teach it). There were very few who worried about this. The fruit spent long periods of time in tall piles of olives where its quality got worse. The oils, especially in our land, were classified as being stinky because they were associated with the not-so-hygienic iron storage containers.
What do you think the sector does better now in comparison to the past?
I must say that quality has improved due to the introduction of the continuous system, being cleanlier and milling more rapidly. Furthermore, we must take into account that the cleaning of the fruit has improved. This is due to the improvements in its separation from the tree or the soil, whether it is done organically or traditionally, on irrigated land or in rainfed plantations. Another improvement can be attributed to the introduction of stainless steel and more interest and care of those responsible for the milling. Although prices are currently quite low, these factors have ultimately led to higher quality oils. Also, at the beginning it was quite difficult for us to separate the broths, especially before the introduction of the horizontal decanter.
Nowadays manufacturers seem to be more industrial.
Úbeda 26 May de 2020
Francisco Bordés Ruiz