Quatretonda

We are in our penultimate stop of the route we started many kilometres before. Now we have to talk about Quatretonda. This town is well-known because there is produced one of the best olive oils of the Vall d'Albaida region and there you can find the regional olive oil cooperative.

The first news we have about the olive oil production date from the 4th century BC. The Romans extracted the oil from the olives by separating the pulp from the stone. They used two cylindrical stones which turned around a central axis.

Nowadays, the process to obtain the oil is the following: around December the olives are picked and transported to the olive-oil mill; there, they are put in “orons” (numbered warehouses) and members of the olive-oil mill note down the number of kilograms each person has; then, the grinding process starts in turns.

The quantity of oil obtained depends on the type of olive, land and weather. Olives are used for many things: the lees can be used to make soap; and the pulp, as a combustible in braziers and ovens. Oil is transported from the olive-oil mill to the houses in rim jugs and then is stored in large earthenware jars, in cellars and larders.

There still exists this traditional way of producing the olive-oil in the region of “La Vall d'Albaida”, for example in the olive-oil mill of Quatretonda (telephone number: 0034 962264622).

The most of the olive-oil production is produced in cooperatives and olive-oil mills which have incorporated avant-garde technology in order to adapt to rules and quality standards of food and agriculture regulations. Cooperativa Comarcal Vall d’Albaida (regional cooperative): telephone number 0034 962264147.