Word of the Day
2 February 2026
malaxation
The process of slowly churning milled oil crops such as olives, allowing droplets of oil to aggregate for more effective separation.
Why this one
From the Latin malaxare, to soften or knead, and kneading is the right image: the paddles are not extracting anything, just coaxing scattered droplets into pools big enough for the centrifuge to catch. Time and temperature both raise yield and both cost aroma.
In use
We pulled the malaxation back to about forty minutes on this batch, the buyer wants the aroma more than he wants the extra litre.
Written by our editors to show how the term is used, not a recorded quotation.