Research ProjectsCO.EVO – “Co-milling”: Innovative and Sustainable Flavouring of Extra Virgin Olive Oils

CO.EVO – “Co-milling”: Innovative and Sustainable Flavouring of Extra Virgin Olive Oils

The project “Co-milling”: innovative and sustainable flavouring of extra virgin olive oils to enhance Tuscan olive cultivars and aromatic plants and increase business competitiveness from field to table” – “CO.EVO” is implemented under Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, the Tuscany Region’s 2023–2027 CSR and the 2024 implementing call for intervention SRG01 – Support for European Innovation Partnership Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability Operational Groups (EIP-AGRI).

The project is funded by the Tuscany Region through EAFRD funds and involves the NEUROFARBA and DAGRI Departments of the University of Florence.

Duration: 24 months, with completion scheduled by 31 December 2027.

Lead partner: FATTORIA ALTOMENA S.R.L. SOCIETÀ AGRICOLA – Pelago (Florence).

Project lead for NEUROFARBA: Prof. Nadia Mulinacci.

Project partners

• University of Florence – Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI);
• University of Florence – Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health (NEUROFARBA);
• I GREPPI DI SILLI SOCIETÀ AGRICOLA S.S. – San Casciano in Val di Pesa (Florence);
• Sole proprietorship “AZIENDA AGRICOLA RITA SALVADORI” – Bibbona (Arezzo);
• VITRUVIO SOCIETÀ CONSORTILE AGRICOLA A RESPONSABILITÀ LIMITATA, with registered office in San Miniato (Pisa);
• SOCIETÀ AGRICOLA DIEVOLE S.P.A. – Castelnuovo Berardenga (Siena);
• AGRICULTURAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTRE OF THE PROVINCE OF GROSSETO (Grosseto);
• INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF OLIVE OIL RESTAURANTS – CULTURAL ASSOCIATION (AIRO) – San Casciano in Val di Pesa (Florence);
• CIPA-AT TUSCANY RURAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION – Florence;
• ITALIAN FARMERS’ CONFEDERATION – ITALIAN FARMERS – TUSCANY REGIONAL ASSOCIATION (CIA TOSCANA) – Florence.

Project background and aims

CoEVO aims to transfer to Tuscan companies a recently scientifically validated innovation for the production of flavoured olive oils: the “co-milling” technique, which makes it possible to obtain flavoured oils with distinctive chemical and sensory quality characteristics that remain stable over time.

( https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141817; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.134696 ).

The innovation will be transferred through a co-creation approach, in which all project partners — producers and olive mills, researchers, economists, associations, consultants and chefs — take account of consumer input and make it a central part of the process for implementing the proposed innovation.

The “co-milling” technique consists of the simultaneous milling of olives and flavouring agents and the application of the following combination of operating conditions. This makes the proposed innovation particularly suitable for its intended context, partly because it allows flavoured oils to be produced using an excellent-quality olive oil base:

1. the use of healthy, freshly harvested olives from individual Tuscan cultivars;
2. the use of freshly harvested flavouring agents in fresh rather than dried form;
3. production at the time when the olives and flavouring agents can best express their potential in terms of both sensory and health-related properties;
4. the use of state-of-the-art extra virgin olive oil production protocols.

The innovation proposed by CoEVO also includes:

• the initial mapping of aromatic herbs;
• the assessment of consumer expectations and needs;
• the chemical and sensory characterisation of the oils;
• the study of potential culinary uses, involving chefs and restaurants;
• the dissemination of the innovation through the channels and venues considered most appropriate.

The introduction of this innovation will also:

1. support the preservation of Tuscan biodiversity, particularly olive cultivars and aromatic plants, thereby improving landscapes and habitats;
2. increase business competitiveness, in the short term and, above all, in the long term.