Baussy Olive Oil Mill

This modern mill, at the foot of the village, just celebrated its hundredth birthday. Yet it is at the cutting edge of oil-milling technology : no more millstones, no more palm-frond mats stacked to filter the oil, no more presses ; instead, a series of steel mixers that allow for streamlined, rapid production by centrifugation, in line with European standards. The mill runs from November into March. Half the olives processed here come from the Alpes-Maritimes, a land with rich soil and olive trees that are several hundred years old. The other half comes from the Var, the département next door, with soil better suited to growing grapevines, but where broad, flat areas permit the planting of new olive groves. The mill can be toured during the manufacturing period, mid-November to mid-February, and during the Portes Ouvertes des Moulins, an open-house day for all olive oil mills held in November.