De Noordmolen

The Noordmolen is more than 650 years old. In May 1347, Herman van Twicklo bought "Huize Eijsink" and the Noordmolen on the Azelose stream from the nobleman and farmer Berend van Hulscher. The deed of purchase was kept in the archives of Twickel Castle. This refers to both northern mills. In the past there was also a flour mill opposite the present oil mill. This was demolished in 1831. The oil mill was restored several times, as can still be seen by memorial stones in the quay walls. The mill was repaired in 1917, but a standstill, partly due to lack of water, led to a decline again. In 1976-1978 the mill building was restored again on behalf of the Twickel Foundation. In 1984 the mill received a new water wheel, donated by the Rotary Club of Delden-Borne. The restoration of the interior was completed in 1989.

Flat and linseed oil

The linseed oil that the Noordmolen produces is obtained from flax. Oil flax is preferably used for commercial production. This flax is of the same type as fibre flax. It differs from fibre flax - mainly used for the production of linen - in that it is short and highly branched. Oil flax contains about 40% oil and fibre flax about 33%. When growing flax oil, a high seed yield is of course of great importance.

Linseed oil is produced in three steps, each of which takes about 20 minutes under normal operating conditions.

The pan grinder

On the pan grinder, the seed must first be crushed, not ground, by the two bulging pan grinders, each weighing more than 1000 kg, in order to squeeze the oil out of the seed. Some water is often added during bruising, although this is at the expense of oil quality. The water is partially absorbed by the crushed seed and replaces the oil. The oil is now easier to extract.

The fist

Then the seed is heated on our cooker, called a fist, while stirring. In the past, the fist was fired with heather or peat. When cycling in Twickel you have noticed that the heather has almost disappeared. Today we often use wood from Twickel. The stirring is to prevent the seed from burning. The oil would therefore have a brown-black undesirable colour.

Water also plays a role on the fist. Through evaporation, it ensures better heat distribution and gives a good indication of the temperature of the seed. In addition, the water can absorb a lot of heat, so the seed stays at temperature longer. The miller has more time for the next step. We heat until the water starts to evaporate.

Oil beating

When the seed is warm enough, it is put into bags via the two funnels of the fist. The bags are placed in the chambers of the beater's bench, called a drawer, to beat out the oil. The miller speaks of beating, not pressing.

The name olives store comes from this part of an oil mill. This beating is done with the help of a wedge-shaped punch. Unloading is done with the unloading machine. If necessary, a plank (partition) is placed next to the beating pile after unloading, in order to be able to exert even more pressure on the bellies during beating. The oil flows through the bottom of the drawer into pots. The linseed cake remains buzzing. Again, the little water helps the miller. This ensures that you get nice cakes.

When you want to process the linseed cakes into linseed meal, they are crushed in the apple pots. These pots are so called because of their shape. This linseed was also beaten again to extract even more oil after it had first been reheated.

(Source: noordmolen-twickel.nl)