One of the most popular edible oils, the pumpkinseed oil, is produced in a small neat yard located on a street from Deva. The peak of this activity is during the Lent, when the peasants from neighbouring areas come to Deva with pumpkinseeds in order to get the famous greenish oil.
Vasile Bobaila was born in Alba county and settled to Deva in 1965. He first saw how the pumpkinseed oil is manufactured at Teius and he thought he might attempt to do it by himself.
He searched for the required equipment in order to start his business. He bought an old seed press from an old man and mended it so that it could work. Later on, he built another seed press. Vasile Bobaila has been producing pumpkinseed oil for 30 years in the small workshop from his yard.
As pumpkinseed oil is traditionally manufactured and consumed during the Lent, Bobaila family association works two months a year, between March and April. Some 100 peasants from the counties around Deva and Hunedoara come here to turn pumpkinseeds into oil.
“We had difficult times by 1990, as there were a lot of restrictions that hindered our work,” Vasile Bobaila, now a pensioner, says. The small entrepreneurs had to deliver the wastes to a reception warehouse. The manufacturer draws his own revenues-expenditures budget, submits it to the Financial Controller office and pays taxes related to the period he worked.
One needs about 4 kilos of pumpkinseeds in order to get 1 kilo of oil. Naturist medicine recommends the pumpkinseed oil, which is rich in fat acids, beta-carotene, vitamin E and selenium, for diseases like arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, prostate and gastric illnesses.
“I use the wastes to feed the pigs in my yard. This is one of the business’s benefits. Furthermore, I manage to pay the electric power supply and the taxes,” Vasile Bobaila says.
The owner does not intend to give up his small business. “Though I do not have many clients, they are loyal and come here every year.
We charge only 1,500 lei for one kilo of processed pumpkinseeds and they usually may see the whole process with their own eyes, so that they can be sure about the oil quality,” Bobaila said.
He built the second seed press closely following the model of the one he bought in the ’60s. It has a capacity of 700 kilos of pumpkinseeds, from which the oil is processed.
The price of one litre of oil stands at 100,000-120,000 lei on Deva and Hunedoara markets, while the price of 250 grammes of pumpkinseeds amounts to 10,000 lei.