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Facts About Olive Oil In Greece

Greece is the world's third largest olive oil producer (after Spain and Italy) with more than 220 million olive trees which produce around 490,000 tons of olive oil each year, 80%-85% of which is extra virgin olive oil.

This figure makes Greece the world leader in extra virgin olive oil production.

Olive trees are primarily cultivated on mainland Greece, Chalkidiki, with the Peloponnese accounting for around 65% of annual production, as well as on Crete, the Aegean islands and the Ionian islands.  In Greece in most of the areas, olives are still picked by hand not using machinery.

 A tree of Myth!!!

The honour of the first introduction of the olive into Greece belongs, according to Greek mythology, to Hercules. The tireless hero having completed in full the Twelve Labours imposed on him by Evristheous, King of Tiryns, brought young olive shoots to Olympia .There he rooted the marvellous plant, a living symbol of victory, and became the first awarder of prizes. As to the cultivated olive, tradition represents it as a purely Greek tree, of Divine origin.

Its homeland was Athens to which it was given by the wise goddess Athena, together with her name and her protection * Olive tree has been around the Mediterranean countries for the past 50.000-60.000 years.

The cultivated olive tree came from the wild tree which had very small olives and produced a small quantity of bitter-tasting oil.

Remains of olive tree have been found in many places in Hellas such asChalkidiki, Evvoia, Santorini, and, Crete.

Especially in Santorini dated from 3500 BC. Traces of an olive mill build of volcanic lava were discovered by Fouquet in Santorin (Thira) island. Also petrified olive leaves were discovered recently in Caldera of Santorini and Lesbos Island.

Around 2000 B.C. people used symbols (ideograms) for olive trees and olive oil. This ancient type of writing is known as linear A. in the still unpublished work by Menas Tzikritzis, it is claimed that on offering tables from southern Crete dated back to the 18th century B.C., ideograms of olive trees and olive oil can be read next to the name Athena, the Greek goddess who is believed to have first planted the olive tree.

The same ideogram or symbol can still be seen after the destruction of the Minoan civilization.

Linear A tablets, which were found in Archanes, show ideograms, which describe different types of food.

Among those are ideograms depicting olive trees, olive oil, wheat and wine.

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