| We Latins love and die by the olive. Anyone coming from the Mediterranean region of the world would tell you about the health benefits, as well as the wonderful flavor, of a good dose of olive oil on salads, pasta, fish and almost anything else. I can eat olives by the bucket.
Olive oil is made from the crushing and then subsequent pressing of olives. The fact that olives are rich in oil is reflected in the botanical name of the olive tree-Olea europea- since the word "oleum" means oil in Latin. Extra virgin olive oil is derived from the first pressing of the olives and has the most delicate flavor and most antioxidants.
In this diary I'll deal with the history, and the next one will be about the pressing and the final product. |
| According to several books on the history of the olive, it was a native to Asia Minor and spread from Iran, Syria and Palestine to the rest of the Mediterranean basin around 6,000 years ago. It is among the oldest known cultivated trees in the world (being grown before the written language was invented). It was being grown on Crete by 3,000 BC and may have been the source of the wealth of the Minoan kingdom. The Phoenicians spread the olive to the Mediterranean shores of Africa and Southern Europe. Olives have been found in Egyptian tombs from 2000 years BC. The olive culture was spread to the early Greeks then Romans. As the Romans extended their domain they brought the olive with them (but not the olive branch! They were fond of conquering). A little known fact is this: 1400 years ago the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, advised his followers to apply olive oil to their bodies, and himself used oil on his head.
The use of oil is found in many religions and cultures. It has been used during special ceremonies and also as a general health measure. During baptism in the Christian church, holy oil, which is often olive oil, may be used for anointment. At the Chrism mass olive oil blessed by the bishop, "chrism", is used in the ceremony. Like the grape, the Christian missionaries brought the olive tree with them to California for food but also for ceremonial use. Olive oil was used to anoint the early kings of the Greeks and Jews. The Greeks anointed winning athletes. Olive oil has also been used to anoint the dead in many cultures.
The olive trees on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem are reputed to be over 2000 years old, still relative newcomers considering the long domestication of the olive. No one knows the exact variety of the trees on the Mount. The olive tree has been manipulated by man for so many thousands of years that it is unclear which varieties came from which other varieties. Varieties in one country have been found to be identical to differently named varieties in another. Some research is now being done using gene mapping techniques to figure out the olive family tree. Shrub-like "feral" olives still exist in the middle East which represent the original stock from which all other olives are descended. In my neck of the woods, we cultivate olive de Nice, a tiny black olive, pungent & flavorsome (a proper Salade Nicoise can only be called that if it contains olives from that region, though personally I sprinkle mine with the great Kalamata olive from Greece)
In the past several hundred years the olive has spread to North and South America, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. I have visited a few olive oil factories in the south of France in the past, and will write the next installment on how to make your own olive oil. It's fun, a bit messy but great fun nonetheless, and you will certainly impress your friends by placing a little label on a bottle that says: "Huile d'Olive Maison". |
