History of Olive Oil

Cousin to the lilac and privet, the olive tree (Olea europaea L.) is the only member of Oleaceae that bears edible fruit, but the flesh of the olive contains a bitter glucoside that must be tamed by processing before it is tasty. The oil within the fruit, though, is naturally free of bitterness and needs only to be pressed from the pulp to be ready-to-eat as one of nature's oldest, most revered foods.

Native to Asia Minor (present day Turkey) and spread throughout the Mediterranean basin 6,000 years ago, the olive is the oldest known cultivated tree in the world, nurtured for a 1000 years before the Egyptians and the Sumerians independently invented written language. Greek mythology holds that the Goddess Athena brought the olive to the Greeks as a gift in a competition. Zeus had promised to give Attica to the god or goddess who made the most useful invention. Athena's gift of the olive won over Poseidon's rapid and powerful horse, which was seen as merely an instrument of war, whereas the olive was immediately embraced as useful for light, heat, food, medicine and perfume. The olive tree that grows today by the Acropolis is said to have come from the roots of the tree planted by Athena.

Because of their usefulness, olive trees were translocated to all locations where climate is favorable-all of the Mediterranean regions, especially Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain and France, and recently small sections of California, Arizona and Texas. Olive trees require an early spring and no late frosts for abundant blossoms, a long, hot growing season to properly ripen the fruit, and sufficient winter chill to insure fruit set. Hot, dry winds may be harmful during the period when the flowers are open and the young fruits are setting. Growth begins after mean temperatures warm to 70° F in the spring and continues until temperatures drop below this point in the fall. Unlike other fruiting trees, which set their buds in the fall and await the spring to "break" forth, the olive sets its flower buds in the spring after being exposed to cool (but not freezing) winter night temperatures, followed by warm winter days. This unique cool night-warm day vernalization is essential for an olive tree to bear fruit. Under the proper conditions, at about five years of age, the olive will begin to bear fruit, borne on panicles, or fruiting branches, arising from buds above the point where the leaves join the stem on the previous season's growth.