Facts about Cretans
4 November 2016
Crete the Island of contrasts
1 December 2016
for the ancient Greeks the olive was a holy tree given to people from Gods
the myth says that the olive tree was given to the Athenians from Athena
the prize for the ancient Olympic winners was a wreath of olive branches
according to the legend the Olympia olive tree was planted of the ancients Cretans
there are speculations that the systematic cultivation of olives initiated in Crete
the oldest painting of olive trees is 3.700 years old and found at Knossos palace
there are more than 50.000.000 olive trees in Crete (domestic and wild)
olive trees in Crete survive up to 750 meters of elevation
the olive trees are very strong and if they are cut or burned they sprout again
olive trees do not like very low temperatures
only at Selakano forest the olive trees grow up to 950 meters of altitude
olive tree can live hundrends of years
the oldest olive tree in the world at Vouves is 4.000 years old and still produces olives
ancient Athenians call these old trees "Mories" olives and believe that were originated from the first tree of Athena
in the past the olives were collected by hand from the ground...
...today we use modern generators and plastic nets
"vedema" is the Cretan word for the good harvest
the color of the fruit depends on its maturity. Unripe olives are green, ripe olives are dark purple to black
olives directly from the tree are bitter, they need to be processed with brine to become tasteful
the only olives we can eat from the tree are "stafidolies" after infected by a fungus
at Zakros palace were found olives preserved for 3500 years
3-7 kilos of olives needed to produce 1 kilo of oil
an olive tree can produce up to 12 kilos of oil
