Olive Oil, the Golden treasure of Crete

February is the month when most of the Cretan olives are already collected and pressed, so there is no much work left for the lucky olive groves’ owners. The olive oil of the year is storage, as the harvest period has started beginning of November.

The modern way

This is the modern way of making olive oil in a new organic fabric in south Heraklion.

The farmers brings their olives straight from the grooves, in big sacks and the first stage is to transfer the olives in the first machine – escalator-looking where the olives will be separated from any leaves of tiny branches. Straight after that the olives will have a nice shower, being ready for the next stage, the smashing.

After some time of strong but in low speed massage, the olives (together with their seeds) look like a paste and ready for the 3^rd and most critical stage. The pressure of the olive paste must take place in low temperature (less than 23 Celsius) in order to get the best result.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Unfortunately, some people are pushed by time as there are tons of olives waiting, and also they get a small percent of extra oil using higher temperatures but many of the sensitive ingredients get destroyed (like polyphenols) in heat.

There is a lot of patience in this modern fabric, plus a reliable computer system for temperature control, so we ensure that the olive oil keeps all the antioxidants and the other precious elements, becoming really a golden liquid.

The last stage is the storage in different places, like big plastic tanks, bigger inox tanks, plastic barrels or inox-metalic cans, like this one with 5Lt of extra virgin low temperature pressed Cretan olive oil.

You can watch the stages of the procedure in short videos very soon.

The traditional way

Here you can watch a video with the traditional way of making olive oil for centuries, before the industrial period, when electricity was not discovered yet.

There are just a few mills left in the world, where you can watch similar procedures today. Just 2 left in Crete.

We are happy to help you to discover the secrets of making the precious for health olive juice and to experience its usage in the Cretan cuisine. The tour can include also other objects of your interest.