Production of Olive Oil: The Tradition Continues
Visiting Greece is not less than unleashing its secrets for most of the visitors, because besides beautiful islands and picturesque natural locations, you will find the abundance of olive groves planted almost across all the corners of the country. In short, it can be said that visiting Greece offers you the pleasure of enjoying an Eco-friendly holiday that is full of some mind-blowing suspense. The history of harvesting olive dates back to ancient times, as according to the folklore olive is enriched with divine power and therefore the goddess Athena to the people of Athens. It is also believed that the people of Athens preferred to adore the goddess Athena instead of lord Poseidon and therefore she blessed them with a gift which was regarded as the best source of healthy life and which will help them in satisfying their food needs till the end of their life
Process of Olive Harvesting
It would be interesting to know that the time of olive harvesting is regarded as one of the most important periods of the year and therefore whole united at one place to help each other in the task of growing the olive plants. In case if any family does not have a sufficient number of members to help in the task of harvesting olive, they can ask for help from their relatives and neighbours. Interestingly, going through the relevance of harvesting everyone is happy to assist each other in the task without any compromise. Because in this way they can return the help they have acquired from them in back.
The proper way to pluck the olives is by hand so that there is no damage to the tree and also to the fruit. Although there is no particular time to harvest the olives because it normally continues for two to three months, still the period from November to mid-January is the time when the olives are harvested across the nation. The period of the olive harvest in not less than an annual event in the country during which all the families in villages and islands come close to each other and help in the task.
To collect the plucked olives large nests are placed on the land to pick the olives being plucked by the people. To reach the top of the tree ladders are used by the people and the process continues till all the olives are not removed from each tree located on the farm. Once all the olives are collected in large boxes they are sent to the compressing unit where they are washed properly and separated from the leaves.
Change in the process of harvesting with changing time: The above-mentioned process of harvesting olive groves is the traditional way and with the changing time there is a vast change in its harvesting. Today, there are lots of producers who make use of electronic machines that shake the tree for plucking the olives. However, still, most of the farmers prefer to harvest the olives following the ancient method, because it is Eco-friendly and retains the pure benefits of the olives.
Once the harvest season is over, a huge feast is organized to celebrate the period. In this feast different types of dishes are cooked by the people by using fresh olive oil. The taste of these dishes is not less than any divine food.
Olive Oil is the major element in Greek food:
Despite being the major producer of olive oil, the people of Greece make use of cooking all their dishes due to an abundance of health benefits hidden in the oil from the olives. The relevance of benefits offered by olive oil can be realized from the fact that it is not only used by almost all the households in Greece but in all the hotels, restaurants and villas on different islands.
The most amazing fact about the olive groves is that they are not only grown in the well-developed cities and villages but even in the smallest islands like Paxos Island, which is recognized as the smallest island in Greece.
The island has an abundance of olive groves located in its green valley. Glyfada Beach villas have created all its villas inside a huge olive grove and are still collecting their own olives in the wintertime. In this way, their clients still have the facility of enjoying the taste of Greek food to their visitors cooked strictly according to the Greek cuisines by using their own fresh olive oil in two of the restaurants operating at Glyfada Beach Villas & Restaurant.
