CRETAN OLIVES & OLIVE PASTE 

In Crete, the olive tree has found the most ideal conditions for its development. It prefers the mild Mediterranean climate, loves moisture (but can survive in conditions of great dryness) and also loves the mild Mediterranean winter and greedily absorbs the strong Mediterranean light. Even though it grows best in fertile soils, it can also take root and bear fruit in the most barren, dry and rocky soils such as those of Crete.
Over the years the olive plantations of Crete have spread and today cover a large part of the island's total surface area. The island's agricultural land is approximately 3.6 Km2 and of this 65% is covered by olive plantations (23,500 hectares) with olive plantations today include a total of at least 35 million trees.

The dominant variety is the famous “Koroneiki” (or Ladolia or Psilolia) which accounts for 85% of all olive trees on the island. It produces small (that is why they are also referred to as elitses meaning small olives) yet abundant fruits almost every year and is considered to be one of the most productive varieties in the world. Despite their size, they are packed with oil and are the source of some of the world's best olive oil. While they are still green, small quantities are harvested and used as table olives. When they become black and ripe (during December, January, and sometimes February) they are harvested almost exclusively for the production of olive oil.
To a lesser extent there are also other varieties of taller but less productive tress and are cultivated in various areas of the island. These include the Tsounati in Hania, Throumbolia in Rethymnon and the Hondrolia in Heraklion.
Olives cannot be eaten right off of the tree; they require special processing to reduce their intrinsic bitterness, caused by the glycoside oleuropein, which is concentrated in their skin. These processing methods vary depending on the olive variety, the cultivation region, and the desired taste, texture and colour. Some olives are picked while green and unripe, while others are allowed to fully ripen on the tree to a black colour before being harvested.
Olives which can be prepared in different ways depending on the variety are used as an addition to lunches, salads and in many dishes and are an excellent, tasty and healthy food. In Crete there are many well known traditional ways to prepare olives which are used at home for household purposes or in small industries for sale on the market. The best known ways are:

• Green olives in brine or split olives which are prepared using the fruit of the Tsounati or Mouratolia varieties.
• Black olives as a paste or in brine which are prepared from the thick fleshed varieties Throumbolia, Hondrolia or Tsounati or small fruited varieties and the most widespread variety on Crete, Lianolia or Koroneiki.

Olive Paste

In ancient Crete, olive paste was an everyday delicacy made either by using whole olives (mashing them) or from what was left from the olives after pressing (to produce olive oil).
The grinding of the olives, in other words cutting them into small pieces, which produces the well known olive paste, is an important phase of pressing. Up until a few years ago the fruit was crushed in olive mills using 3 or 4 stones of various diameters. In more recent years the crushing/grinding of the olives has been done using metal crushers which rotate the olives at great speed inside a pierced drum. During crushing, care has to be exercised in order for is the temperature of the paste not to increase greatly and also for the olives not to be excessively crushed because that may result in the olive oil acquiring a bitter taste.
Kneading of the paste is done in special rounded or long kneaders. It is important that their walls are made of stainless steel and that the temperature of the paste does not exceed 30^ο C. Kneading should last around 30 - 45 minutes. Extracting the olive oil from the olive paste can be done using pressure (used from ancient times till recently) or centrifugally (the prevalent method used in Crete in 99% of the cases today).
The result of this process, aside from the exquisite olive oil is olive paste, a savoury, totally natural, healthy and delicious product which is flavoured with natural herbs and can be used as an appetiser, in salads and in various dishes and also as a spread on rusks or bread instead of butter.