Olives and Olive Oil

Olives and Olive Oil
Blog Post #3
April, 16 2015
By Annika Colter


Greek food is simple to make and usually provides great nutritional value. In almost every Greek recipe you will find olives and olive oil. Without olive oil Greek cuisine would not be as delicious as it is. Olive oil is produced all over Greece and they are the third largest country in the world for producing it. It is extracted from the trees that olives grow on. Olive oil in traditional meals in Greece are used as the basic cooking fat. Greek’s also use olives as an ingredient in many of their meals. In Greece, they harvest about 100 different types of olives. The perfect climate for olives to grow in are long hot summers and mild winters with very little frost. So I guess we cannot grow olives in our garden in Chicago. Winter is the time when the perfect olives are picked. They say when the olive is purple or black it is almost, but not quite, ripe and that is when you know that they are ready to be picked. It is crucial that you harvest the fruit right before it is completely ripe because if you do not then the olive oil lessens. Olives are considered very healthy because it provides different antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients. Medical researchers have proven that olive oil is one of the reasons that Greek’s live longer. The agricultural business in Greece is very low since they have little rain fall and the land cannot be cultivated because of poor soil and the fact that it is covered by forests. Olives though are the country’s most renowned export crop.

 


       http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Greece-AGRICULTURE.html
       http://www.dianekochilas.com/greek-food-products-and-basic-greek-ingredients/
     http://www.tradingeconomics.com/greece/gdp-growth-annual