Olive making in Cyprus
Introduction
The olive tree on the island of Cyprus goes back to 6th millennium B.C. You could see them in the countryside, but also in the center of the cities. The production and cultivation of olive oil goes back to 2nd millennium B.C., however on the island of Cyprus there is proof that it began around the 13th century B.C., from which the oldest presses were found. It's calculated that in the 1960's, around 3.15 million Olive trees were on the island of Cyprus, from which around half were in the now-occupied part of the island. The olive tree suits all types of soil.[1] In the 19th century, olive trees along with carob trees were found on the base of the mountains away from cultivated fields. These trees were forming a line between the uncultivated mountain sides and the farming land beneath.
Harvesting
The harvesting of the fruit starts in August with the picking of the green olives which get squashed, the so called “tsakkistes”. Other olives are picked when they turn dark usually in October, November and sometimes even in December and January. In the past, mostly the men climbed up the trees and shook the branches so the olives would fall and be picked by the members of the family or female laborers, however the last collecting toward the start of the winter was carried out by hitting the tree with long sticks or long canes. This very ancient method was compelling, however destructive to the tree and was strongly criticized by the British.[2]
Nowadays, the harvesting is being done by hand, with rakes, vibrating rakes and machines. The rakes are being used in a way that they would shake the fruit into nets either suspended above the ground or laid down on the ground. This are the same machines that people use for nut harvesting. These machines are easy to handle and aid the process of harvesting by minimizing the time and effort. After the olives are picked with the help of the machinery, they are placed on a sliding assembly line where the dirt, stones and leaves are washed off. This process usually takes up to 24 hours.
traditional grindstone
Processing
In the past the process of extracting the oil was laborious and was done in two stages at special installations which in some areas were open air but in others housed in buildings. The first stage takes around 30-40 minutes each time when the olives are being poured in the grindstone which turned in an upright position in a circular stone bowl was doing the crushing of the fruit. (picture 1) The grinder was turned by pushing the pole, for example the pillar which shaped the level pivot of the grindstone. This was done by men or animals. The washed olives were turned into mash “Zimari”. They left this first pulp, with a hollow in the center, for many hours in a container and the first oil came out by itself. This was the cleanest/purest oil and they called it “Adolon”.
painted ladokoumnes
The second stage was to crush the pulp in a press with a screw. At first it was made out of wood and later on iron. The mash was placed into round woven basket with an opening in the center called "Zembilia". Then five to seven baskets were placed on top of each other in the base of the pressing machine. Here they crushed the filled Zembilias multiple times, again with muscle power, turning the screw with the assistance of wooden shaft. After the main squeezing, virgin oil was the result. However, when they squeezed for the third session, the following step was to add hot water on the Zembilia which contained the mash, for the remainder of the oil to turn out. The end product was gathered in a container. The oil floated and they scooped it up with their cupped hands or even with their palms. They left it for around 20 days for the silt to settle before they started to utilize it. The oil was kept in little ceramic containers “ladokoumnes” (picture 2) sealed or fixed with beeswax, or in glass demi-johns.
Nowadays, the processing is done in two ways. One of them is with the same cylindrical grindstone, but instead of people or animals pulling it, there is a rotor which works on electrical power. In addition to the rotor, the grindstone has wiper blades which helped to scoop up the paste from the olives (picture 3).
The following step in this process includes mixing the paste. The paste is mixed for 20–45 minutes to allow little oil drops to consolidate into bigger ones. This procedure guarantees the olives are well ground and allows the fruit enzymes to deliver desirable aromas and flavors. Longer mixing increases yield, however, they may also result in expanded oxidation and decreased shelf life and quality. Modern olive mills are partially or fully automated and have replaced granite crushers with metal crushers. They consist of a stainless-steel body and a stainless-steel crusher that rotates at high speed. The olives are typically thrown against a hammer-shaped metal grating, thus the name hammermill. Modern milling is very gentle in order to avoid overheating of the paste.
modern grindstone with wiper blades
Cold pressed “extra virgin” oils must not exceed 27˚C at any step in the processing of the oil. The new modern mixers are horizontal troughs with spiral mixing blades. Typically, two or three cylindrical vats are used in tandem, mixing the paste at slow speeds (15–20 rpm) for anywhere between 20 minutes and 75 minutes. The vats are jacketed so that the paste can be heated or water added during this process to increase the yield, although that generally results in a lowering of oil quality. New mixers have an atmosphere controlled by an inert gas (i.e., nitrogen or carbon dioxide) to reduce oxidation and produce higher-quality oils. The paste is pumped into an industrial decanter where the phases are separated using centrifugal. This step can involve a three-phase decanter or a two-phase decanter. In three-stage emptying, the rotation pushes the solids out of one end of the system and the water and oil out the opposite end. Three-stage emptying results in loss of a portion of the oil polyphenolics because of the higher amount of water utilized. It produces bigger amounts of vegetative water that at that point should be prepared and have negative ecological impacts. Two-stage decanters were made to take care of these issues. In this procedure, the olive paste is isolated into two stages, oil and wet pomace. The decanter has two exits rather than three, and the water is removed with the pomace, resulting in a wetter pomace. The two-stage decanter solves the phenol washing issue and uses less water; however, it increases the waste produced. Regardless of the procedure used for oil extraction, a final centrifugal process is done to separate the oil from the vegetation water.
Food
Throughout ages of deprivation, serfdom and exploitation, the olive earned recognition as a valuable and favorite form of food. The olives, which were always counted, together with bread, constituted the everyday meal of the farmers, the workers, the craftsmen. A very common Cypriot food with olives is “Elioti” or olive bread. It is prepared with dough in which black olives, dried mint, coarsely chopped fresh coriander leaves and onions are added. They put all the ingredients together, shape the dough into small round loaves and bake them in the oven. (picture 4) Colored glass bottles are ideal packaging for olive oil because the colored glass blocks the UV light and is also impermeable to oxygen. Bottling under nitrogen is a recommended practice.
traditional olive pie
Medicine
Olive oil was also used medicinally in the traditional society.
In the past people used to add drops of olive oil in the ear to cure earache. Also, it was very common that olive oil was used to cure bellyaches by rubbing it on the aching spot. Furthermore, it was common to treat wounds using the oil, it was even used to treat wounds on animals. They also rubbed figs with olive oil to make them ripen easily and quickly.
References
Euphrosyne Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, THE OLIVE TREE AND OLIVE OIL IN THE TRADITIONAL LIFE OF CYPRUS (PDF)
Hulya Yuceer, The conservation of traditional olive oil mills in Cyprus, June 2018 (PDF)
Olive oil extraction (Wikipedia)
