Olives in Israel and Croatia

Why the olives are very important?

Drawing: Sara, I.G.K.

The olives are very important to the Jewish people because they are a symbol for the Israeli people.

In the past the Jewish used the olives to make oil.

They made oil from olives to make light.

In the bible there were a lot of stories about the olives and about the oil that they made from them.

For example the story about the oil lamp in Hanukah.

At the past the Rabbi needed to put olive oil on the king so he would officially be the king.

Today the olives are very important for the world because the olives very healthy and very tasty.

Olive oil has a lot of vitamins and the oil protects us from illness.

Olive oil production

In the past the Jewish people made olive oil with two big rocks (there is a picture).

One rock was on the other and when someone moved the rock and then the rocks smashed the olives and then the oil went in to a hole that was in the lower rock.

And then the oil went in to a jug that was under the hole.

Today there are a lot of machines (there is a picture) that extract the oil from the olives with out human touch.

A Visit in a local olive field.

We were on a trip to an olive field.

There were a lot of olives trees.

And there were a lot of olives on the trees.

We picked the olives and put them in a box.

The field was big and full of olives. We had to get them from the tree.

It's called "Mesik" that's what you do when you collect olives from an olive tree.

Types Of Olives

In israel there are 2 different types of olives;

Barneah

This tree comes from Barnea Tample – Israel. This species has two uses. The tree is tall – 10 meters, can be grown in all types of ground. This olive has a strong fruity taste and it's a little spicey.

Suri

This tree comes from Lebanon, the most popular olive in the area. This tree isn't very tall and could get to 4 meters. It doesn't grow near the sea or on humid soil. The Suri olive is good to be eaten even if didn’t go trough a process.

By Almog and Denis