Olives in the past

The olives are almost, if not the most, important fruit in Israel. It was more important in the age of the First Temple and the Second Temple than today. So far we found a lot of antique factories that made the olive oil. In Jerusalem there are olive trees of thousand of years.

The olives were, and still, part of the agriculture, and the agriculture was part of the livelihood for the farmers. The farmers grew it and made a lot of things from it like: olive oil, drying them and eating them, to spice a lot of kinds of cheese. The olives were the most used to people who bound at food. In the past there weren’t ways to make all these things from the olive; the farmers used just three stages to make from it an olive oil: crushing, pickling, and separation.

Olives in the Bible

In the Bible the olives take a big part. All these uses started when Noah sent his dove to check if the flooding had stopped. His dove came back with a branch of an olive tree. The olive tree is the lowest tree all over the world.

The second time is when Moshe got in with the other people into Israel and God said to them: “it’s the country of wheat, barley, vine, fig, pomegranate, country of olives and honey.” (Deuteronomy H 8)

In Israel there was a custom that new king must anoint with olive oil.

The Jewish some times in wars took the shields of there soldiers and greased them in olives oil. They did it because the arrows were slipped on the shields.

But the most famous story is at Hanukkah when all the Jewish didn’t want to become a Greek. They fought against the Greeks and after they won, they tried to renovate the Temple, but there was no olive oil to burn on the Hanukkah candlestick. Then they found a little bottle with olive oil that was sufficient for eight days.

Quality of olives in Israel

In Israel the quality of the olives is very high. There are perfect conditions for growing olives: perfect climate, two clear seasons, water and more.  

Kinds of olives in Israel

The sources of the olive are in Israel and Syria. They grow here, in Syria and Israel, and slowly they came to all the other countries in the Mediterranean Sea.

There are many kinds of olives: Syria’s olives, Klamath, Green olives, Black olives, Maalot, Picholin, Nubo, Muhsan, Picoel, Manzenilo, Barnea, and Zuri.

Manufacture of olives oil in the past

In the past there were many ways to make olives oil. In the past people used to assist with a donkey who spun and helped in grinding the olives in an old machine.

In old and scattered parish, there are some people who still used in these ways like the Bedouim. The Bedouim don’t use any technology so they are making the olive oil like that:                  

They put all the olives in a big dish. They put on the dish in a strainer, and then they step on the olives in the dish. When they do this all the oil get out of the olives. After that they wait for the next morning. Then they take all the olives that didn’t squeeze completely, and squeeze them. Like that they make olives oil. With all the olive’s leftovers, they make a condiment for many kinds of cheese.

by Barak