Olive Oil (Production)

Olive oil is one of the most important agricultural products in the Near East and the Mediterranean. There are indications that olive oil has been produced since 3000 BC.

Olive oil is made from olives, the fruit of the olive tree.

The olive harvest took place in the months of October and November. Olives were harvested by shaking the tree or hitting the branches with a stick. The olives fell on the ground and could be gathered in baskets.

Deuteronomy 24:20 states that the olives that were left on the tree afterwards were for strangers, widows and orphans.

The harvested olives were first crushed. This could be done by hand in a kind of pestle, but in larger quantities a special machine was used. This consisted of a shallow stone bowl into which the olives were placed. Then a large round stone was rolled over the olives until they were crushed to a kind of pulp. The pulp was placed in flat round baskets.

The baskets of pulp were then stacked on top of each other and placed under an olive press. The press squeezed the oil out of the pulp.

The olive press consisted of a long lever, which was slowly pulled down with the help of heavy weights. Another type of olive press made use of a large screw that was slowly tightened.

The first oil that came out of the press was the best quality.