Olive
oil had been essential for lighting as well as a basic dietary requirement
since prehistoric times. Its uses in cooking were extended during
the classical period. Olive oil was essential in cooking cereal crops,
vegetables and pulses as it still is today in traditional Greek cuisine,
especially in the areas where olive trees are abundant. Olive oil,
which is to be used for cooking purposes, is always of a very high
standard, obviously depending on the conditions of productions in
every area. Farmers were used to consuming the olive oil without it
being cooked, which is not such an unusual occurrence even today,
either by pouring the oil on a traditional Greek dried rusks or by
flavouring boiled greens and other kinds of salads. The amounts of
uncooked oil that were consumed were not small.
The
Cretan Olive Grove
From
the third millennium B.C., Crete was an olive oil producing area.
Since the climatic conditions of the island are ideal for the growth
of the tree, the people turned their interest to the cultivation of
olive trees, which was easy and profitable. The Cretans have never
stopped cultivating their beloved tree. Even when other areas developed,
such as Athens, and the island’s trade declined, Crete continued
to produce large quantities of olive oil. It was used for food, as
a manufacturing material in the production of scented oil and as an
industrial material on its own. It was olive oil which lit public
and private buildings.