The olive (Olea europaea L.) is a well-known evergreen tree, native to the Mediterranean coast, of which the fruit and oil are used for food and cooking.

The olive tree grows slowly but has a very long life. The average lifespan of an olive tree is 300-400 years, but olive trees are also found at 3000 years old. For this reason, the name of the olive tree is the “immortal tree” in mythology and botany.

Olive, which has been a source of many legends in its historical development, has taken its place in the inscriptions and holy books of ancient civilizations. The Olive branch has been accepted as a symbol of peace for centuries since a white dove returned to Noah’s ark with an olive branch as a sign of vitality after the Flood.

The known history of olives, the world’s healthiest and natural vegetable oil source, goes back to the period around six thousand years ago. A recent scientific study on the DNA of cultivated and wild olive varieties of Mediterranean basin testifies that the cultivation of wild olive tree first occurred approximately 6000-8000 years ago at the borders of  Turkey.

Later on olive trees had spread to the whole of Mediterranean basin through trade routes of Mediterranean economies. Though olive tree has been cultivated around 4000 BC, the production of edible olive oil goes back to early Bronze Age, 3150 to 1200 BC. Throughout various Mediterranean civilizations, olive trees occupied an important position in agricultural economy and trade. Tablets those are found in Northern Syria dating middle of 3000 BC mention large scale of olive oil production, whereas Hittite texts and Egyptian records testify olive cultivation in Anatolia, around Cilician region.

Anatolia, the crossroads of civilisations, has been home to the olive tree for 6000 years. The olive has brought peace, health and beauty to the region. It is the fascinating secret of the longevity of the Mediterranean peoples and bears delicious traditional produce that is shared by different civilisations.

Olive has been a symbol of Mediterranean civilization throughout history and has been long established in Turkey. The lineage of the first olives is found on the border between Turkey and Syria based on written tablets, olive pits, and wood fragments found in ancient tombs.

Olive trees produce a full harvest only every other year, sometime from October to December, and the ancients in the Mediterranean believed that the earlier they were harvested (when still green) and pressed, the finer the oil. However, leaving collection later in the season allows for the olives to continue growing, ripen so that they become black, and so more oil can be pressed from them. The finest quality oil, as today, came from the first pressing and when the mash had the minimum number of stones in it.