History

The olive tree grew wild in the Middle East and its fruits have been used since prehistoric times. Its history is so ancient that no one knows who first pressed the olive for its oil or who thought of softening and preserving the fruit in salt or brine. The olive tree was one of the first plants to be cultivated and the practice spread from central Mesopotimia to Egypt and Phoenicia and than to Greece.

Because of its importance as a source of both food and light the olive gained a religious and divine significance. In the cource of their travels, the Greeks introduced the olive to Italy. The peoples of north Africa also cultivated the olive and it gradually moved along the coast of Tunisia to Algeria and Morocco and then north into Spain and Portugal. The Romans were also responsible for the further spread of olive groves. They introduced the tree into northern Italy and into Provence in France. The Romans classified olive oil into ten categories. For example, olive oil made from windfalls was known as "caducum", while that made from diseased olives and used by slaves was called "cibbarim". The trade in olive oil and the importance of the olive crop stopped with the fall of the Roman Empire. In thirteenth century Italy, monks in the Salentino area commenced widespread olive cultivation.

For centuries the production of olives and olive oil remained essentially a family business. All this changed at the end of the nineteenth century with the development of industrial oil refining plants. In the late 1970's, scientists began to realize the nutritional advantages and subsequent research appears to confirm the value of olive oil in the diet. Today most olive oil is produced around the shores of the Mediterranean.