Olive oil form Crete Greece 2021: Last weeks we have been very busy with the harvest of the olives on our olive fields. The olives hanging there look fantastic and are larger than in other years at this time. That is promising for the quality of the oil! The olives need a few more good rain showers and some time to get even bigger before being harvested.
This year there are several fields with trees to harvest. The largest field has 70 trees about 40 years old. New this year is a little field with 6 trees of about 350 years old. These are large, old trees with a lot of olives. All together Zorbas olive oil has 3 fields but we did 6 fields. total number of trees about 200. It is expected that this will result in a top quality oil!
The harvest is not only hard work, there is of course also time for relaxation. At the end of the day, the BBQ turns on and the coolers with drinks appear. We all enjoy food and drinks in the olive field and discuss the work done and other matters. Those who want to can sleep in the olive field in a hammock, on a stretcher, in a small tent or in the large tent. But there is also the option to go back to Zorbas to sleep there. The next morning starts with breakfast before resuming the harvest.
Every day the harvested olives are brought to the factory to be cold pressed within 24 hours. An exciting moment is when the acidity is measured! The lower this number, the better the quality of the oil. The oil must then settle for a few weeks, after which it is poured into cans and can be used.