Not too many plants, like olives, are so closely linked with the Mediterranean and European civilisation. In the Istrian tradition, it had already appeared during the Roman times. When olive trees were being cultivated, a highly-valued olive oil was produced. Today, the peninsula is occupied by many families who have cultivated the tradition of different types of olive trees for generations and they produce high-quality olive oil. Our trip will take us through the works in the olive groves and contemporary olive oil pressing process.
In the morning hours, we will help the hosts with olives harvesting. First, the owners will present us with how to harvest this precious fruit, so it does not get damaged. Next, we will go on a well-deserved regional style treat. We will taste specialties accompanied with a superb atmosphere and great humour. The attractions are not over yet. After satisfying our hunger, we will work on olive oil extraction. In the past, in the pre-industrial era, the production process was very difficult and time-consuming. The olives were hand-picked and the olive groves were often located in a hardly accessible, mountainous, and rocky area. The crops were being brought down by people or animals to the oil extraction site. The olives were dropped into the special stony mortar and pressed with hand-grinding stone querns. Today, the production process has become far easier as it is fully automated. However, in order to extract high-quality olive oil, you need to follow certain rules.