as been used for religious rituals, medicines, as a fuel in oil lamps, soap-making, and skin care application. The Minoans used olive oil in religious ceremonies. The oil became a principal product of the Minoan civilization, where it is thought to have represented wealth. The Minoans put the pulp i

Ancient oil press (Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, Bodrum, Turkey)
Olive trees and oil production in the Eastern Mediterranean can be traced to archives of the ancient city-state Ebla (2600–2240 BC), which were located on the outskirts of the Syrian city Aleppo. Here some dozen documents dated 2400 BC describe lands of the king and the queen. These belonged to a library of clay tablets perfectly preserved by having been baked in the fire that destroyed the palace. A later source is the frequent mentions of oil in Tanakh.[citation needed]
Dynastic Egyptians before 2000 BC imported olive oil from Crete, Syria and Canaan and oil was an important item of commerce and wealth. Remains of olive oil have been found in jugs over 4,000 years old in a tomb on the island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea. Sinuhe, the Egyptian exile who lived in northern Canaan about 1960 BC, wrote of abundant olive trees.[8]
Besides food, olive oil has been used for religious rituals, medicines, as a fuel in oil lamps, soap-making, and skin care application. The Minoans used olive oil in religious ceremonies. The oil became a principal product of the Minoan civilization, where it is thought to have represented wealth. The Minoans put the pulp into settling tanks and, when the oil had risen to the top, drained the water from the bottom.[citation needed] Olive tree growing reached Iberia and Etruscan cities well before the 8th century BC through trade with the Phoenicians and Carthage, then was spread into Southern Gaul by the Celtic tribes during the 7th century BC.
The first recorded oil extraction is known from the Hebrew Bible and took place during the Exodus from Egypt, during the 13th century BC. During this time, the oil was derived through hand-squeezing the berries and stored in special containers under guard of the priests. A commercial mill for non-sacramental use of oil was in use in the tribal Confederation and later in 1000 BC, the fertile crescent, an area consisting of present day Palestine, Lebanon, and Israel. Over 100 olive presses have been found in Tel Miqne (Ekron), where the Biblical Philistines also produced oil. These presses are estimated to have had output of between 1,000 and 3,000 tons of olive oil per season.
Many ancient presses still exist in the Eastern Mediterranean region, and some dating to the Roman period are still in use today.[citation needed]


Olive crusher (trapetum) in Pompeii (79 AD)
Olive oil was common in ancient Greek and Roman cuisine. According to Herodotus, Apollodorus, Plutarch, Pausanias, Ovid and other sources, the city of Athens obtained its name because Athenians considered olive oil essential, preferring the offering of the goddess Athena (an olive tree) over the offering of Poseidon (a spring of salt water gushing out of a cliff). The Spartans and other Greeks used oil to rub themselves while exercising in the gymnasia. From its beginnings early in the 7th century BC, the cosmetic use of olive oil quickly spread to all of Hellenic city states, together with athletes training in the nude, and lasted close

13 Further reading History[edit]

7 Constituents
7.1 Phenolic composition
8 Nutrition
9 Popular uses and research
9.1 Skin
9.2 Potential health effects attributed to fat composition
10 Uses
10.1 Culinary use
10.2 Religious use
10.2.1 Judaism
10.2.2 Christianity
10.2.3 Islam
10.3 Other
11 See also
12 References
13 Further reading
History[edit]

Early cultivation[edit]
The olive tree is native to the Mediterranean basin; wild olives were collected by Neolithic peoples as early as the 8th millennium BC.[3] The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor[4] or in ancient Greece.
It is not clear when and where olive trees were first domesticated: in Asia Minor in the 6th millennium; along the Levantine coast stretching from the Sinai Peninsula to modern Turkey in the 4th millennium;[3] or somewhere in the Mesopotamian Fertile Crescent in the 3rd millennium.


Ancient Greek olive oil production workshop in Klazomenai, Ionia (modern Turkey)
A widespread view exists that the first cultivation took place on the island of Crete. Archeological evidence suggest that olives were being grown in Crete as long ago as 2,500 BC. The earliest surviving olive oil amphorae date to 3500 BC (Early Minoan times), though the production of olive is assumed to have started before 4000 BC. An alternative view retains that olives were turned into oil by 4500 BC by Canaanites in present-day Israel.[5] Until 1500 BC, eastern coastal areas of the Mediterranean were most heavily cultivated. Olive trees were certainly cultivated by the Late Minoan period (1500 BC) in Crete, and perhaps as early as the Early Minoan.[6] The cultivation of olive trees in Crete became particularly intense in the post-palatial period and played an important role in the island's economy.
Recent genetic studies suggest that species used by modern cultivators descend from multiple wild populations, but a detailed history of domestication is not yet understood.[7]
Production and trade[edit]

ined) 75–92 (pomace) Acid value maximum: 6.6 (refined and pomace) 0.6 (extra-virgin)

5–21.0 %
α-Linolenic acid: <1.0%
Properties
Food energy per 100 g    3,700 kJ (880 kcal)
Melting point    −6.0 °C (21.2 °F)
Boiling point    300 °C (572 °F)
Smoke point    190 °C (374 °F) (virgin)
210 °C (410 °F) (refined)
Specific gravity at 20 °C    911 kg/m3[1]
Viscosity at 20 °C    84 cP
Refractive index    1.4677–1.4705 (virgin and refined)
1.4680–1.4707 (pomace)
Iodine value    75–94 (virgin and refined)
75–92 (pomace)
Acid value    maximum: 6.6 (refined and pomace)
0.6 (extra-virgin)
Saponification value    184–196 (virgin and refined)
182–193 (pomace)
Peroxide value    20 (virgin)
10 (refined and pomace)
Olive oil is a fat obtained from the olive (the fruit of Olea europaea; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The oil is produced by pressing whole olives.
It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps. Olive oil is used throughout the world, but especially in the Mediterranean countries and, in particular, in Greece, which has the highest consumption per person.[2]
Contents  [hide]
1 History
1.1 Early cultivation
1.2 Production and trade
2 Varieties
3 Production and consumption
4 Regulation
4.1 Commercial grades
4.2 Retail grades in the United States from the USDA
4.3 Label wording
4.4 Adulteration
5 Global consumption
5.1 Global market
6 Extraction