Olive; Throughout history, the symbol of peace has been accepted. It is considered sacred and has been the subject of many legends. Olive; There are two views that the Aegean spread from the Mediterranean parts of Anatolia, Syria and Lebanon, or from the Atlas Mountains of Egypt and North Africa. However, regardless of its origin, a significant portion of 98% of olive trees are in Mediterranean countries today. It is estimated that there are more than 900 million olive trees on an area of 10 million hectares in the world. Italy and Spain take the lead in olive cultivation. Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Portugal, Syria; Morocco and Algeria are other important olive producing countries. Turkey; it is 4th in the world olive tree presence and 5th in olive oil production. In our country, olive cultivation is mainly done in Aegean, Marmara, Mediterranean and Southeastern Anatolia regions. Olive tree presence is a total of 163,645,006 fruits that do not bear 32,381,751 fruits with 131,263,255 fruits.
Olive and olive oil has been serving the world as a beauty, health and flavor fountain since about 8000 years ago. A tree that grows slowly but lives quite long is olive. Its body is very resistant to rot. Moreover, when it reaches its life, a new tree sprouts from its roots. Maybe that's why the name "Immortal Tree" attributed to him. Olive trees yield abundantly and a year less. It is one of the most fat-containing fruits. Approximately 20-30 percent of its weight is fat. It is a fruit that blooms greenish-white between April and May and does not shed its leaves in winter. The fruit of the olive, whose stem is a very branched shrub, first turns green, then purple and black. Olive; It consists of water, protein, oil, cellulose, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, chlorine, iron, copper, manganese A, C and E vitamins. There are 224 calories in 100 grams of olives. 100 grams of olive oil contains 30 milligrams of vitamin E. Olive is a tree that can live up to 700 to 2000 years. It grows well on clayey, calcareous and water-permeable soils. It is hilly and hillside, but likes places with warm winds. The homeland of olives is Anatolia. It stretched from the Aegean islands to Greece, Italy, France and Spain and from there to North Africa. Again, through South Anatolia, it stretched all the shores of the Mediterranean to Syria, Egypt and Morocco. As a third branch, it extended to Afghanistan and Pakistan.