Buying olive oil from a supermarket

This story goes back further - some useful pre-reading:

• Stolen heritage (Κλεμμένη κληρονομιά) http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stolen-heritage.html
• Stains in the extra virgin olive oil industry (Λαδολαδιές) http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stains-in-extra-virgin-olive-oil.html
• Degustation of extra virgin olive oil (Γευσιγνωσία του πρασίνου χρυσού)  http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/02/degustation-of-extra-virgin-olive-oil.html 
• EU olive oil wars http://www.organicallycooked.com/2013/05/eu-olive-oil-wars.html (Brexiters could use this particular article to justify their voting choice)

I don't buy olive oil because we have our own supplies of 'green gold', made from the harvest of the fruit of our own olive groves, but if I were living far away from my own supplies, I would have to work out how to keep myself supplied with quality olive oil, and I would probably do most of my shopping at the supermarket. So how does one go about choosing the product that will best suit one's needs?

In Crete, we always talk about λάδι (= oil) when we talk about olive oil. The more correct term would be ελαιόλαδο (= olive oil). But we generally assume that everyone is using the same λάδι in their food. We produce so much olive oil in the first place - there isn't a place in Crete where an olive tree isn't visible - that we naturally assume that everyone uses olive oil in their food preparations.
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211156424883512

This bring us to another issue: Why do olive oil packaging labels use the words 'extra-virgin' to describe the olive oil? The answer to that questions lies in the acidity level of the olive oil: There will be times when your olive oil will not be extra virgin olive oil, because there are times when olive oil need not be extra virgin. Confused? I hope this post will help you. As you read through it, please DO open the embedded facebook posts, and check the comments in them, because this post is based on them. (If you can't see the facebook post, click on the facebook link instead.)

For a start, it should be mentioned that olive oil is more expensive than other cooking oils. That's what makes it the most controversial cooking oils in the world: Its high cost of purchase urges buyers to seek the best quality for the money they pay for it. Olive oil quality is determined by factors such as the following:
- Variety of olive used
- Location and soil conditions where the olives were grown
- Environmental factors and weather during the growing season
- Olive ripeness
- Timing of the harvest
- Harvesting method
- Length of time between the harvest and pressing
- Pressing technique
- Packaging and storage methods
(from http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/how-olive-oil-works2.htm)

Don't be fooled by things like the colour of the oil, the container shape/design, the label design and the brand name under which the oil is being sold: they do not determine the quality of the product you are buying; you may be paying a premium price for such things without realising it. Such factors all have to do with our perceptions of beauty, which as we all know is in the eyes of the beholder.

The International Olive Oil Council designates 'virgin olive oils' as: "the oils obtained from the fruit of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.) solely by mechanical or other physical means under conditions, particularly thermal conditions, that do not lead to alterations in the oil, and which have not undergone any treatment other than washing, decantation, centrifugation and filtration". But the end product is categorised in different ways, because of the many different factors involved in making olive oil. From the same species of fruit, Olea europaea L., we can have:

- Extra virgin olive oil, characterised by a free acidity of not more than 0.8 grams per 100 grams
- Virgin olive oil, characterised by a free acidity of not more than 2 grams per 100 grams
- Ordinary virgin olive oil, characterised by a free acidity of not more 3.3 grams per 100 grams
- Lampante olive oil, characterised by a free acidity of more than 3.3 grams per 100 grams, which is not intended for human consumption (it has industrial uses)
- Refined olive oil, obtained from virgin olive oils by refining methods, which is then characterised by a free acidity of not more than 0.3 grams per 100 grams
- Olive oil, consisting of a blend of refined olive oil and virgin olive oils, which is then characterised by a free acidity of not more than 1 gram per 100 grams
- Olive pomace oil, obtained by treating pulped olives with solvents or other physical treatments
(from http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/estaticos/view/83-designations-and-definitions-of-olive-oils)

By the above definitions, my family's production of olive oil is always extra virgin because we never produce olive oil with an acidity level of higher than 0.8. This is no surprise as Crete's olive oil industry is based solely on the production of extra-virgin olive oil, while 80% of Greece's annual olive oil production consists of extra virgin olive oil. To distinguish between very low acidity and and higher acidity in the extra virgin olive oil category, we also have the designation of 'extra-extra virgin olive oil' when the acidity is no more than 0.3-0.4

From the above, we can understand that:
- Not all olive oil is extra virgin.
- Not all packaged olive oil has been produced in the same way.
- The acidity level of olive oil plays a role in its quality.
How virgin an olive oil is will therefore affect olive oil prices: Acidity is the key here.
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211271807047994

There are also other factors involved in pricing olive oil: In the present olive oil producing season, Greek producers have received good prices for their product, based on the hindered production of other olive oil producing countries, namely Italy and Spain. Italy's trees were ravaged by disease in early 2016 while Spain's were highly affected by drought. Greece's trees do not yet show any signs of the Italian disease, while the very dry summer weather suddenly eased in December which saw a lot of rain in Greece. The rain came at just the right time for olive, as it is usually ripe by this time, and olive oil production is in its full swing at this time.

Since the acidity level of an olive oil is important in pricing the product, the acidity level is the very first thing that will be checked by a producer in Crete. This may sound incredible because in international terms, the acidity level is NOT required to be stated (see https://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/labeling-regulations#Primary). Acidity level can be implied from the name on the label, eg 'extra virgin olive oil' implies that the acidity level is no more than 0.8. But low acidity can also be reached by mixing and refining techniques; therefore, the original acidity level at the time of production loses its importance, (see http://www.oliveoiloftheworld.com/2013/01/22/acidity-levels-in-extra-virgin-olive-oil/).

If you rely on the information on the labels of the products you buy to provide you with all the information you need about a product - and you trust it - you can leave it at that, and feel that you are getting value for money. But if you know that olive oil producers are getting higher prices for their product based on the acidity level of the product, surely that should be just one more factor that you should be considering when you are buying olive oil. After all, most extra virgin olive oil labels state words to the effect of:

"... produced entirely by mechanical means without the use of any solvents..."

which one would think could be taken for granted. But very few packaged extra virgin olive oils will include the acidity level on the label. Most olive oil labels will include information about the origin of olive oil, and will even tell you if it is a 'mixie-mixie' kind of oil (my terminology, to describe a product that contains a mixture of olive oil from different countries). Why the need for such wording, and nothing about acidity?

Despite the fact that mentioning the acidity level of extra virgin olive oil on a label is not a legal requirement, many Greek producers of extra virgin olive oil still mention it. It's no surprise then, when a customer finds acidity level mentioned on the label of packaged olive oil of a Greek origin:

"My customer told me she was purchasing an EVOO from Greece with an acidity level of .3%. She wanted to know if the EVOOs I carried had the acidity level listed on the label like hers. Much like customers that look for the words first cold pressed/ing on the labeling because marketing tactics tell them to specifically look for those words,  her concern arose because of this newest method to market olive oil... the acidity levels of extra virgin olive oil mean very little unless someone has a medical condition where a .5% to .8% would cause stomach upset.  So long as the oil is real EVOO (and many are not even though they claim to be) there is no reason to choose based on acidity. It should be based on taste and what one wants to do with the olive oil." http://www.oliveoiloftheworld.com/2013/01/22/acidity-levels-in-extra-virgin-olive-oil/

If there is NO reason to choose extra virgin olive oil based on acidity levels, why does acidity level determine the price of olive oil? Ignoring the acidity of an olive oil may be misleading for a number of reasons:
- The lower the acidity of freshly produced olive oil, the higher the price it can command.
- Low acidity extra virgin olive oil has a lighter taste, which is why it's the best choice for drizzling over your salads.
- Higher acidity levels are better for use in cooking, ie the process of heating olive oil, because they reach a smoking point more quickly; therefore, cooking with a low acidity olive oil may feel like you're boiling your food rather than frying it.
- Very low acidity in olive oil is a sign of less ripening of the fruit, so it can taste more peppery, with a bit of a zing to it when it goes down your throat. This has to do with the sensory perceptions of the product: Some like it hot, some like it cold.
- High acidity olive oil cannot be labelled extra-virgin.
Is the acidity level of an olive oil really a non-issue, given the above information?

 *** *** ***

When I visit friends in London, I always bring some of our own extra-extra virgin olive oil supplies to them as a present. I put into a clean coca-cola type bottle (they are very strong) and securely fasten the cap. Then I seal the cap with cellotape. Then I place the bottle on a plastic bag and tie it up with cellotape, repeating the last step twice. I also checked the olive oil selection at the two supermarkets that I went to: Waitrose, Greenwich... https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211422859184203

... and Sainsbury's, Lewisham Shopping Centre.
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211455161471740

Hardly any of the labels mention the acidity level of the product. I found only one in Waitrose (Morgenster, South Africa), and only one in Sainsbury's (Iliada, Greece). Both these olive oils were produced in one region, whereas the other olive oils were made from a mixture of olive oils produced in different places: in other words, mixie-mixie, according to my terminology. Without doubt, such oils are more difficult to control for quality. Own-brand labels are far more common than any other kinds of olive oil. Own-brand supermarket olive oils are a kind of '[generic' of olive oil, and they do not state the acidity level of the product. You cannot guarantee quality in such cases. Monovarietals (olive oil produced with one variety of olives) are rare, as are olive oils produced in specific geographical regions. Supermarkets are competing with each other for prices. And in London, it is only natural to assume that specialised products will command high prices, perhaps too high for the average shopper to consider paying at a supermarket counter.

Crete is a major producer of olive oil, so you may be surprised to see a similar 'small' range of olive oil products being sold at our supermarkets. This is probably because the average buyer of olive oil from the supermarket is NOT Greek! Most of us have our own supplies of green gold. Those who do not will probably not buy their needs from the supermarket... They will buy it from a producer they know, or go directly to an olive oil factory and buy it in bulk. What use is a 1L bottle of olive oil - or even a 5L canister of olive oil! - when the average amount of olive oil consumed per capita per annum in Crete is... 25-30 kilos?! It's a little lower for the rest of Greece - Cretans use more olive oil than other Greeks (and according to statistics, they eat more cheese too, even more than the average French person).

Even so, it is worth noting what local Greek supermarkets are selling. Not all olive oils sold in Crete mention the acidity level on their packaging. Here's what I found at LIDL, a German supermarket chain...
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211586562956695?pnref=story

... and SYNKA, a supermarket chain founded in Hania:
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211586529915869?pnref=story

I was mainly interested in extra virgin olive oil. All the supermarkets I took photographs in (both in London and in Hania) sell a variety of olive oil types, not just extra-virgin olive oil. I did not make a point of including the prices for all the olive oil labels I photographed. Sometimes price is misleading: is it a sign of quality, or is it a sign of status? Likewise, if you have a preference for 'organic', you may end up paying more money for organic olive oil, even though its quality as olive oil may be compromised.

Olive oil sold at SYNKA supermarket, Hania. Notice that you can also buy seed oil here too. If you don;t have your own supplies of olive oil, using seed oil to fry with will turn out cheaper.

To conclude, I would say that the best extra virgin olive oil is that which is produced locally. Buying your own country's production is probably the best way of going about buying olive oil for your own use. This includes non-traditional, new producer countries that have entered the olive oil market relatively recently, like South Africa and the US. If you are using olive oil in its raw form, you should be using only extra-virgin olive oil. If you are using it to cook with, you can buy non-extra virgin olive oil which will be cheaper. Finally, since most of the packaged extra virgin olive oil sold in a local Greek non-international supermarket chain mention an acidity level on the label, and it's mainly our tourists who buy such packaged products, you can bet that they are buying very good quality extra virgin olive oil to take back home with them.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

As Easter approaches (Πλησιάζει Πάσχα)

Here are some springtime images of urban and rural Hania, taken during the weekend, for you to savour as you think about your next holiday in Greece, or reminisce about your past ones.

Lazarus Saturday

The presence of family-oriented Northern European tourists on their sunny break was very visible in the town last weekend. We passed a couple with a child, all wearing socks with Birkenstock sandals. We then saw another couple with a child, all looking quite patchy red, especially the man, who was wearing shorts - it's still a little cool here! His shins were the colour of beetroot-coloured water. My daughter made a comment that she could smell suntan lotion in the air, while my husband commented that it had been a long time since he saw such pale faces streaming out of the airport where he was waiting for a fare...

Red roof tiles, stone walls, blue shutters, all under a blue sky surrounded by green trees - this classic Greek image happens to be an old school building in the town centre. These buildings have been reinforced against earthquake damage.

The Venetian harbour, with the lighthouse in the distance. I will never forget my friend's reaction while visiting me in Hania in summer about 20 years ago. I was living with my father in the town centre at the time, so we walked from there through the rather untidy concreted and highly urbanised area of Hania, towards the Venetian harbour. From the hot dusty streets of the town centre, I turned into Halidon St, which is full of tourist shops. You walk down here to get to the Venetian port. The sea is not visible from the top of the street, and you actually have to walk quite a way down before you sight it. My kiwi friend who had been living in London at the time was getting a little agitated (too many people, too hot, not used to sweating profusely, etc) and she was showing a bit too much impatience for such a short walk..Suddenly she saw the lighthouse (you kind of see it before you see the sea), and again very suddenly, she saw the Venetian harbour, and she just about fainted from the beauty of all that imagery coming into view all at once without any warning...

I can imagine the group of friends who had been sitting here enjoying the sunshine, in this narrow lane in the old town...

... right below the minaret, which was probably last in use about a century ago, before the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. 

Greece beckons...

Δρόμοι γεμάτοι πιπεριές - Streets lined with pepper plants

και ξαφνικές καλοκαιριές - And sudden summer days
απ’ τα μισά του μήνα Μάρτη - From the middle of the month of March
στον κόσμο τούτο είναι φορές - In this world there are times
που πάει κανείς και δίχως χάρτη - When you simply don't need a map

(Song by Petri Salpea, 1971)

Palm Sunday

The good weather allowed us to clear our orange orchard of tree trimmings. We spent the morning in the field, sapping up the very warm weather.

In the orange orchard, we've also planted a few fruit trees -this one is a nectarine tree. The orchard is surrounded by olive groves, all owned by the extended family.

Since we fenced off the property, there has been less 'traffic' passing through, which has all been beneficial for the naturally occurring flora of the grove. I also found the field full of honeybees. (As long as you don't bother them so that they do not get agitated, they do not cause problems.)

Although Palm Sunday is traditionally celebrated with a fish meal, we had to find an easier option as we were away from the kitchen. The fire from the burning wood doubled up as our cooking fuel.

As we left the field, the sky darkened slightly. By the end of the day, it was raining. That's springtime Crete - the weather is variable. But the rain is highly desirable in an agriculturally rich area like Hania which has a dry run for at least three months in summer.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

EU olive oil wars

The latest olive oil news to hit the headlines is that the EU has decided to ban the use or refillable olive oil dispensers in eateries all over Europe. So the classic foursome found on every taverna table is set to become a threesome. The news has been met mainly with scorn by the European press:

 Located at a summer restaurant by the sea in Hania

"They should let the people decide what olive oil bottles they want to use and not dictate uniformity from the center," said Paul Nuttall, a member of the European parliament from Britain's UK Independence Party. (Source: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_17/05/2013_499485 )

Sam Clark, the food writer, chef and proprietor of the award winning Moro restaurant in London, told The Daily Telegraph that the ban would stop him serving his customers specially selected Spanish olive oil in dipping bowls with bread when they are seated at their table. "This will affect us. It is about choice and freedom of choice. We buy our oil, which we have selected from a farm in Spain, to serve our customers," he said.(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10064787/EU-to-ban-olive-oil-jugs-from-restaurants.html )

"If the European Union was logical and properly run, people wouldn't be so anti-Europe. But when it comes up with crazy things like this, it quite rightly calls into question their legitimacy and judgment," said Marina Yannakoudakis, a British Conservative member of the European Parliament. (Source: http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.home&id=956 )

Critics have accused the EU of unwarranted meddling at a time of economic crisis. (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22579896 )

Britain, which regularly cites perceived meddling from Brussels as the reason for its strained relationship with Europe, abstained [from the vote]. (Source: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/19/eu-banning-olive-oil-jugs-restaurants )

Enzo Sica, owner of Italian restaurant Creche des Artistes close to the EU quarter of Brussels, said the rules would prevent him from buying his extra virgin olive oil direct from a traditional supplier in Italy. "They say they're thinking about consumers, but this will increase costs for us and our customers as well. In this time of crisis, surely they should be worrying about other things rather than stupid stuff like this. (Source: 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/18/us-eu-oliveoil-idUSBRE94H09820130518 )

On the face of it, it sounds like a stupid law, meddling with an age-old custom in an attempt to standardise a habit. But it's actually already been implemented in Portugal and some parts of Italy; the proposal has been accepted by many other countries, including the main producers of olive oil (Spain, Italy, and Greece). Germany, one of the prime EU health-safety-hygiene freaks, voted against the proposed law, while the UK, another laws-and-regulations freak, abstained from voting, which can be put down indirectly to the current anti-EU stance ripping UK politics apart. The far-right who recently rose in popularity in the UK are using this proposed law to sway people against the Europeanisation of Britain. So the anti-campaigners of this law could be said to be influenced by factors other than logic.

In the meantime, the UK has become a connoisseur nation when it come to live oil quality (see http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stains-in-extra-virgin-olive-oil.html) while Germany exports olive oil even though it isn't even a producer ( see http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stolen-heritage.html)!

The reasons for bringing in this measure are much less deviant than the excuses people have against it: customers are often fooled by being served cheap olive oil, non-refillable bottles will improve hygiene, tamper-proof packaging protects the consumer, the proposed law attempts to reassure consumers that the olive oil has not been diluted with an inferior product, among others; above all, it helps to preserve the image of olive oil, as getting what one pays for will now become more transparent to the consumer. There do seem to be many good reasons for the law after all, which is why it seemed a perfectly acceptable step to take...

A typical self-service eaterie in the UK (Ponti's, Lewisham Shopping Centre, which closed down two months after this photo was taken - a tea and coffee muffin shop opened in its place instead). Note that ALL the dressings and sauces are packaged, and in this case, none are left on the table (making that hot-headed British Conservative member of the European Parliament with the very Cretan-sounding name look a bit of a ninny now - she must be very used to sights like this in the UK). Can you imagine being served HP sauce form a refillable container? Not everyone needs or uses extra dressings. Greeks use a lot of olive oil, but this will not necessarily create a barrier to the bottling issue (there are ways to get round this law, and they are waiting to be created). 

Taking the case of the average Cretan restaurant, the olive oil used in it could possibly be the owner's own production; at any rate, it will be bought and/or stored in bulk. The average olive oil canister found on a restaurant table has a capacity of about 100-200ml, so filling up small containers sounds like extra packaging and costs, especially at a time of crisis. But the owner of the average Greek (as opposed to Cretan) restaurant will not be a producer - there are many parts of Greece that do NOT produce olive oil - so no doubt s/he is buying the olive oil they use in their business. It will come in (approximately) 17-litre canisters. From here, the crockery sitting at the tables will be filled up...

... but hang on: olive oil connoisseurs will have heard about the different uses of olive oil with different acidity levels: low acidity is good for salads, while higher acidity is better in cooking, and refined olive oil is useful in baking. If olive oil is being poured out of 17-litre canisters, it's probably being used like all-purpose flour - one size fits all, and you know how awful those clothes look on you, don't you?

It's all about gimmicks - we remember restaurants for their perks. (KOUZINA EPE, Hania)

Seriously, when you have been eating horse for beef for more than a year, surely you'd welcome a law that demands greater transparency in your food chain, especially when you live in a country where only one in five people work in agriculture, and your country imports most of its food needs out of necessity.   There can simply be no trust in the refillable bottle of extra-virgin olive oil - or the refillable sea salt dispenser, or the gourmet balsamic vinegar bottle, for that matter. Restaurant owner-producers would now be forced to label their product, certifying that it is indeed what it purports to be.

We cherish the corked wine bottle and scorn the cheap home-made bulk wine, which most Greek restaurants and tavernas use; complaints of inferior wine are often based on the use of home-brew. Over-priced bottled water is also seen as superior to tap water. So the problem with the excess packaging can be solved by recycling. We dispose so much for recycling purposes that it hardly seems an issue to throw out a few more glass/metal/aluminium/plastic vessels.

Above: Ladywell Tavern, Lewisham, London.
Below: Spanich Galleon, Greenwich, London.

You may think that choosing what wine or water to drink is up to the customer, who specifically orders it, whereas the olive oil canister is sitting on the table, waiting to be used. When it's provided for free, it doesn't actually have to be there in the first place. Restaurants may choose to serve their salads already dressed, like they usually do in Western countries - there is no need to have a canister of olive oil on the table. Restaurants are now vying for trade - it's their choice what corners they will cut. Some restaurants don't serve bread any more, which used to be a pretext for a cover charge. At the end of the day, it's up to the restaurant to make use of the laws for its benefit.

Soya sauce is often brought bottled to your table (WONG KEI, London). It may be a refillable bottle, but it can be checked for quality. If it is not the same soy sauce that is stated in the bottle, then the restaurant has to answer quite a few questions.

What about dipping bowls which are served with bread as an appetiser? If that is being paid for (and it wasn't provided for free in the first place), why not bring both the bowls and the canisters to the table, so that people can see for themselves where that oil you are serving came from? This leads to a whole new ball game - novel packaging ideas will follow on from the importance of correct labelling, which is how most olive oil snobs buy their EVOO. The new law will create more mystique around elitist culinary traditions, which can only lead to more profits.

The cost factor will figure greatly among the moaners and groaners of the restaurant trade - but the cleverest dicks will have already figured this one out ages ago, especially since Portugal is already implementing the law. Olive oil is already being transported to restaurants in canisters for cooking use. Now, they can have some of the best EVOO transported to them in the same way, in smaller vessels, which will be placed at the tables and can then be admired by the customers (for their pretty packaging), who will read the labels (to check the validity of the product), and try the oil (it had be better be good, or else...).

These bottles are part of a collection at my workplace (www.maich.gr) - they are very old, and the oil contained in them won't be useable now; the collection is purely for souvenir purposes.


To go that extra mile, in EU olive oil-producing countries (as opposed to EU non-producing countries like Germany and the UK, who also happen to be the greatest users of olive oil in EU non-producing countries), during the tourist season, the restaurant could encourage customers to try the olive oil in the vessel (or to take the bottle home with them as a souvenir, if they don't wish to to use extra oil in the food they were served); if the customer likes it enough to want to use it in their own food back home, they can buy more in larger containers from the restaurant itself. Who said there is no profit to be made from this gesture after all?! The possibilities are endless, in a sense; I'm only providing a taster here. And that free little bottle of olive oil - it's one of the best ways for Greece to nationalise its product!

Could the restaurant owner have a choice in the matter? There are ways to work around this issue too - what about placing an own-bottled olive oil (eg garlic, lemon, herbs, etc) on the table that the owner has scented and produced in the restaurant kitchen? I'm sure there are others already implementing this law by now, who have already solved this problem. I doubt it would raise the cost of a meal -there is no more room for raising prices in crisis-ridden EU; people are already going out for a meal less often.remember, what is provided free doesn't have to be provided at all in the first place. Olive oil could be bought to the table only if the customer asks for it. The bottom line is: would you go to a restaurant that serves inferior olive oil (or wine for that matter)? The new law is forcing the restaurant trade to clean up their act!

Olive oil is treated like gold in many countries; here in Greece, in fact, we like to call it 'green gold'. It's time we began promoting it like gold outside Greece, which will help nationlise the product and boost its image.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Apple orange pudding (Πουτίγκα με μήλο και πoρτοκάλι)

At the moment, eggs are plentiful becuase they are in season. Go on, laugh all you like - during winter, hens don't lay so many, but as soon as the weather warms up, they do, and when it gets too hot, they stop again till it cools down, and they stop in winter. Last year, in one of Crete's coldest winters, I didn't get given many eggs. This year, in one of Crete's shortest winters (that wood fire stopped working at the beginning of March), I am constantly given eggs by friends and relatives, which means more omelettes and more desserts.  When you know the taste of real free-range eggs, you won't be able to go back to store-bought eggs in an omelette.

Although oranges are a year-round commodity, we notice that the summer variety (Valencia) is starting to ripen a little too quickly, again due to the good weather. So that's another seasonal commodity that needs to be used up creatively. Apart from fresh orange juice, orange can also be used a flavouring agent in sweets and savouries. 

We also had a lot of apples at home, due to the chidlren being given boxes of fruit at school under the asupices of the EU. They each brought home a box of fruit containing oranges, pears and apples. Unfortunately, the apples and pears were not in the best condition; they were OK under their mottly skin, but kids only notice the mottley skin. They went uneaten all through the week. 

In keeping with my frugal regime of using fresh produce creatively to ensure the family doesn't get bored with eating the same thing, I used our seasonal and abundant fresh produce and gifts, together with our own olive oil, to make a delicious dessert, based on a traditional recipe for English apple pudding.  

I recreated it in my Cretan kitchen, replacing (like I usually do) ingredients which I don't normally use (eg butter) with local produce (eg olive oil) in the batter (although I kept the butter in the syrup to make sure it congealed). Instead of milk, I decided to use freshly squeezed orange juice in both the cake and the syrup. The result was a heavily scented orange pudding, reminscent of the Greek portokalopita, a refreshing pie made with oranges which uses torn up sheets of filo pastry.

The syrup was poured out spoon by spoon over the pudding. What strayed to the bottom of the baking pan was eventually soaked up by the next day. 

This pudding made a fantastic breakfast to go with my sugarless morning coffee. All in all, it cost me a mere €1 to make. In this modern world, where we want to have more than we can afford but don't know how to do it without begging, stealing or borrowing, my thriftiness makes me feel that I can conquer the difficult financial hurdles that have been imposed on us. Since Thatcher's death, we are constantly reminded that the economy of a country cannot be run like a household:

Despite my dislike of Thatcher's policies, I could not help but have a regard for her commonsense attitude to good housekeeping, her wartime spirit of keeping the larder full of baked beans and dried goods just in case. Many economists despised this spirit, and warned her you couldn't run the country as you ran a household budget... (Guardian, 13/4/2013)

but at least I'm not trying to make my household go down the drain together with the country. And the country can be assured that I won't become Prime Minister.

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Mediterranean landscape (Μεσογειακό τοπίο)

What does it mean to live in a Mediterranean landscape? Wikipedia sums it up nicely:

To the peoples of Northern Europe the Mediterranean landscape represented an ideal that has to be admired, sketched, painted and visited. From the beginning of the nineteenth century on, the Mediterranean landscape functioned as a promotional objective of the nascent tourist industry. The presence of celebrities and highly effective publicity campaigns in combination with the work of many artists turned the regional geographical landscape into a tourist landscape, a dream space for the twentieth century. Luginbühl (1992) suggests that tourist publicity posters that appeared toward the end of the nineteenth century were used to represent the Mediterranean landscape and to reinforce the selective view of that landscape held by an elite stratum of society. Characteristic of these posters is the emphasis on the ‘exotic’ in the Mediterranean landscape. Plant life especially is used to symbolise the ideal tourist scenery whilst constructing a landscape that retreats from reality:

The Mediterranean landscape is replaced with a landscape in which the only thing that is Mediterranean is the stuff of the tourist promotion: a beach, a palm-tree, and a couple browning their skin in the sun or letting their hair blow in the wind. The Mediterranean landscape no longer exists, because it has been made palatable to all (Luginbühl, 1992, 227).

Living slap-bang in the middle of the Mediterranean,I can vouch for the beaches (they were clearly intended for tourists when they were first 'invented'), the palm trees (they were nearly all introduced, as a way of creating the effect that tourists wanted) and the couples browning their skin (pre-WW2 Crete, only men swam but never sunbathed). Coincidentally, living near the sea was never highly regarded until the post-1950s because the coastal soils were not fertile and the climate was too humid/damp with increased flooding. People lived in towns and inland villages, but the coast was seen as the place where a hazardous unpredictability began: the sea has never been taken lightly since ancient Greek times.

The sea of trees on the hills looks quite different to the shrubby landscape of the taller mountains.  The different shades of green denote different tree species, which can now be identified using GIS technology. Note the latest 'species' to sprout from the ground: photovoltaic boards (they aren't swimming pools).

World geographic distribution of olive tree
(Luchetti 2002)

The Cretan landscape  these days is looking more than ever like a green patchwork blanket. The different green shades and hues are clearly delineated by unnatural oblong arrangements, some of which have straight lines, while others are curved, forming the areas planted by trees. But the sea of olive (and to a lesser extent, orange and vineyard) fields that we are used to seeing in Crete is misleading. Crete was never so heavily cultivated by olives until the Venetians began planting orchards around the 15th century. The rapid - almost uncontrolled - growth in olive groves only came in relatively more recnt times, driven by the very high CAP subsidies that farmers received: a high number of trees, and therefore yield of crop, all subsidised by the EU, created an 'olive-rush' period in Cretan agriculture:

The Mediterranean Basin was settled by humans very early. Consequently, Mediterranean-type landscapes have long ago experienced human impact (Naveh, 1998). Until 1980, the dynamic equilibium between humans and the Mediterranean environment resulted in a remarkably rich landscape. However land abandonment, tourism development, population concentration along the coast and the extended transportation networks have characterised the last two decades of the 20th century (Arianoutsou, 2001)... In Greece, the area of olive groves has increased constantly during the last quarter century. Groves for olive oil have expanded in many semi-mountainous and coastal areas (mainly in Crete and the Peloponnese) (Beaufoy 2000). [Text from MSc thesis by Youmna Achkar, "Distribution and patterns of olive groves across an altitudinal gradient", MAICh, 2012]

An example of the rocky nature of Cretan mountainside - olives and aromatic shrubs grow here.

If we take a look at the Cretan landscape where I live, we find a great diversity of extreme features in a very restricted area, making up a highly complex landscape covered in highlands and lowlands, coastal lands and inlands, intensively and extensively cultivated agricultural lands, very old and very modern settlements, abandoned and overpopulated areas (as described by Papanastasis et al., 2004 in Achkar 2012). A typical  geological feature of the area is the appearance of displaced rocky landscape caused by faults, and massifs caused by uplifting through plate movements (aka earthquakes). The rocky parts of Hania are characterised by phyllite and quartzite. This all forms the rocky hilly landscape of the villages where my parents were born. Although one village was located in a mountain, and the other inland with close proximity to the coast, both areas share many features, steep hilly rocky paths being one of them.

The shrubland in the photo lies directly above our olive grove. From this point on the hill (approximately 200m above sea level), no more olive trees have been planted (although they grow at higher altitudes). This kinf of land is called μαδάρα (ma-THA-ra). It is sectioned off here, which tells us that it's being used for animal grazing. In the past when there was no fencing, goats would come into our grove, scrape the bark off the olives and eat the lower lying leaves.

The Cretan hills and mountains have always been covered in some form of vegetation, mainly low shrubs and  short trees, collectively known as macquis. The higher the altitude, the more diverse the varieties of macquis; various species grow at different heights. This kind of landscape has largely been displaced in modern times by the ease of access of landscape machinery, changing the function and nature of the land, usually from a natural wild area to a tamer cultivated landscape. Agricultural practices have changed the area drastically over the years, especially in recent times. This is not necessarily a negative aspect of modern life: more areas are protected these days, leading to the rise in forested areas.

"Hunting is forbidden within the fenced-off area." 

Apart from the road, the area has a more natural look to it than the area planted by trees.

The main problem with modern agriculture in Crete is the sharp increase in the need for water resources which have always been limited on the island. Although Crete doesn't import water supplies, like many other Greek islands, Crete is subject to a desertification process due to water pressures from tourist needs and home-gardening/landscaping. Lawns for example are a ridiculous waste of both water and money resources. The best way to maintain a pretty garden in Crete is to incorporate the idea of xeriscape, which means using local species of plants that do not require a great deal of water needs.

Arbute (also known as the strawberry tree), carob and fig - all varieties of Cretan xeriscape.

Below: a close-up of the arbute - the red berries are ripe enough to eat; we ate them, which is why they are missing!; a fig tree. Fig and carob grow large, but they can be trimmed for landscaping purposes.

The changes in the Cretan landscape are nowadays constatnly being tracked with the use of GIS technology. Aerial photographs over a period of time tell us that more and more trees are being planted than there ever were in the past, while GIS technology is now close to the point of being able to correctly guess the tree species, even from photos taken so far away from the air, where the tree trunk is not visible. Black and white as well as colour photography can be used in conjunction with GIS technology, which separates the different shades and hues of grey or green, being able to pinpoint very closely what tree species is found in each patch of that blanket. This has helped in curbing false claims by farmers about how many and what kind of trees they planted in the fields, which used to get them subsidies (although these subsidies are now due to stop). The eventual aim is to do this for all plants, including seasonal crops like tomatos and cauliflowers. Although we will have to wait a while for that to happen, technology has developed at such a rapid pace, that we can guarantee it will be in our lifetime.

All photos taken on Boxing Day, 2012, in and around our olive grove.

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Olive trees...



... don't die...



... that easily.



This one graces the town centre on the congested Apokoronou St - judging from its roots, it should be around for a while. Only two months ago, it was even producing fruit. If you like this tree, check out another one growing inside a chemist's in the main square of the city centre.

All photos taken today.

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The Holy Olive Tree (Η Ιερή Ελιά)

The Western suburbs of Athens bear no resemblance to the East, North and South of the capital. Ever since I can remember, they have been regarded as belonging to the lowest in the socio-economic order of Athenian life. It is in the Western suburbs of Athens that industry rooted itself when the city began to expand. This is in total disregard to their significance in the growth of the capital city of Greece: the Western suburbs, the most congested and the most polluted in the whole of the capital, have been linked to Athens since antiquity, and their present fate is truly a sad one.

It was in the west of Athens that the philosopher Plato housed his Academy during the 5th century BC, which was fenced off naturally with olive trees. These olive trees were believed to have originated from 12 mythical olive trees which represented the 12 gateways to the city of Athens. These 12 trees were, according to the myth, clones of the Holy Olive Tree which the goddess of wisdom, Athena gifted to the city in order to win the seat of patron to the city, in a contest against the god the sea, Poseidon (had he won instead, Athens would have been called Poseidonas), which is how Athens was born.

 Ιερά Οδός - The Holy Road, where the Holy Olive Tree (Iερή Ελιά) is located

This Holy Olive Tree is believed to have survived somewhere in Plato's Academy, possibly one of the 12 trees that once marked the gateways to Athens, and it is thought that Plato sat below its branches with his students. From those olive trees evolved the largest Olive Grove in all of the Athens region, none of which remains now because the olive grove was eventually reduced to a single tree, Plato's Holy Olive Tree, which met an untimely end in the mid-1970s, when it was knocked down by a bus in an accident. Its trunk was then salvaged and preserved, and it has been on display in the and put on display in the nearby Agricultural University of Athens, while experts picked three parts of it that looked healthy enough to reproduce in an area with some temporary fencing around it. And indeed, over the next 30 or so years, it did shows signs of growth, which is remarkable given that it regrew in amongst the pollution and congestion. This is the reason that its recent death yesterday is being greatly mourned among all Greeks all over the world: somebody (probably one or two people who are completely ignorant of letters or blatantly ignored the signs) uprooted the main trunk, most likely for the purposes of keeping themselves warm.

It should sound surprising that a university with an agricultural nature should be situated in the middle of an industrial zone. But this is where the Olive Grove was located, in which the Holy Olive Tree was rooted, and it remained the sole witness for nearly 2,500 years to many changes in the area. For a start, the philosophers left (Plato's Academy is now an archaeological site), and the Olive Grove it lay in was slowly replaced by heavy industry. The University provides an indirect reference point to the agricultural nature of the general area. The Holy Olive Tree was located near the Holy Road itself which in ancient times linked the Acropolis with the goddess Demtetra's temple of mysteries (a cult that began after her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades from the underworld) in Eleusis (present-day Elefsina), in the westernmost Athens suburb.

The Holy Road is still named thus, and along its course which forms a main arterial route (running side parallel to Athinas Avenue, which basically starts and ends at the same place as the Holy Road), you will find bus stops with the very names I have mentioned (all in bold green above). The Holy Olive tree has suffered a sad fate, but we must not necesasrily blame those accused of cutting it down (namely gypsies and very poor - possibly illegal - immigrants). I feel quite sure that it was not an act performed by the local (and very noble) working class of this area; if they really were such low-life themselves, they would have done this ages ago, and not waited for the economic crisis to come before they did it. It is clearly an act that shows that the state is not functioning correctly. It comes at a time of economic crisis coupled with the winter cold.

Even sadder is the simple fact that most Greeks will not ever have visited the former area of Plato's Academy, despite its relative proximity to the Acropolis, and although those living in the Western suburbs may have seen the bus stop sign for the Holy Tree, it is doubtful that they would have actually stopped off there to see the Holy Tree itself. After all, buses are used for the purposes of commuting, and not touring. So as they lament the loss of the Holy Olive Tree, they have to admit to themselves that they never gave it due credit.

A place I bet you haven't visited: the Palataki (Παλατάκι - Little Palace), along the Holy road itself. I took my son there last weekend while I was in Athens. The Western suburb of Haidari was where the King of Greece (Otto) had a country house built in true Gothic style (as were his origins) in the 1800s. It now houses the local children's unit of the public library. The Little Palace is surrounded by trees in a park, where locals can sit at a cafe (of course).

My relatives, my workplace in Athens, and even the house that I rented are/were all located in the Western suburbs, so I have a tender spot for this area where I lived, worked and shopped. Although I was very often in the area (unlike the majority of Athenians who may have got as far as a popular nightclub in the area), I am also guilty of the same deed as most Greeks. I have plied the Holy Road by bus and on foot, many many many times, but not once did I bother to check out the Holy Tree, or even Plato's Academy.

Although news reports are now flooding in telling us that it wasn't the r;genuine' Holy Olive Tree that was uprooted, this simply detracts from the issue: something's not quite working right in society for this to happen at such a critical period.

For more information about the sad fate of the Holy Olive Tree, here are some helpful links (in both Greek and English):
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/01/17/platos-tree-cut-down-for-firewood-2/ 

http://www.tovima.gr/society/article/?aid=493552
http://akadimia-platonos.blogspot.gr/2013/01/1976-3.html
http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B4%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%AF%CE%B1_%CE%A0%CE%BB%CE%AC%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82
http://ieraodo.blogspot.gr/2010/10/blog-post_09.html
http://ieraodo.blogspot.gr/2013/01/blog-post.html
http://www.matrix24.gr/2013/01/%CF%84%CF%83%CE%AC%CE%BC%CF%80%CE%B1-%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%B1%CE%AF%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B5-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B1-%CE%BC%CE%BC%CE%B5-%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%BD-%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%AC-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-%CF%80%CE%BB/
For my own stories about Western Athens, click on teh links below:
http://www.organicallycooked.com/search?q=%22western+athens%22
http://www.organicallycooked.com/search?q=elefsina
http://www.organicallycooked.com/search?q=eleusis
http://www.organicallycooked.com/search?q=egaleo
For past and present photos of the Holy Olive Tree (including the trunk), click on this google-images link.

There is also another side to the coin in the demise of the Holy Olive Tree. We need to break away from our ancient past. We are modern Greeks, and we need to be reborn without the heavy burden of our past constantly wearing us down. May this day bring forth a new leaf. Amen.

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Spaghetti with pesto and calamari

I've taken the remaining days of my annual leave at this period, which has given me the chance to cook more creative dishes than the usual rotating menu in our household (which is something like bean stew, spaghetti bolognaise, pita, freezer dish and leftovers). I had bought some calamari when it was on sale at the supermarket and finally got round to cooking it the way I had wanted to for a long time now. My creation involved getting quite a few pots and pans dirty, so it definitely isn't the kind of dish you want to make when you are feeling tired or you don't have much time to cook.

Cooking makes your kitchen dirty and intidy - mine is always a very busy-looking station. 

For this dish, you need a lot of olive oil. You can make it with much less if you really want to. But I find it difficult to admit how much olive oil I actually used, but I could see the oil disappearing from the litre-capacity bottle and I refilled it at least once. I live in Crete, where we use the most olive oil per capita in the whole world; we only use extra virgin olive oil, and this year's bounty from our own fields brought in 250 litres. We had about 50 litres remaining from the last time we bought olivesome olive oil (olive trees produce enough fruit to produce olive oil every second year and our trees did not produce enough oil in the previous season), which means that we have about 300 litres of olive oil to last us for the next two years. Considering that Cretans consume 30 litres of olive oil per year per person, that's just enough to last us until the next harvest. We're rich.

Green gold - we bring the oil rom the press in the press's plastic containers and pour them into our own terracotta barrels (mimicking the clay urns of our ancestors).

The 250 litres we produced this year cost us €270 to produce, as we hired an Albanian immigrant living here in Crete for many years with his family. He harvests 1300 trees per year and gets to keep some of the oil that is produced from them. But we decided not to give him the oil, and paid in cash instead. Either way, he would have sold the oil (as he gets a lot of oil in this way form the trees he tends on behalf of others). We preferred to keep this 100% organic EVOO for ourselves, knowing that this quality (0.7% acidity) and quantity will keep us well fed until harvest time in two years. 

It's true that olive oil is best kept for no longer than 18 months, according to experts who believe that the quality deteriorates after that. But that is not the way Cretans think of their olive oil - they know it's good for as long as you need it, as long as it's stored appropriately. And if you think about the cost of this olive oil for us, here's a small breakdown: 250 litres @  €270 for 5 people for 2 years - that's less than €0.07 per day. 

The Albanian worker (he's been living here with his family for nearly as long as I have) who harvested the olives for us was also paid very well. He gets a share of the oil - 50% of the oil produced, for the work that he did. Since we're not giving him the oil, we pay him for the value of the oil; right at this moment, fresdhly produced olive oil is being paid at 2.16 by the olive press (125 litres at €2.16 = €270). He and his wife worked two full days harvesting our trees. From the money they receive from this work, they will also pay their taxes and health insurance (altogether, about €1 per day per person). If we had been more scrupulous, we could have hired him (and his wife) at labourer's wages for €35 a day (each). He gave us the choice - we chose the more expensive option; we appreciate the work he puts into our fields every year, because we're working people and we don't have the time to do it ourselves (the last time my husband harvested his own crop was just before the trees were burnt to the ground, about 20 years ago). 

For all the above reasons, I don't skimp on olive oil - or fresh vegetables, because we have a plethora of those too. With some bread and cheese or a small piece of low-cost meat, we can keep ourselves fed very well during these difficult financial times. The added bonus: this kind of eating keeps us healthy, which means more savings - it may help on reducing doctors' bills.

You need:

some cleaned calamari, chopped into chunks (I needed about 800g for 4 generous servings)

a bunch of fresh parsley (Greeks rarely use basil in their cooking - I used parsley for my pesto)

3 cloves of garlic

salt and pepper

spaghetti (I used about 400g for the 4 of us)

flour for dusting

as much or as little olive oil as you can afford

Mince the garlic. Place some olive oil (I used about half a cup) in a frying pan and saute the garlic without cooking it too much. Chop the parsley super finely (I place it in a bag in the freezer, and then crush it so it becomes as fine as dust). Add it to the garlic, salt and pepper mix well and add some more olvie oil (another half a cup should be good). 

Drain the calamari in a colander. Dust each chunk with flour (I placed half a cup of flour in a plastic bag and then added the calamari and shook it, to coat all the pieces evenly). Fry the calamari in very hot oil on high heat, for about 8-10 minutes. (If the calamari is already prepared and was bought frozen, you won't need much more cooking time, and it will tender when cooked.) Remove the calamari with a slotted spoon and place it in the pot with the parsley/garlic pesto. Allow the pesto and calamari to blend well and heat through (about 5 minutes). 

In the meantime, boil the spaghetti al dente. Drain it while hot and place a serving of pasta on a plate. Scoop up a portion of pesto/calamari and pour over the plate. Sprinkle (if liked) with grated parmesan (my chidlren loved it like this - I preferred it plain). Eat while steaming hot. And don't forget some good white wine to go with it. 

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Olive harvest

Although the olive harvest was a good one this year,

it began and is finishing much earlier than other years.



Our own olive harvest usually took place in January, but this year, we're harvesting this month.

Climate change, and all that jazz.

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Barbecue

The last time I went into a LIDL supermarket branch in my town, after paying for my purchases at the cashier with my credit card (LIDL Greece used to accept only cash in the recent past, but I guess old dogs do learn new tricks after all), I was given a voucher to take part in a draw for five 'lucky' winners (from all over Greece, mind you) who would get their liquid heating fuel paid for that year. All I had to do was fill in my details on the ticket. Since we aren't using liquid fuel for heating any more, I offered my voucher to the person standing behind me in the queue.

 

 The picturesque character of this scene relies on keeping olive trees trimmed, so that their shape and size makes it suitable to harvest the fruit efficiently.

"Oh, I don't need it either," she said to me. "We've got a fireplace." We both laughed, and I offered it to the next person. Same thing; I don't know who got it in the end, and it really doesn't matter anyway; the point is to show how useless prizes can be, and how cut-throat competition is between supermarkets.

It sounds 'obscene' (as one reader put it) that "(a) in the 21st century we're burning trees for heat, and (b) in Greece, land of the burnt-our-arsoned countryside, we would actually deliberately burn our last trees for short-term benefits". To put it bluntly, it also sounds absurd that this is what Greek citizens have been reduced to - burning anything flammable just to keep warm. The greenest and most noble among us will be burning nothing and keeping warm by wearing coats under our blankets (this is not a joke; it's quite true, no matter how difficult to believe it may sound). Calling Greeks arsonists is not far from the very common habit of the mass media depicting Greece as a country full of lazy, cheating, violent, rude, racist, tax-evading, troublemaking, thieving vandals, all part of the latest trend in 'crisis pornography'; η κρίση πουλάει, as we say in Greek.

Long branches of olive trees with many twiggy tops (known as φούντες - tufts) make up the bulk of what is burnt on the field. Only logfire wood is marketable. Olive leaves are also used as fertiliser, but the twigs and branches do not have further use in Crete at the moment (they may eventually  be worked into pellets for pellet-burning heaters). It is too costly to remove them for burning elsewhere and they are difficult to dispose. But they need to be cleared from the field because olive trees need regular trimming - things grow quickly in Crete.

Olive wood burns very easily, so once a fire starts up in an olive field, it could easily get out of control if not watched properly. But lighting fires in olive groves is actually very common all over Crete. As long as there is no wind, a fire can be contained easily. The remains of a clearance come in as useful cooking apparatus: the barbecue. Pork steaks are the bbq meat of choice in Greece. Lamb chops are much more expensive, and beef is never seen on a Greek barbecue. Barbecues nearly always consist of charcoal - gas barbecues are simply not very common. The wood-scented aroma of the meat is particularly fragrant - and very tempting.

When my husband clears wood from the field, he thinks it is a waste not to use the remains of the fire. It's a perfect time for pork steaks and sausages.

You need: 
the charcoal embers of an open fire 
a folding barbecue grill that holds meat securely 
a rake
some rocks 
heat-resistant gloves
4 pork steaks
4 sausages
2 lemon halves 
salt, pepper and oregano

 

Place the rocks on the ground and rake the embers between them. Make sure there are no flames. Secure the meat and sausages in the grill. Rub the grill on both sides with the lemon halves. Place the grill on the rocks above the embers. Sprinkle salt, pepper and oregano over the meat. Wearing heat-resistant glove, check the meat and turn when it is cooked on one side. Season the meat on the other side and cook till done. 
 

If it's warm enough, you can stay at the field and picnic around the fire. We just made it back to the car when it began raining heavily just after the meat was cooked. At any rate, our olive grove is located on a hill and there is just enough standing room on the terraces where the olive trees are rooted. Not very comfortable - one wrong move and you could end up rolling down.

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