Saturday morning, we drove to the Mount of Olives and picked olives as Jerusalemites have been doing for thousands of years.
The technique of harvesting olives is simple. Wait until the olives begin to ripen, then rake the lives out of a tree. In our case, at the Lutheran World Federation, the caretakers had spread thick black tarps under the tree to catch the olives as we raked them.
After divesting the tree of olives, we pulled out all of the branches, rocks, and other debris we’d pulled out of the trees along with the fruit.
And finally, we poured the olives into burlap sacks. Our hosts said that the sack below, all of the harvest from our tree, would be good for two to three gallons of olive oil. Note: we didn’t pack that sack ourselves! Good friends shared a tree with us.
Looks like fun specially for the kids. Do you also have an option to help in olive oil making?
Noemi of Pinay Flying High recently posted: Unique London Tours | Liar Liar Tour With Fun London Tours
We didn’t with this group, but I hope to get a chance to observe olive pressing a bit later in the season!
Wow! Such a cool activity! Did you eat any? Were they good?
Unfortunately, raw olives are bitter and sour. They’re only delicious after pickling!
Olive picking looks like so much fun! I don’t like eating olives but I do love a good olive oil. Glad you had fun!
Ivy recently posted: Our First Ryokan Experience
I never liked olives until I moved here and got access to amazing olives whenever I want. Canned and jarred olives don’t hold a candle to the fresh stuff!
I got to do this a couple of times in Tuscany, and it’s not easy work. I love that the kids got to experience it, too. I’m sure they won’t forget it.
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I hope not! It was a lot of work, but also tons of fun.
Yummmmm! And looks like you guys had a great time doing this together as a family. I hope you pickled those olives afterwards! Or put it on pizza :D :D
What a great activity for children to be part of. One of my grocery store musings has always been how many olives it would take to make a gallon of olive oil..now I now roughly!
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It is interesting to read about the process of picking olives! And how cool it must have been to pick the olives of some of the world’s most famous and oldest olive trees! I dislike the taste of olives myself, but find olive groves to be so beautiful. What a wonderful way to spend your day!
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What a cool activity. I love olives and eat several different kinds all the time. I will have to check this out when I visit.
That seems so much fun to do. I never thought about picking olives to be honest, but I will definitely put it on my list.
I’m so glad I’ve seen this. I’ve always wanted to know how olives are being picked. I am definitely going to try this. Thanks for sharing.