Raw Materials

Olive - The Tree of Life

03/21/09 03:27:53

In case you are looking for the perfect ingredient to nourish and protect your skin and hair from sharp winter and cold weather conditions, try with olive. Nature always offers the best solution for gentle care, so look for products with olive fruits and leaves.

Olive is an evergreen shrub which is grown in Mediterranean countries, Asia Minor and some African regions. It is a plant native to areas with temperate climate, where it used to grow naturally, but spread out thanks to cultivation. Thanks to its long roots, it can survive extremely high temperatures and drought. It belongs to the family of Oleaceae.

Olive grows in shrubs, but can reach quite a height and width. Olive trees are famous for their branchiness and longevity. What’s more, they can be as many as several hundred years old. Leaves are green from the upper and silver from the back side. They are oblong and hide small, round fruits, which have a pip inside and are green in the beginning and become dark red, purple, brown or black as they ripen. The bark is very rough and thick. The scent of olive is very characteristic and we often associate it with scents of the sea and Mediterranean sun. This aroma is green and almost edible; one of my personal favourites. But it is necessary to differentiate scents of olive wood, leaves, fruit and blossom.

Olive is a very common and popular source of food in all Mediterranean countries (Greece, Italy, Croatia…), where various dishes are prepared with olive oil as a base. Whether it is lettuce, spinach, pasta, sauce or fish – everything is spiced with olive oil, which is seen as very healthy. And it definitely contains fewer calories than other kinds of oil.

Not only is olive oil edible, but also olive fruits. They can rarely be eaten fresh, since they are generally too bitter, so they are typically brined. Olives may be stuffed (usually with brined pimento, nuts, cheese or anchovies) and then packed in jars or tins. One of the most famous drinks, Martini, is inevitably served with a green olive. A Mediterranean specialty is olive bread. Taste of fruit varies from bitter, sour, spicy to sweet.

The process begins with picking olives. There are two basic types of harvest: shaking trees and branches in order for olives to fall on the ground or simply climbing up tree trunk and picking fruit into a sack or a basket. Other, more modern methods are pulling nets over tree top or using oliviera, a mechanical tool which picks olives. Olives can be grinded and turned into a paste by mechanical or chemical methods. The paste is then stirred, pressed and divided from water in order to obtain olive oil. If only mechanical methods are used to produce oil, it is called virgin oil.

Besides taking olives in nutrition, olive oil can be used in cosmetics, pharmacy, soap making, skin care and as fuel in oil lamps. Extra Virgin Olive Oil helps to moisture the skin, especially by using oil cleansing method, which encompasses different sorts of oils. Olives are very beneficial for dry skin, since they enrich it with necessary moisture and smoothen its surface. As for natural olive leaf, it is often viewed as anti-aging agent, immunostimulator and even antibiotics. It is medically proven that olive leaf extract lowers the blood pressure. Olives are an excellent source of vitamin E, they lower cholesterol level and protect body cells. They stop development of inflammation and heart diseases.

Humankind has been familiar with olive and its benefits for several centuries at least. The oldest trace of olive dates back to ancient times (5000 years BC) when they were used to obtain oil, wood and fruit. Ancient Romans and Greek reserved it as food for the upper social class exclusively. They connected it with divinities and used it in special ceremonies, esp. religious ones. Homer called olive oil "liquid gold." In ancient Greece, athletes ritually rubbed oil over their body, since they believed it was magical, medicinal and strengthening.

On top of that, olive has a rich religious and symbolic meaning. A saying goes that olive was given to humans by Greek Goddess of wisdom and warfare, Athena. You might have heard that olive leaf stands for abundance, glory and peace. Olive is also mentioned in the Holy Bible. It was an olive branch that was brought to Noah by a dove to show that the land dried after the Great flood. Mount of Olives was the place where Jesus was praying before his death. People blessed Jesus with palms and olive branches on Palm Sunday and this is why we still bring olive branch to church on this day.

Symbolic use of olive has spread to today’s time- olive branches are still consecrated on Palm Sunday and kept in people’s homes to provide blessing. The branches are burnt to provide ash for Ash Wednesday at the beginning of Lent. Olive oil is also used in Church for sacrament of Confirmation. Olive wood is often used to make various wooden souvenirs and jewelry, especially in Israel, since olive is one of typical tree sorts in that country.

When talking about the scent of olive in fragrances, it is necessary to divide them into those containing olive fruit, olive leaf and olive wood.

Olive fruit gives a heavy, fruity note to perfumes, just like in Cognac by Aftelier. This perfume was inspired by scent of the eponymous drink, which is refreshed with citruses and ginger and sweetened with raspberries. Olive absolute is blended with a heavy scent of grapes alcohol here, which stands in contrast with light and fresh opening. If you are looking for a perfume for men, try with Phyton Uomo Trussardi. Its opening is green and fresh, while a heart encompasses a duet of olives and cypress, lying on a woody-musky base.

Olive leaf can be found in Cerruti 1881 Collection, an embodiment of Italy. The perfume is ultimately sunny and temperamental, since almost all its ingredients derive from this sun-bathed country (Sicilian tangerine, Florentine iris, cypress, grapes and olive leaves, of course). Must de Cartier pour Homme introduces oriental temperament and spices. Olive leaves lie in top here, together with citruses, while a heart is composed of warm spices- ginger and cinnamon and finishes with a woody base.

Olive wood is primarily used in base notes of perfumes for men, since it gives a strong and dry touch to a fragrance. Elegant perfume Aramis Life balances citruses, green notes and spices. Olive is combined with leather, sandalwood and cedar. Just like the flacon of Gucci Pour Homme II suggests, it features a powerful, woody base.

It has a very masculine and interesting heart composed of pimento, cinnamon and black tea. Fresh and sharp aromas of Boss Bottled by Hugo Boss encompass fruit, flowers, spices and wood, among which olive wood can be found. A strong, woody finish is softened and sweetened with vanilla. A good solution for women is the latest perfume by Versace, Versense, which also comprises olive wood in its base. This energetic fragrance symbolizes awakening of spring with its natural ingredients. Fruits of the Mediterranean start the composition which continues with flowers and ends with a woody cover.

I would like to finish with a saying that there were two trees in Garden of Eden – fig and olive. Fig is the tree of truth, while olive is the tree of life. Old Latin thought mentioned in several holy book of various religions glorifies this plant by describing it as "oles prima arborum omnium est", meaning "olive is the first among trees".