Olivewood - out of the "tree of life"

The olive tree is an evergreen tree reaching a height of about 10 to 20 meters. The olive tree grows very slowly, but can be up to 1,000 years old. The cultivated olive trees will be cut regularly to increase their harvest, because the smaller, crooked and gnarled the tree, the better its potential output. The olive tree is an evergreen, which means it loses older leaves regardless of the season.

Olive trees have their athesis from late April to early June. The flowers are self-pollinated with most varieties, and are pollinated by the wind. Then the pollinated flower formed an olive, which belongs to the so-called mediterranean stone fruit. Unripe olives are green, ripening are black or purple-brown. The maximum output an olive tree reach for about 20 years. Most olives are processed into olive oil or pickeled olives to get quite durable. Therefore olive products have a great value in the Mediterranean cuisine and food culture.