Olive oil was produced and consumed in Crete at least since the beginning of the zenith of the Minoan civilization in 2.000 BC. As evidenced by numerous archaeological findings, olive oil was a cornerstone in the Minoan diet, the ancient ancestor of today’s Cretan diet.

Indeed, numerous olive oil presses dating from the Minoan era have been found all over the island, showing clearly the long history of olive oil production in Crete. Some of these olive oil presses are the oldest of their kind in Europe.

Olive oil had a central role in the Minoan diet, as is the case with the modern Cretan diet. Especially in a time where there were hardly any means to preserve food – like today’s refrigerators – olive oil had the paramount advantage to be easily preserved for years, even in high temperatures.

This is shown clearly in the very large clay vases – or “pithoi”, as the ancient Minoans called them – that were found in the Minoan palace of Knossos, the landmark of the Minoan architecture. Historian are convinced that these pretty large storage containers were used to safely preserve olive oil. In fact, according to the archaeological findings, the total storage space in the palace for olive oil amounted to hundreds of thousands of kilograms.

Another easy to understand reason why Cretan olive oil was historically an extremely valuable food throughout history, is its nutritional value. Olive oil packs a great deal of high nutritional value and “good” calories in a very small space, it is one of the most “condensed” foods on earth.

Cretan olive oil was not only used historically as part of the Minoan diet, though: There is evidence that olive oil was used since the ancient times for cleansing, for lighting, as a medicine, and for myriads of other purposes.