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The oil production process

Nisyros is a volcanic Greek island full of olive trees. For generations, many families have cultivated the trees to produce the highest quality oil. The pruned the best varieties, sometimes irrigated the drought-tolerant trees, fertilized, and controlled pests and diseases through natural methods every year. The arrival of autumn meant the beginning of the olive harvest, which lasted from October to December.

The process started with olive picking by hand, either by shaking or beating the fruit from the trees. Then, each member of a household carried the olives home in large sacks. There, they removed the leaves and separated the olives that were for eating from those that would go to the island’s olive mills to produce the much-needed oil. Afterwards, they consulted with the owners of the liotridi to set the date on which they would grind their harvest. The olives destined for the liotridi were salted with coarse salt to prevent them from rotting and stored in large crates until grinding time.

When the date arrived, mills opened their doors and welcomed the farmers with olives to grind. The same thing happened each year in our "Liotridi of Kari."

The work started early in the morning. Heads of each household carried their olives with the help of family members or workers they hired to support the busy grinding days. Additionally, our liotridi had some permanent workers on staff to keep production moving without problem.

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First, the olives were thrown into a large trough and washed with plenty of water. After draining, they were taken to the mill. The mill plate, a circular stone trough, was filled with the fruit and the grinding was ready to begin. Our mules Kitsos and, later, Katina, stood stoically in their mule collars and blinders as they were hitched to the millstone shaft.

A worker near the mule gave the signal to start. The mule walked slowly around the mill, rolling the huge millstone over the olives, crushing and pureeing them. Some other female workers, the “scrapers,” used long metal tools to scrape the walls and surface of the millstone to ensure even grinding of all the olives. Asimina Maragou-Christoforou and Anna Veziroglou-Likopantis were almost always in those posts.

Once all the olives were pureed, the workers transferred the paste to the trough next to the fireplace. They put a goat's hair sack inside a wooden crate, which acted as a mold, poured the paste inside, and folded it like an envelope. They lifted the filled sack out of the crate and placed it under the pressing machine. When enough sacks were collected, stacked one on top of the other, the pressing began.

At the start, workers turned a large wooden shaft, the "manella," by hand to rotate it down the threads of the press. Throughout this work, another worker poured hot water from a cauldron over the sacks in order to facilitate the running of the oil. Towards the end, and to achieve the best possible compression, they connected the manella with another machine, the "mangana," using a system of pulleys and ropes. The handles of the manganas were turned, the ropes wound tighter, the manella turned, and the press rotated down on its threads, compressing the sacks as much as possible.

The oil, along with the hot water, flowed into the collecting trough which was divided into two parts. There oil-water separation was done by the simple gravity method of allowing the liquid to settle. The oil, being lighter (less dense), floated on top of the heavier (denser) water and emptied into the right-hand trough, while the water left through a gutter in the floor. Afterwards, they collected the golden olive oil with metal cups called "metradia," stored it in containers, and gave it to each head of household. In this way, the grinding process was completed.

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Then, women workers would wash the sacks in Tavla tou Gyalos, a small port within the settlement, as well as clean the olive press so that it is ready for the next customer. This was done almost immediately and in periods when the harvest was very good the olive press worked non-stop for the whole twenty-four hours. It was even customary for the women of each family to bring with them various foods, sweets, wine or whatever else each one had. As for the payment of the workers (permanent or temporary), it was calculated in kilos of oil depending on the agreement they had made. The olive mill was paid proportionally to the olives it milled each time. That is, if the production was equivalent to 100 kg of oil, the liotride took about 10-12 kg.

It is typical that, in addition to olive oil, they also made agouroli from unripe olives they picked or agarmitholado from grinding agarmithi. It is worth noting that my grandfather, Karis, made soaps with the "murga", i.e. the dregs of the oil, which are preserved to this day.

This is how the time passed in Liotridi of Karis with a lot of effort and fatigue but also with moments of joy where everyone as a group told jokes and teased each other. Even today, if anyone is inside it, they will feel the smell of the oil that still lingers in the air and will be able to imagine how it was produced since everything remains there and takes us back in time...

Texts - Photos | Asimeni Tr. Billi