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29.11.2021
Theophilos, Olive Harvest (1933, Lesvos)
“Our Tragos founder Panos called his people to the olive harvest on 28th October at the fields in Alamano, near Corinth.
The co-founders Barlas and Nikos were there, and in addition, friends from many European countries (Greece, Liechtenstein, Poland, Turkey and Germany) followed this invitation to experience the event together. For Michael and Martin, who had arrived with the camper from Italy, it started with picking up Markus at the Athens airport on 27th October. Then the three of us drove – after a refreshing break at the Corinth Canal – to the accommodation organized by Panos in Paleo Kalamaki near Isthmia (near Corinth). A little later, Panos and his Turkish friend Barlas, who had also flown in from Munich especially for the harvest, joined us. In the evening, the five of us – Panos, Barlas, Markus, Michael and Martin – visited a fish tavern nearby and had good conversations, we were all already very excited for the following day.
28th October, the big day! After an improvised breakfast for five on Martin and Michael’s camper, the three of us followed Panos and Barlas to Alamano for the olives in a beautiful mountainous area, which unfortunately has also been affected by fires in the last and this year.
To reinforce the team, the crew from Wroclaw, Joanna, Kristof and David, joined in. At times, Emilia, Nikoletta and Nikos, Stavroula and Panajotis were also part of the parea (group, circle of friends).
At the end, Elton, who had been taking care of the olive trees all year round, arrived with his Toyota pickup loaded with all the necessary equipment: boxes for collecting the olives, nets for catching the fruits, combs for manual harvesting, a sieve for coarse cleaning of the harvest and an electric picking machine connected to a car battery.
Everything made us look forward to this day: Alamano is located in a wonderful area and the weather was perfect for the harvest: it had been raining days before, so we were a bit worried about the harvest date, but today the sun was shining and the temperature was pleasantly mild.
Tree by tree – a total of a dozen – was now harvested on the grounds. With the four nets we could work on two trees each.
Near the trunk, where the machine was not usable, the branches were stripped with the combs, and often the olives had to be picked, in total a really not quite easy, i.e. quite strenuous work, especially since the terrain was very steep at the bottom.
The olives were pre-cleaned in boxes, often hand-picked, because crushed and occasionally otherwise spoiled fruits had to be sorted out before they were loaded onto Elton’s pickup.
We were also visited by Ursel Weiher, Martin’s long-time friend, with her Greek husband Nondas, who inspected the oil mill as an expert and praised it to our satisfaction. We ourselves were allowed to experience the entire pressing process there.
We were also visited by Ursel Weiher, Martin’s long-time friend, with her Greek husband Nondas, who inspected the oil mill as an expert and praised it to our satisfaction. We ourselves were allowed to experience the entire pressing process there.
It was a great moment when the first fresh, golden olive oil flowed from the press. We had harvested 17 boxes of about 20 kilos, and surprisingly the final result was only 43.5 kilos of oil – relatively little as a result of a day of work with so many hands!
The harvest was unfortunately very small this year, even after a second day of harvesting, due to the very unfavorable climatic conditions. On the other hand, the quality is excellent again: already from the first sensory test in the oil press we were thrilled, and the measured low acidity is outstanding.
At the end of the hard-working day, Panos invited us all to an extensive and extremely generous tavern dinner, where we discussed the experience of this day in lively conversations. We were delighted that we were also able to taste our new oil and compare it with the oil of our friend Thanassis.
For the next day, Panos had prepared a wonderful program for us: first we visited a winery in the hills at 800 m altitude in the vicinity of Nemea, the most famous wine region of Greece, where we were able to taste excellent wines and even buy a few bottles. On the way, the one or other trágos (billy goat) crossed the street; what a good sign for the project!
Finally, we experienced a visit to a company that produces special, partly fruit-flavored vinegars and petimezi, a delicious grape syrup. There, with a wonderful view of the impressive mountainous landscape, we had an excellent homemade meal consisting of spanakopita and fasolada (bean soup).
It was two full days of rich, wonderful experiences and valuable encounters for us – evcharistoume poly: thank you very much, Panos!”
Watch our videos if you want to get an impression!
”PRODUCTION PROCESSING AND TRADE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS TRAGOS SOCIETE ANONYME and the trade title “TRAGOS S.A.”
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Ioulianou St. 67 – 10433, Athens – Greece // info[a]tragos.gr