Challenge:
Olive Bars
The Cellina Cultivar, typical of the Salento area, is characterized by having very peculiar small olive fruits. First introduced by the Saracens around the middle of the 8 century AD after the area had been completely deforested, the new settlers introduced also the olive press, starting to yield olive oil. The Saracens where later expelled by the Byzantine army. The Basilian monks, aggregated with the troops, brought with them from the Peloponnese peninsula new Greek varieties grafting them with the existing Cultivars. The resulting mix created one of the strongest Cultivars being the Cellina extremely resistant both to cold and to parasite attacks. During the harvest period the workers need to be extremely careful managing the small olives because their natural black coloring can stain permanently the clothes. For this reason the Cellina is locally known as “the ink olive”. Currently the area of production reaches 840 square kilometers with an annual yield of 300000 Tons of olives.