In the event organized as part of the 19th Ayvalık International Olive and Tourism Festival, olive oil was produced by harvesting from a thousand-year-old olive tree.
An olive harvest event was held within the scope of the Ayvalık International Olive and Tourism Festival held in the Ayvalık district of Balıkesir. Olives were harvested manually and mechanically from the thousand-year-old olive tree in the event garden with the participation of guests. The participants put the olives they collected in baskets and went to the olive oil factory. In the factory, the olives collected from the thousand-year-old olive tree were transformed into olive oil after a process of approximately 45 minutes. Balıkesir Deputy Turhan Çömez offered the produced olive oils to the press members. In addition, olive oil was produced symbolically using the method used in olive oil production thousands of years ago.
Providing information about the event, Ayvalık Chamber of Commerce President Ali Uçar said, “As you know, this year we are organizing the 19th International Ayvalık Olive Harvest Festival. We have added the tourism part in the last two years and turned it into an Olive Harvest and Tourism Festival. We have two efforts here at this harvest festival. The first is to highlight our brands and brand value. To be able to present and promote our brands in olive and olive oil. Similarly, at the second point, we are making an effort to ensure that our tourism activities are sustainable throughout the year by highlighting our reputation here both through gastronomy tourism and the historical texture of the city, as well as its nature parks, underwater beauties, and its convenient situation for surface sports” he said.
Referring to the harvest made from a thousand-year-old olive tree, Uçar said, “We are in a region with monumental trees. We have trees over a thousand years old in this region. This is one of the things that makes our Ayvalık olive oil special. Of the 2 million trees in Ayvalık, 1 million 200 thousand are 300 years old and above. We squeeze the fruit we collect from these trees over 300 years old and extract its juice, which is a very special, medicinal product. This makes our Ayvalık olive oil special and special” he said.
Among the main benefits of olive oil is that it prevents the risk of chronic diseases. Olive oil reduces the risk of type-2 diabetes and protects against heart disease. Olive oil, which also reduces the risk of stroke, helps regulate blood sugar levels and reduces bad cholesterol.