Olive oil of Cres
Olive is the mythical tree of Mediterranean cultures, and olive oil is the trademark of Mediterranean cuisine, a culinary variety which is also predominant at Cres. Olive oil is a precious local product and is known as the "liquid gold". The varieties from which Cres extra virgin oil is produced are plominka and slivnjaca (simjaca). Extra virgin olive oil from Cres was the first in Croatia to receive the label of origin.
Health and beauty benefits of olive oil depend on its content of unsaturated fatty acids. Olives from the northern parts have a higher percentage of unsaturated fatty acids, and the northern Adriatic is the northernmost part of the Mediterranean Sea – which makes Cres olive oil one of the best.
The town of Cres is lodged between two seas: the actual sea and a silvery-green sea of the surrounding olive groves. Olive picking takes place during the months of late fall: October and November, sometimes December. The local terrain configuration makes it impossible for harvesting machinery to enter olive groves, so olives are picked and gathered by hand with the occasional assistance of hand-held machines to help shake the higher branches. Once gathered, olives are loaded in burlap sacks. Heavily loaded sacks are then manually carried to the nearest road. As nightfall approaches, work is suspended and all olives picked during the day are taken to the communal olive oil mill to be immediately processed. This is the other reason behind the high quality of Cres olive oil: it is made from completely fresh olives.
Cres olive oil is processed at the communal olive oil mill, and it is strictly cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil: olives are processed mechanically, by pressing the olives and extracting the oil directly. This method preserves all the benefits of olive oil, and only olive oil obtained by this method can be called “extra virgin” olive oil. The best experience is to try the freshly pressed olive oil, which is green in colour, thick and turbid, and quite spicy when it is fresh. After a couple months, the oil settles and clears, becoming golden in colour and losing its spiciness.
Try the local olive oil at the green market under the city loggia, at the communal olive oil mill, or at one of the shops selling olive oil and local products. Another occasion to find a wide choice of local olive oil is the “Creska butega” (Eng. The Cres Shop), a “shop” in the open, taking place a couple times a week in the afternoon and evening hours in Cres city centre during the summer months.