Montenegro Harvest Begins with Ancient Tree in Mirovica

The olive har­vest in Montenegro started in Mirovica this year, near the pic­turesque town of Bar, with locals pick­ing the fruit of the 2,247-year-old Old Olive Tree.

“She brought us together before and brings us together again,” said Ćazim Alković, pres­i­dent of the Bar Olive Growers Association.

Indeed, har­vest­ing the fruit of the Old Olive Tree is an event in coastal Montenegro, with locals and vis­i­tors of all ages, polit­i­cal beliefs and social sta­tus par­tic­i­pat­ing in the eighth-annual Ex Albis Ulvis event, a two-day har­vest cel­e­bra­tion.

This year’s har­vest resulted in 105 kilo­grams of fruit, which ulti­mately yielded 8.7 kilo­grams of extra vir­gin olive oil. According to the International Olive Council, Montenegro pro­duces about 500 tons of olive oil annu­ally.

Organized by the Society of Olive Growers and a local cul­tural cen­ter, vol­un­teers and vis­i­tors started the event with a pro­fes­sion­ally guided tast­ing of some early har­vest Stara Maslina oil pro­duced by nine local grow­ers in Bar and neigh­bor­ing Ulcinj.

Experts and cer­ti­fied eval­u­a­tors explained how the oils were pro­duced from olives har­vested in the last 10 days, with the low­est pos­si­ble per­cent­age of free fatty acids and the pres­ence of ​‘green fruity’ or ​‘ripe fruity’ fla­vors and aro­mas.

Volunteers and vis­i­tors also tried sev­eral other local del­i­ca­cies made with olive oil, includ­ing alva, tespišta and cakes.

“We are sat­is­fied with the num­ber of exhibitors and the num­ber of vis­i­tors, espe­cially for­eign tourists,” Alković said. ​“This year’s oils are of top qual­ity.”

“The event ful­fills its main goal – the pre­sen­ta­tion of the prod­ucts of our olive grow­ers, but also to influ­ence oth­ers who have not yet adopted this way of work­ing to pro­duce extra vir­gin oil,” he added. ​“As time goes on, the oil pro­duced will be less healthy. That’s why the vast major­ity of Bar grow­ers decided to pick olives and process them in oil mills now.”

Along with the famous Ulcinj olive grower Fatmir Sadiku, who sold his olive oil to the United Kingdom’s King Charles III, Alković also believes that Montenegro can triple the cur­rent num­ber of 350,000 olive trees in the com­ing years.