Olive timber has dotted Turkey’s landscape for centuries. Olive oil is a staple of Turkish delicacies and a key aspect of the USA’s well-known hand-crafted olive oil cleaning soap.
So it’s only suitable that Turkey’s northwestern province of Çanakkale has the united states’ first olive oil museum. You can learn about masses of years of olive oil history and see loads of olive oil-associated products.
Adatepe Olive Oil Museum shows extra than two hundred olive oil products from over two hundred years in the past. Additionally, it dispels not unusual misconceptions and myths about the historical oil utilized in food across the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Founded in 2001 in the Küçükkuyu district, the museum is a popular destination for folks interested in olives, olive oil, and olive oil manufacturing.
The museum also has a present shop presenting olive oil, soaps, and other cosmetics made of the oil, packed with antioxidants, Vitamins A, D, E, and K; and has antibacterial and moisturizing houses.
When founded in 2001 in Küçükkuyu district, the museum became the first in Turkey committed completely to commemorating and celebrating the records of olive oil, said museum manual Mehmet Karaçam.
The museum construction changed into firstly built as a soap store in 1960, where soaps manufactured from olive oil had been produced, Karaçam said.
“We took the building in 2001, restored it to its contemporary situation. Later, we became affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism,” he said.
Nearly 50,000 people visit the museum yearly.
“We try to accurate false facts approximately olives and olive oil nearly as an awful lot as we can,” Karaçam said.
Mustafa Çakılcıoğlu stated he and 4 different friends founded the museum after transferring to Adatepe village and turning into interested in olive and olive culture.
“Our first manufacturing facility become in Burhaniye. We got here to Adatepe village from Burhaniye to be close to the manufacturing vicinity,” Çakılcıoğlu said.
“First, we made this region a production line. We made production for decades in a stone mill, press, clamp and then moved our manufacturing to every other manufacturing unit building. However, during the 20 years we had been producing, we have received many exclusive materials associated with olives and olive oil. The concept of displaying them came up.”
Many of the items on show at the museum come from historical instances, the Ottoman duration, and the Republic’s early intervals, he said. The collection is steadily growing as the museum acquires more items from auctions and donations.
Olive remains from 39,000 years ago.
Karaçam stated that the olive tree was the first among other bushes.
“The olive tree has a long record. The final excavations at the Greek island of Santorini revealed the stays of olive trees courting returned 39,000 years. It is said that the olive tree originated from Anatolia and spread to the world. Once the Italians and the Romans discovered it, they took it to their domestic u. S. And the olive tree spread for the duration of the Mediterranean,” he said.
“We have a totally critical record and historical past in phrases of olive trees; however, alas, the olive tree in our country isn’t appreciated sufficient. Most of the olive groves are sacrificed to production agencies to become summertime houses.”
Karaçam stated that the amount of olive oil eaten up annually with one person’s aid in Turkey was a good deal less than other nations.
“In our u. S. A ., two liters of olive oil is eating up in line with the individual. The value of this is approximately 60 Turkish Liras. We spend our money on many things, but we’re a bit stingy about olive oil. Because we don’t apprehend [the importance of] olive oil in our u. S. A. But the way to boutique manufacturers, olive oil is better recognized in our usa,” Karaçam stated.
And right here’s a correction to one of the fake records many humans agree with:
“Contrary to not unusual information, you may also use olive oil for frying,” said Karaçam.
Soap production
Çakılcıoğlu said he and the opposite founders have been producing olive oil for twenty years and endured:
“We produce herbal greater virgin olive oil and use decided on olives. We don’t sell any olive oil other than our own production. We additionally promote regional olives. Another crucial production is the olive oil cleaning soap. We promote soaps produced by using traditional methods. Some consist of organic certified vital oils. We export a sure part of those productions abroad, mainly to Japan. When promoting to Japan, the profitability charge is quite excessive. However, this is too restricted. Other than that, we continue our sales both in the domestic marketplace and in the shop.”