Olive tree [Olea europea] is a native of Asia Minor presently comprising the countries of Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.
The fruit oil of the olive tree is olive oil, and it is traditionally used by man for thousands of years.
World's 98% olive tree cultivation is now done in the Mediterranean region and mostly in Tunisia, Italy, Greece and Spain.
Olive oil is traditionally used in pharmaceuticals, cooking and cosmetics. Olive oil was also used as fuel in oil lamps.

Traditionally olive fruits are crushed, ground and pressed to obtain the olive oil.
Care has to be taken in selecting the proper maturity of the fruits.
The olive oil obtained from green olives will taste bitter and the oil obtained from over ripe olives will taste rancid.
The perfectly ripened olives are ground to get a fine paste using the traditional mill stones.
The paste is allowed to stay for about one hour under the mill stones. The oil collected by this process is of superior quality and is called extra virgin oil.
After this process the paste is further pressed to extract the remaining oil and a lower grade olive oil is obtained.

Nutritional value
Olive oil contains a higher proportion of monosaturated fats. Olive oil is rich in oleic acid. Olive oil is found to contain antioxidant polyphenols which are potent free radical scavengers.
Virgin olive oil has many proven health benefits. Olive oil has the property of displacing omega-6 fats with out affecting omega-3 fats. Hence a healthy balance is arrived between omega-3 and omega-6 fats.

Heart ailments
It is believed that higher proportion of monosaturated fats in diet reduces the risk of getting coronary heart diseases.
Olive oil consumption favourably affects the cholesterol oxidation and cholesterol regulation.
Olive oil consumption shows vasodilatory, anti-thrombotic and anti-inflammatory effects and hence reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Antioxidants
The antioxidants, polyphenols present in the virgin olive oil give very good vasodilatory effects on consumption.
This increased elasticity of the arteries reduces the stress on the arteries and heart, thereby reducing the risk of heart diseases.
The antioxidants present in olive oil help in lowering the risk of cancers of skin, colon, lung and breast.
The increased amount of antioxidant presence in the body gives boost to its immune system.

Beauty care
The effectiveness of olive oil in skin and hair preparations is traditionally known.
Extra virgin olive oil is extensively used by beauty conscious people.
In oil cleansing method used for moisturising the skin, extra virgin oil is preferred. Olive oil is also used for removal of ear wax.
Application of olive oil on sun exposed skin reduces the ill effects of the exposure.

It has been found that virgin olive oil help to reduce obesity, rheumatoid arthritis and blood pressure.