Rameh is a Palestinian town surrounded by olive trees and has long been known for producing high-quality oil.

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Lame, Israel-A tin of mujadara is packed and ready to go, with a small tin of olives and some bread next to it. It was the end of winter in the Palestinian mountain village of Galilee. Abra Hussein, 86, was still a child at the time, less than 7 or 8 years old. She and her family are going to walk an hour to their olive grove, where they will spend a whole day, every day, during the nearly three-month harvest season.

She said: "There is too much oil in it, and the oil is so sweet that it slips into your throat."

Rameh's olive oil has long been known for the best olive oil in the country and even the wider region, and it is the core of the village's identity. The freshly squeezed wine is bright liquid gold, and its aroma is reminiscent of weeds and dandelion leaves growing around olive trees. People describe it as mature and smooth, almost like samneh (ghee or clarified butter).

Although southern Spain and southeastern Italy are now the world’s largest commercial olive oil producing areas, there is evidence that the land around the Sea of ​​Galilee — Lamai on the slopes of Mount Haydar — was once the most important in the world Olive-producing area. Recent studies show that it is also the earliest olive-growing area, dating back to 5000 BC

Today, approximately 2,000 acres of historic olive trees surround Lamai from all directions-a green ocean with the rustling of leaves resembling waves. In newspaper articles, books and even poems, olives are described as "the best you have ever seen", while the village itself is described as "the Palestinian oil queen."

Yousef Hanna, the chef and owner of Magdalena, a famous restaurant in Tiberias, stores the newly harvested oil in glass bottles in the refrigerator so that he can provide diners with a freshly squeezed taste throughout the year. Mr. Hanna, 47, from Rameh, said that he has tried olive oil from all over the world. Although some, such as a recent bottle from Mount Etna in Sicily, tasted similar, he still liked the seasonal buckets he got locally.

"Look, everyone thinks their oil is the best," he said, "but the olive oil from Rameh is smooth and does not burn. It is like a ripe fruit: spicy but sweet."

As Mazan Ali quoted an Arabic proverb: "A monkey is a gazelle in the eyes of a mother." Mr. Ali, 60, is the co-founder of a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting olive trees in the area. Although he is from the neighbouring village of Delhanna, he also admits that Lame’s oil is excellent.

So what makes this oil so good, or even better? Explanations abound.

Mr. Ali said that there are many factors, such as the olive fruit fly, a pest that attacks olive trees inward from the coast. The flies forced other villages to harvest olives before the crops were damaged. But Lamech, because it is located higher and farther inland, can wait longer for the olives to mature on the tree. He said this gives the oil a "pleasant bitter taste, but still fine and fruity."

"But enough, I will be angry now," he said with a smile. "Deir Hanna's olive oil is also very good."

82-year-old Musa Khalaf, a retired real estate appraiser and one of the largest olive grove owners in Lamai, talked about the quality of the Surui olives grown there. An ancient variety that produces a lot of oil. There is also a pleasant climate, fertile livestock farming soil that has never been fertilized, and careful pruning and care throughout the year.

Mr. Khalaf said that the olives are picked when they are most mature, “not green or black, but shades and spots of green and purple-black.” They are still hand-harvested in Rameh, knocked down with a pole Ripe olives. The olives are pressed immediately after harvest to make the oil taste smoother.

Before the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, Lame’s olive groves could produce up to 250,000 liters of olives in high-yielding years. This oil is widely sold nationwide, as well as in Lebanon and Syria. But in the next seven years, production has fallen.

The 34-year-old cultural researcher and author Nasab Hussein (Nasab Hussein) is the niece of Ms. Hussein. She recorded this in the book Lame: An Untold Story published in 2020. Variety. She explained that the expropriation of land from Palestinian farmers and the closure of borders caused labor shortages in Syria and Lebanon, which weakened the economic viability of olive cultivation. "You really can't separate our olive story from the political story," she said.

She said that people used to work and go to school in Lamai, but still rely on olive cultivation for income. But from 1948 to 1966, Israeli military rule restricted movement and prevented farmers from entering their woods. Trees are neglected, yields have become lower, and prices have fallen. Today, fewer families rely on olive cultivation than in the past, and it can no longer sustain the village’s economy. It is even hard to know how much oil Rameh is producing now.

But the oil is still squeezed, mainly for personal consumption, it is still essential-it is a core part of village life, used as food and medicine. ("If you have a cough, rub it on your chest," Abla Hussein said. "If your child's ear hurts, you can put a drop of warm water in your child's ear. I don't understand, why do you need medicine?" )

Mr. Khalaf, his wife Safa and their children continue to maintain their groves, and they have begun to explore ways to sell olives and oil abroad.

"We cook everything in it," Ms. Khalaf said. Stews and mujadaras (lentil pilaf) are made with their oil, as are their ma'akarona (anise biscuits), malateet (spiced biscuits) and manaqeesh (za'atar-topped flatbreads).

"But who really needs a dish?" Mr. Khalaf said. "The best meal in the world is a loaf of bread dipped in freshly squeezed olive oil."

Recipe: Manaqeesh (Za'atar Flatbreads) | Bulgur

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