Crete: A thanksgiving weekend with Antonia

Crete's Patchwork Agricultural landscape

Antonio, Rob and Beth’s pension host, attributes her success to the years she grew up being cared for by and then ultimately caring for her grandmother. Antonia’s Grandmother used the knowledge of wild, native plants and animals to supplement their diet while living an impoverished life in Crete's countryside. Antonia actively pursued this knowledge at age eleven and says it kept her and her grandmother healthy in the years that her grandmother was losing her eyesight. Today, Antonia lives and works near Heraklion, the Capital of Crete, at a technical college of plant horticultural studies teaching techniques to classes of students that will one day continue Crete’s rich agricultural heritage.

Gated Shoreline Community Near Gazi

“I love plants. It is very important to know about plants and keep this knowledge. All over olives and grapes. It is like a beautiful carpet.”, says Antonia as she drives Rob and Beth through the green and yellow quilted countryside - a route she has chosen for the benefit of her Canadian companions. “It is everywhere. So many Olives.”

Antonia Drives

On the roads Antonia, unlike many drivers in Greece, patiently drives through the steps of Idi mountain. After ensuring that her passengers are comfortable and safe, she frequently pulled over to give Rob excellent vantage points to photograph.

“Be very careful. It is dangerous.”, she warns while watching Rob streak across the bend in the highway to step up to the precipice of a cliff that opened to reveal the landscape riddled with olive groves and vineyards.

En route Antonia shared some of her knowledge of olive cultivation, propagation methods, harvesting, and the processing of olives. “Here”, she points, “They are for the oil. They are smaller and not for eating. They produce many olives for the oil."

Archeological remains of Crete’s Minoan inhabitants, the oldest known civilization in the world, shows that they contained olive presses going back for at least four millennia. From the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans, to the olive oil consumers of today, Crete remains a major exporter of high quality olive oil. Seventy percent of their exports are sent to the Italian olive oil industry, bottled and labeled as its own, and sold at inflated prices worldwide. Only in Greece can the title ‘Olive Oil from Crete’ be readily found.

Steps of the Idi Mountains

When the place is right Antonia parked, released the hatch of her vehicle, donned a pair stylish rubber boots, and handed Rob and Beth each a plastic bag and kitchen knife. Together the three trod up the side of an olive grove in search of wild greens. Twice a week Antonia practices this ritual of harvesting wild greens which she does to provide essential vitamins and phytonutrients to promote good health and vitality for her and her husband, Vasilis.

“This one here, it is very important. Look at the red in it.”, Antonia directed while she demonstrated the proper trimming and cleaning method. To the average Canadian the greens looked like weeds in a meadow, one looking very similar to the next. However Antonia has studied and researched these plants and can identify them all.

Beth Selects  Some Greens

“Is this one?” asks Rob trying to find the same weed.

“Yes. Bravo, Robert my heart! It is a different kind but it is still good.”

“How about this one, Antonia?” queried Rob on a different variety.

“No Robert, my heart. It is poison! Leave it.”

The care that Antonia takes with the plants is obvious. At times if she pulled up too much root she carefully removed some and replanted it for a time when someone again would harvest the fields.

Beth and Her Wild Garlic

Pointing to some wild garlic Antonia watched as Elizabeth found and picked the same. “Is this your first time?”

“Yes”, Beth replies and hopes that she too would receive a "Bravo."

Moving up the slopes of an abandoned olive grove, Antonia directed Beth and Rob to pick the olives that were ripening on a 120 year-old tree for home preparation. She also demonstrated how to differentiate between the sweet olives and the ones that were bitterly repulsive and how to propagate clones.

Choosing the Sweeter Olives

“Is it OK to be taking olives from here? Does somebody own these trees?” Beth inquired.

“Yes. It is uncared for and left.”, Antonia confirmed.

With their bags full of greens they got back in the car and were once again on their way. The scenery during the ride to the traditional town of Pentamodi was equally as stunning as the ride to the field. The car slipped through the streets with sections so narrow that Antonia needed to stop and wait while oncoming traffic completed its passing.

En Route to Pentamodi 

The town was quiet and would have appeared abandoned except for the occasional resident that smiled and watched as Antonia drove to her favourite café. The café was a single room establishment filled with wooden tables and chairs with walls lined with pictures and artifacts that were distinctly Cretan.

“Only these two are grown around here”, informed the barman as Rob examined the poster displaying different kinds of olives.

He served them each a cup of Greek coffee - a thick black concoction containing silty coffee grounds that sediment on the bottom when served. The barman handed a double to both Beth and Rob, while Antonia received a single. “You two are much bigger”, he explained.

Raki and Sweet Yogurt Dessert

Afterward Antonia asked the barman to bring out a Greek specialty - sweet yogurt covered in sour berry preserves served with a small glass flask filled with a clear liquid. “Raki”, said the barman. “It is made from of the remains of grape pressings and is stronger then wine.”

Rob and Beth eagerly devoured all the goodness while Antonia watched them with delight. Afterward Rob, wishing to return his gratitude by paying the balance, was rejected firmly by both the barman and Antonia who were apparently in agreement that their guests from Canada should not be billed. “When I come to Canada, you can buy.”, he elaborated.

When they returned to their apartment in Gazi, they found Vasilis waiting for them and ready to work. He and Rob stayed outside to clean and trim the greens although Vasilis, being much more efficient with the process, did the majority of the work. Beth tried to help Antonia in the kitchen by setting the table while she was educated on the art of Cretan cooking.

Vasilis Tends the Grill

Antonia juggled setting the grill with fresh seabream, preparing the eggplant dish which she says is her son Manolis' favourite, and boiling the greens which Rob and Valilis brought in when cleaned. Vasilis, skilled in the kitchen like Antonia, had developed his craft over the 30 years he worked the as chef aboard Greece’s ferrys. He tended to the sous-chef duties of grilling, peeling and squeezing lemons, preparing garnishes, and serving the fish.

Applying the Homemade Vinegar

Antonia's kitchen contained a myriad of hand-collected spice, teas from dried herbs, local fruits bottled in syrup, bottles filled with dried peelings, home-brewed vinegars, and personally inspected and cold-pressed olive oils -many of which were used in the preparation of our dinner. Antonia explained how fruit flies were a critical part of making the cidar vinegar as she drizzled small amounts on the eggplant that she was preparing.

Antonia's Sardines

Once ready, both Beth and Rob were in disbelief as to the amount of cooking their hosts completed and served for their dinner - heaping plates of greens, home-prepared anchovies and olives, stewed fava (English fava) beans, zucchini fritters, Greek cheeses, and a plate of seabream for each of them. Most dishes were served with generous portions of high quality olive oil  which Antonia explained have been pressed from olives at a much colder temperature under her inspection to ensure all the essential nutrients were maintained. Vasilis poured the home-brewed wine and together the four ate to their fill.

The Grand Feast

At the end of the meal, the two stuffed Canadians were treated to Antonia’s desserts which were baked using olive oil instead of milk fat, and dishes of preserved bergamot in honey. This time Vasilis poured Raki, and together, not as Canadian tourists and Greek hosts but more as friends, they discussed of travel experiences and their shared love of food, gardening, science, and teaching.