In the Paphos district is produced a black oil with a very distinct flavour. This is due to the custom of boiling the olives before grinding. The demand for this inferior oil is confined to that district.
In former days it was usual for the mills and presses to be worked in the open. This is now rarely the case, but may still be occasionally seen in parts of the Paphos district and elsewhere.
Whether outdoors or indoors these mills and presses are soon allowed to become very unclean, and the rancid flavour which clings to the wood is quickly imparted to the oil, which possesses, for any but Cypriots, a strong and unpleasant smell and flavour. There is a considerable residue or waste, which, if it could be utilised, would go far to meet the deficiency in the requirements for local consumption.
There are a few good iron presses now in use. Their superiority is generally recognised and, no doubt, now that the war is over, they will be imported in greater numbers.
Small inexpensive, cottage filters have been designed by the Agricultural Department and these are being adopted, though very gradually. The oil so filtered is greatly superior, but having acquired a more delicate flavour, it is not so much appreciated by the native consumers.
Large numbers of young wild olive trees are issued on permit from the State forests for private cultivation and many thousands of two- and three-year-old plants raised in the Government Nurseries are also distributed every year. With the gradual improvement in cultivation and in the preparation of the oil, the production should increase enormously.
The local production of olive oil is insufficient for the requirements of the Island, but there is no reason why, in the course of time, when the large number of trees newly planted and annually on the increase, come into bearing, a valuable export trade should not result. The figures of production, given in the table below, are strikingly fluctuating, and indicate the irregularity of the annual yield and the marked variation in price:
| Year. | Quantity. | Value. |
| Cwts. | £ | |
| 1904 | 4,294 | 6,467 |
| 1905 | 5,291 | 8,504 |
| 1906 | 7,845 | 12,602 |
| 1907 | 8,981 | 16,922 |
| 1908 | 788 | 1,459 |
| 1909 | 3,851 | 8,864 |
| 1910 | 7,550 | 17,232 |
| 1911 | 608 | 1,415 |
| 1912 | 48 | 88 |
| 1913 | 911 | 2,052 |
| 1914 | 2,197 | 4,837 |
| 1915 | 6,003 | 15,146 |
| 1916 | 4,966 | 16,035 |
| 1917 | 290 | 1,225 |
Sesame Seed
The annual production in Cyprus of sesame seed (Sesamum indicum) is said to be about 195,000 okes. It is one of the recognised summer crops in the plains, and is frequently sown together in the same field with cotton, maize, etc., and in the vine villages it is sown in the newly planted vineyards, where it does well. In such cases the preparation of the soil is done on the same lines as for cotton, maize, vines, etc.