Hanukkah and Olive Oil

Wonderfully unique, Harvest of Light is a Hanukkah book with no spinning driedels, no shiny presents and no glitzy parties, just the simple gift of olives from nature and the joy a young family experiences during the olive harvest. The book is newly available in paperback, and is a wonderful Hannukah gift (perhaps along with a bottle or two of olive oil) for any family.

Here is a hello from Harvest of Light author Allison Ofanansky from her home in Israel:

After a week of much-needed rain, the olives in the Galilee of northern Israel have turned plump and purple, full of oil.

Along with friends and neighbors, our family is busy harvesting the olives and taking them to the press. So far this year we have taken over 600 kilograms of olives to the press, from which we got about 180 liters of oil, and we aren't done yet!

Before I moved to Israel I never lit a hannukiah with oil, and did not know that hannukah is also a harvest holiday--the harvest of the olives for oil. In addition to lighting the hannukiah with our oil, we also love eating latkes fried in it!

How can you incorporate olive oil into your Hanukkah celebration?
Dip bread in olive oil at dinner
Bake olive oil cake
Have an olive oil tasting party
Make a facial scrub and moisturizer with olive oil and give it as a gift
Make flavored olive oils and give them as gifts
Buy or borrow a lamp that burns oil and use olive oil