🫒 Crnica

Crnica (also Crnjaka) is a Montenegrin olive cultivar for oil and table olives, the second most important on the country's coast. According to the World Catalogue of Olive Varieties of the International Olive Council (IOC), it accounts for 35% of olives in the Bay of Kotor and about 15% of trees around Budva and Bar.

The cultivar's exact origin is unknown. Montenegrin researchers suggest that sailors brought Crnica to the Bay of Kotor, where it took root as a local cultivar. The olive itself, according to historical records, was brought to this coast by the Greeks. According to a 2012 IOC review, Žutica dominates across the country (65%), with Crnica second at 14.8%, followed by Lumbardeska, Sitnica and Šarulja.

The tree is vigorous and spreading, and well adapted to unfavourable conditions. It flowers for 8–10 days in the last third of May, and the fruit ripens over about a month from early October. The fruit is of medium weight, elongated and purple when ripe; the stone is heavy. The cultivar is sensitive to the olive fruit fly and peacock spot but resistant to olive knot.

Oil content ranges from 13% to over 18%, depending on the location. Crnica gives quality oil, including single-variety oil, and its fruit is also prepared as black table olives. Montenegro's olive mills are small: in 2012 there were 25 of them, 15 with presses and 10 two-phase ones.

What a bottle tells you. Montenegrin olive oil is a rarity: the country does not make enough even for itself and imports oil from Italy, Spain and Greece. If a bottle says Crnica, the oil comes from a local cultivar rather than from imported Leccino or Picholine.