Crete

The southernmost region, which produces about a third of Greek olive oil. PINAX lists four Cretan objects, two foods and two crafts, and two boxes built from them.

Kolymvari Chanion Kritis is a PDO oil from the west of the island, mostly Koroneiki; the island has several separate PDO oil names, and oil that only says Cretan has none behind it. Pefkothymaromelo Kritis, a pine and thyme honey, was registered as a PDO in 2017. Plain Cretan thyme honey has no geographical indication.

In Chania, the knife-makers’ street, Sifaka Street in Splantzia, known as Machairadika, is still at work. The Cretan knife has a forked handle end and a V-shaped point, and the blade often carries a mantinada, a rhyming couplet. It never ships to the UK, where the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 restricts remote sales of bladed articles.

In Anogeia on Psiloritis, women have long woven the wool tagari at the loom, and a weaving centre was announced to open on 8 May 2026. The bag is woven as one piece, folded, blanket-stitched and given a braided strap.

The knife and the oil make our Chania box; the tagari, with the honey packed inside, makes the Psiloritis box. All four objects are being verified.