For millennia, the olive tree has been
cultivated and harvested for its special and unique-tasting fruit:
the olive. There are many different kinds of olive trees and the olives
that each species produces varies in colour, size, texture and flavour.
This also applies to the olive oil they yield. Apart from being a delicious
accompaniment to many dishes, olive oil is also the healthiest condiment
available to humans and its medicinal properties have been long-documented
and proven. For these reasons, certain kinds of olives are more prized
and sought-after than others: amongst these are the renowned Koroneïki olives
which grow only in Greece.
What sets the fruits and oil from Koroneïki olive trees apart from the dozens
of other varieties and what elevates their quality to the highest levels, is
the unique method of cultivation that is employed here in the Mani.
Unlike many other crops, they are not watered artificially and they are pruned
intensively once a year by trimming the branches quite severely in order to keep
the trees small. Whilst elsewhere the usual oil yield is approximately 10 liters
per tree, in our area the Koroneïki yields only 1 to 3 liters of purest
green gold. Quantity is sacrificed to produce quality. The particular flavour,
perfume and richness of the oil that these olives produce is very special and
unique indeed.
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The sacred olive tree |
