Greece is a land that is blessed with an amazingly fertile soil and ideal climate conditions. Many of the Greek food products are considered to be unique in terms of taste and nutritional characteristics. Greek Olive Oil is one of these products. All of us have at some point read about Olive Oils and how many benefits arise by their consumption.
Then what is it that makes Greek Olive Oil so special?
Greece’s long lasting tradition in olive tree cultivation and olive oil production has a history of more than 5 millennia.
In Greece there are perfect soil and weather conditions in order for the olive trees to grow and fructify at their maximum. That also appears in the numbers of the yearly olive oil production. Greece produces more than 430,000 tons of olive oil annually, a percent that places Greece in the 3rd position in the world classification of olive oil producer-countries.
While speaking of percentages, notice that more than 75%-80% of that is Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which is the best type of olive oil, due to its lowest acidity levels (< 0,8).
In fact about one third of the total olive oil production (Extra Virgin and Virgin) is exported. The remaining quantity gives Greece the first position in per capita consumption at world level, at approximately 26 liters per year.
Another unique characteristic of Greek Olive Oil, is that it comes from hand-picked olives. There is a majority of small producers that do not use machinery and special equipment to harvest their trees. So it is much more special to taste a juice of a fruit that it is carefully hand-picked from the tree.
The taste, aroma and color are also indications of the unique quality of the Greek extra virgin olive oil. It is an extra virgin olive oil with an extremely fine taste and comes from cold first pressings that meet the ultimate standards.
Greek extra virgin olive oil is the best nutritional gift we can offer to ourselves.
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