Olive oil - the secret of good health

The olive is a very sensitive fruit, which must not be damaged during harvesting; as otherwise, the quality of the oil suffers permanently. The quality of olive oil is largely decided by the time between the harvest and pressing. This should be two to four days at the most.




The classical cultivated areas are located around the Mediterranean. Over half the world's 750 million olive trees are found here, where they have the ideal conditions for life. Perfect, high quality olive oil required a climate without great temperature fluctuations, with few days under 0° C. These conditions are present in abundance, as well as quality soil and the exceptional vegetation, on the Greek island of Zakynthos (or Zante).


Besides the ideal vegetation, the basis for the outstanding olive oil "The Gold of Zante" is above all the Coronega olive variety. These olives are only used for the production of aromatic olive oil. The peculiarity of the island and its olive trees is the second variety with the name Dopia or Dopies olives. This variety is somewhat larger than the Coronega olive and possesses two different qualities (hence the name Dopia). Half the olive trees bear the normal Corega olive and the other half the Dopies olive. Apart from the olives on this of tree being somewhat larger than the "normal" Coronega olive, they are optically identical. Nevertheless, Dopies olives can be eaten and used for salads and all manner of other uses. The Coronega olive is used exclusively for producing oil.