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Greek Olives

Everything you ever wanted to know about Greek olives from Odysea.

You can buy all of our Greek Olives online at the Odysea Greek food shop.

Jump to: Rovies Olive Grove | The Olive Tree

Greece is famous for its unique varieties of olives, including Kalamata, Conservolia and Chalkadiki olives. Greek olives are known for their first class quality and taste.

Greek olives are prepared with minimal processing (Kalamata and Natural Black olives are cured with just salt and water) which gives them a natural, balanced taste and a good, firm texture.

How do you tell if you're eating a good olive?

As a general rule the smaller the stone and the greater the flesh the better the olive.

Green olives should be firm, even crunchy, in texture.

Black olives should be softer in texture than green olives but not mushy.

Natural black olives are not uniform in colour, and they are generally brown rather than black.

Rovies Olive Grove

The Greek olives sold by Odysea originate from the Rovies estate, which is to be found tucked away in the hillsides of the picturesque Greek ilsand of Evia. At this single estate olive grove each individual Rovies olive is hand selected from the breathtaking array of olive trees that span as far as the eye can see, down to the crystal clear waters of the Aegean Sea.

Coupled with the shelter provided by the rugged mountains to the north, the grove boasts the perfect surroundings and ideal microclimate for the cultivation of premium Greek table olives.

Rovies is one of only a handful of Greek olive groves that continue to harvest their olives by hand. This traditional method reduces the likelihood of bruising or damaging the fruit during harvesting. Olives are then cured the same day they are harvested and packed, by hand, on site.

We are proud of the close personal friendship and working relationship established with Rovies, and are delighted to offer these incredible olives for sale online under the Rovies, Karyatis and Odysea brands.

The Olive Tree

There are somewhere in the region of 800 million olive trees in the world, and over 90% of these can be found growing in the Mediterranean. Blossom will appear on the trees during the Spring, with the olives becoming fleshier and forming a hard stone in the centre in the Summer.

After ripening, harvesting will take place during the Autumn months, with the precise time varying according to the type of olive required:

Green Olives - Harvested at the "unripe" stage around September, these olives are firm in texture, crunchy when bitten into with their flesh firmly attached to the stone. Green olives vary in colour from leafy-green to straw-yellow.

Blond Olives - These olives are harvested in September/October when semi-ripe, during the "turning" stage from green to black. Colours can be anything from light green-yellow to shades of light brown. These olives are firm but will not have the same bitterness as green olives.

Natural Black Olives - Natural black olives vary in colour from light brown through to deep chestnut, the skin is still fairly firm but the flesh will be much softer and more loosely attached to the stone than that of green olives. These olives are harvested at the "ripe" stage.

Kalamata Olives - With their rich fruity flavour, meaty texture and distinctive almond shape it is easy to see why the Kalamata is considered the "queen" of all Greek olives. These olives should be plump with glossy skin and show a slight variation in colour from deep chestnut through to dark purple. Like natural black olives, Kalamata olives are harvested when ripe.

Some of our bestselling Greek olives...