OLIVES: Halkidiki Variety

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Halkidiki Olive

HISTORY LOST IN TIME

One of the oldest, local to the Greek terroire, olive varieties, Halkidiki, is as relevant as ever to the international audience, continously gaining new consumers worldwide.

The Greeks were the first to cultivate olive trees in the European continent, brought in either by Greek emigrants, or by Phoenician traders: according to Gaius Plinius Secundus*, in 580 b.C. in regions such as Latio (Italy), Spain, and Tunis, the cultivation of the olive tree was not known. Perhaps this is the reason why in Greece we enjoy many great, endemic varieties, which have become very popular worldwide. Halkidiki Variety is one of them.

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Halkidiki Variety

Halkidiki green table olives come from olive trees of the “Halkidiki “ variety (Olea Europea sp.) and are cultivated mainly in the prefecture of Halkidiki, but also in the wider region of Central and Eastern Macedonia, while a smaller number of olive trees of the same variety are also grown in other regions of the country. Commercially speaking, this type of olive is internationally known as “green olives Halkidiki”, it has a characteristic large fruit size, cylindrical-conical shape with the "nipple" at the end part of the fruit and a distinctive bright green-greenish-yellow color. What makes this type of olive widely popular is the large ratio of flesh to core, the excellent organoleptic characteristics and the fact that the core can be very easily separated from the flesh during the enucleation process. The fruit is harvested by hand directly from the tree, from mid-September to the end of October, when the olives are at the appropriate stage of ripening. What follows is the quality sorting and size sorting of the fruit: about only 20% of the quality and size-sorted product is taken to the packaging lines and is consumed as “whole olives”, in various packages and many product types with various flavors and seasonings. Accordingly, approximately 70% of the first sorting is pitted and available for consumption in many types, also as “pitted olives” and “stuffed olives” with various fillings (red pepper, almond, carrot, anchovy, garlic, onion, etc.), also in different packages and with different flavors and seasonings. This particular commercial type (green olives Halkidiki) has great export potential and correspondingly great demand as a Greek delicacy, from markets across the world, thanks to its distinctive, truly unique taste. The result of its great commercial success is the continuous planting of thousands of new olive trees of the “Halkidiki” variety per year, mainly in the areas where Halkidiki variety is being traditionally produced.

The fruit is harvested by hand from mid-september to the end of october

*aka Pliny the Elder, Roman author and natural philosopher, writer of “Naturalis Historia” (Natural History), an edition which became an editorial model for modern encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field.

Photos: Curtesy of PEMETE