Olive oil

The Island of Corfu is famed for its delicious olives. The Island is said to have some four million olive trees, some more than 500 years old. During the four hundred years of Venetian Rule, the Corfiots were paid to plant and cultivate olive trees, replacing the old trees with new vigorous olive groves that flourished in Corfu's lush climate.

At the Theotoky Estate, the biodiversity surrounding the olive grove enhances the notes of the olive oil giving it a taste of pear and green almond with a slight bitterness. The olives are early harvested from October to December by mechanical olive shakers that drop them onto fine nets laid out around the trees. Then the olives are sent to our private centrifugal olive mill the very same day to be pressed.

Firstly, the olives are sieved and sorted in order to remove any unwanted leaves and twigs. Afterwards the olives are thoroughly washed, and are carried into the grinder which converts them into olive paste. The paste is then put into a malaxer for about 45 minutes and when the olive oil starts to appear on the surface of the paste, then the latter is transferred into the centrofuge where the olive oil is extracted from the paste.

The second step is malaxing the olive paste. Malaxation is the process where the olive paste is mixed and churned for 25-45 minutes, in order to force the droplets of olive oil to separate more easily from the olive paste. This in turn gives time for essential enzymatic reactions to take place ensuring the delicious aroma and taste of the Theotoky olive oil.

After the malaxation, the olive paste is transferred into the centrofuge where the olive oil is extracted from the paste.

Difference between cold pressed and cold extracted olive oil

Cold pressed and cold extraction refer to oils that aren’t heated over 27°C/80°F during processing, thus retaining more of their nutrients.
Cold pressed oil is made by pressing olives the traditional way (the olives are crushed with a millstone and the resulting paste spread out on “scourtins”, that is to say plant mats, in a circular shape which were then placed under a press). Cold extraction is oil obtained using a centrifuge as described above.
In the cold extraction process the oxygen does not come into contact with the oil thus no oxydation takes place, which helps to increase its organoleptic qualities, and in addition increased the extracted polyphenols. Moreover, cold extraction helps to preserve healthy olive components such as minerals, vitamins and antioxidants (POLYPHENOLS).
By using cold extraction methods, extra virgin olive oil producers favor quality over quantity; so while the production size is less the quality of extra virgin olive oil is significantly higher.

The superior quality of the Theotoky Estate Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which is the result of the production process described above, was recognized in the 2023 London International Olive Oil Competition, where it was awarded the Silver Medal and in the 2023 Athena International Olive Oil Competition where it was awarded the GOLD MEDAL. Previous destinctions include the Silver Medal at the 2021 CANADA IOOC and the GOLD MEDAL at the 2021 Dubail IOOC.

The THEOTOKY EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL also has obtained the EU HEALTH CLAIM LABEL due to its high content in POLYPHENOLS.

Food Pairing: Red meat, white cheeses, pasta

Olive Oil Analyses