The country, in olive oil

I. What makes it different

Greece produces approximately 300,000 tonnes of olive oil annually, roughly 60–70% extra virgin. The country has the highest per-capita olive oil consumption in the world — about 12 litres per person per year, versus 3–4 in Italy and Spain.

The primary variety is Koroneiki — a small-fruited, high-polyphenol olive grown throughout the Peloponnese and Crete that produces oil with specific flavour characteristics: peppery, grassy, slightly bitter, with a finish that catches in the back of the throat. The pepper is the polyphenols — the compounds responsible for the health properties. Mild, buttery oil has lower polyphenol content. The pepper tells you something is there.

Early-harvest oil — olives picked green — is higher in polyphenols, more intensely flavoured, greener, and produces less oil per ton. Late-harvest oil is milder, more golden, higher in yield, lower in polyphenols. Greek producers who prioritise quality harvest early.

II. The production question

Cold-pressed extraction — mechanical, without heat above 27°C — preserves the flavour compounds and polyphenols that make extra virgin what it is. Heat extraction produces more oil but destroys the compounds. Oil produced with heat cannot be labelled extra virgin.

The time between harvest and pressing also matters. Olives oxidise as soon as they are picked. Same orchard, same variety, same year, different days to press — different oils. «Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil» on a label indicates the producer prioritised quality over yield.

III. What it is not

«Pure olive oil» or simply «olive oil» without the «extra virgin» designation is refined olive oil — treated with heat or chemicals to remove defects, producing a neutral oil with a high smoke point and no flavour. It is a different product. It has cooking applications, but it is not the ingredient I am discussing.

«Light» olive oil is refined olive oil. The «light» refers to colour and flavour, not calories. Olive oil blends — extra virgin blended with seed oils — are labelled to appear pure. Read the ingredient list.

IV. How to use it

The most common misapplication of extra virgin olive oil in non-Mediterranean kitchens: it is treated as a cooking fat rather than a flavour. The cooking fat destroys the volatile aromatic compounds that make the oil interesting.

Extra virgin should be used raw or added at the end of cooking. Drizzled over a finished dish. Emulsified into a dressing. Added to hummus after blending. Poured into a bowl of soup at the table. Applied to grilled fish or bread before eating, not before cooking. The peppery, grassy character is present when the oil is unheated. That character dissipates with heat.

V. The test

The test for any olive oil: pour a small amount into a warm bowl. Smell it. Taste it straight. The good oil has something to say. It is not neutral. It has character that is specific — to the variety, the region, the harvest year, the producer.

Neutral olive oil is an industrial product. Olive oil with character is what Greek cuisine is built on. The country, in this ingredient, is present every time you use it correctly.

Recipe — Horiatiki · Greek Salad

Yannis Petrou · Athens · serves 4 · 10 minutes · no cooking

• Serves 4
• 10 min assemble
• 0 min cook
• 4–5 tbsp olive oil

The Ingredients

• 4 ripe summer tomatoes, in rough chunks
• 1 cucumber, partially peeled, chunked
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 200 g Greek feta in brine, one large piece
• 16 Kalamata olives
• 1 tsp dried Greek oregano
• 4–5 tbsp extra virgin Greek olive oil
• Flaky sea salt

The method

1. Arrange the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and onion on a plate or shallow bowl.
2. Place the feta on top — one whole piece, do not pre-crumble.
3. Scatter the Kalamata olives across the plate.
4. Sprinkle with dried oregano and a pinch of flaky sea salt.
5. Pour the olive oil over everything at the table. Do not stir.
6. Serve with warm bread for sopping the oil and tomato juice from the bottom of the plate. That is the dish.

About the contributor

Yannis Petrou

Yannis Petrou writes about Greek olive oil and the Greek food tradition from Athens, Greece. The olive tree that shades the courtyard of his grandmother's house in the Peloponnese is approximately three hundred years old.

Editor’s notes — the longer view

A note on the peppery finish. The catch in the back of the throat — sometimes a single involuntary cough on the first taste — is called «olive oil cough» and is a quality marker. It is the oleocanthal, the polyphenol most associated with the health properties of extra virgin olive oil, registering on the same receptor as ibuprofen. If the oil does not make you cough at least a little, it is probably old, refined, or both.

A note on storage. Light, heat, and oxygen are the enemies. Store olive oil in a dark glass bottle or a tin, in a cool cupboard, sealed when not in use. The bottle on the counter next to the stove is the wrong bottle in the wrong place. Use within 12–18 months of harvest.

A note on the harvest date. Look for it on the label. Reputable producers print the harvest year — sometimes the harvest month. «Best before» is not the same; it is a calculated expiry, not a production date. A harvest date the producer is willing to commit to is a quality signal. Silence on this point is also a signal.

A note on the price. Good Greek extra virgin, single-origin, with a harvest date, costs €15–€30 for half a litre. Below €10 for half a litre, in a foreign market, the maths of orchard yields and shipping no longer work without a shortcut somewhere. The shortcut is usually the oil.

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