EFKRATO comes from our small family olive groves in northern Crete and is the optimized version of the olive oil we grew up with. It is an award-winning gourmet product that is produced exclusively from the ancient Cretan variety Tsounati. It offers a unique combination of gastronomic pleasure and nutritional value. It harmoniously combines the bitterness and pungency of early harvest olive oils with aromas of green fruits, artichokes, green peppers, freshly cut grass, etc while It is also very rich in antioxidants (polyphenols) that allow it to be used as a dietary supplement.
We have a loving and respectful relationship with the olive grove that generously gives us back not only its fruit, but also snails, wild grasses (fennel, native capers, wild asparagus etc). This is a key component of EFKRATO's identity. As a result, the cultivation methods we use are much stricter than those of organic farming and practically impossible to apply in large scale production of olive oil.
The main way of fertilization is our "cooperation" with horses and sheep that offer their organic manure in exchange for the wild grasses of our olive grove. The olives are selected by hand, one by one, and only those in excellent condition are used in the production of EFKRATO. Olive oil extraction is done every day, less than 6.5 hours after harvest. Only the batches with
the best organoleptic characteristics are bottled. It is filtered and then it is bottled in a protective atmosphere using the noble gas argon, thus maintaining the organoleptic characteristics and nutrients for much longer.
Harvesting takes place before the fruits ripen, in order to produce what the ancient Greeks called "ωμοτριβές" (early harvest olive oil), which from ancient times was considered the most nutritious olive oil.
Modern scientific studies confirm this belief: Polyphenols, the antioxidants contained in large quantities in early harvest olive oils such as EFKRATO, have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, cardioprotective and neuroprotective properties.
EFKRATO contains 4 times more polyphenols than the limit allowing for a health claim to be made (according to Regulation 432/2012 of the European Union). Moreover, EFKRATO’s value in free acids is very low (<0.3).
Never before what is good for your health has been so delicious!
- Origin: Rethymnon, Crete
- Variety: Tsounati (ancient local variety)
- Limited production
- Farming: Organic
- Methods of cultivation/ production: Practically impossible to deploy in large quantities
- Acidity: 0.13
- High Phenolic: more than 400% above the limit that allows for the health claim
- Organoleptic: Well balanced (Medium fruitiness, Medium bitter, Medium pungent)
- Crop Year: 2020-2021
