Learn all about "Iris" olive oil...
Iris oil: A rare olive oil
Our family produces Iris extra virgin olive oil from an ancient recipe using Koronian wild olives. We produce our olive oil, which Homer called “LIQUID GOLD”, from olives which carry the same DNA as the Ancient Greek perennial wild olive, cultivated by purely natural methods helped only by our tender loving care. This is the oil to which Greeks owed their longevity.
A little IRIS olive oil is all that is needed on a daily basis to protect the body from illnesses which threaten our health today due to our modern nutritional habits and lifestyle.
Its acidity, which is less than 0.3, its richness in polyphenol(132 ppm) and a-tocepherol (vitamin E) (278 ppm), its fruity aroma and its light spicy flavor make it not just an ordinary olive oil, but also a medicinal or herbal supplement which is highly beneficial to our health.
My grandmother, who came from Thyrio, near Vonitsa, knew all about the healing properties of herbs and she would prepare them for her friends and neighbours. She is the person who told me where in the mountains the varieties of ancient wild olives could be found.
A little IRIS olive oil is all that is needed on a daily basis to protect the body from the illnesses which threaten our health today due to our modern nutritional habits and lifestyle. We hand-pick our olives – so that they are not subject to any pressure during harvesting – and the olive oil is produced by the cold production method, at a temperature below 27oC.
Cultivation – production methods
Since our sole objective is to ensure the purity of our olive oil, our methods of cultivation could not be anything but natural and traditional.
Our olive grove is situated in a historical place which is a paradise in every way. Because we cherish our history, we wanted to discover the methods followed by the Ancient Greeks to produce the fabled olive-oil of the age of antiquity. By studying ancient methods and asking the older people of the village, we learnt many secrets about the olive and olive oil. Our small production output is bottled and sent to our customers, and its quality lies in the age-old recipes and methods followed by those who cultivated the ancient wild olive.
Our cultivation is traditional, distilled from the experience of the older generations in the region. This includes the careful pruning of the olive trees, the cutting of the grass around the trees, and leaving the cuttings to act as a natural fertilizer (until the tree blooms and bears fruit).
The natural watering from the rain in Vonitsa during the winter and from the springs of Korpi in summer, the mild climate of the coastal olive grove which does not see sharp variations in temperature and, of course, the ancient variety of wild olives grafted onto the Koronian variety, are all encapsulated within each bottle of “Iris” olive oil, together with the love and care taken by our family.