The product. And those who produce it.
The olive is a noble fruit that the people of the Mediterranean have been using for almost 4,000 years. Between tradition and modernity, let’s pay a brief visit to the producers for whom the olive is more than a passion. It’s a cult!
We say the olive. But it would be more accurate to talk about olives. Because the different varieties, production regions and processing methods give us fruits that are mild, spicy, fleshy, juicy, crisp or luscious. All the better for our taste buds!
From Spain to Greece, and not forgetting southern France and Italy, whether you push open the gate of a small producer or ring at the stylish glass door of an ultramodern plant, even today you will be entering a family business. And in the South, family means something.
From father to son, daughter, nephew, cousin… the family tree of these businesses often mirrors the olive tree with which it all began (which no longer bears fruit but which is not cut down because it was planted by great-great grandfather): a solid trunk with firm branches, young and old.
Generous for generations.
In Greece, we met a large producer who worked hard to rehabilitate abandoned plots of land in virtually forgotten valleys. Buying the harvest of these microproducers means that this craft can thrive. In another region, a family produces and processes olives with a reassuring persistence when it comes to traditional methods, yet remains open to the latest methods of selection and traceability.
Producers who are fully aware of the generosity shown them by the land, the sun and this extraordinary fruit. As can be seen from this firm, one of the oldest in the region, which puts the leaves of the olive trees to good use as fodder for its herds of goats while the pits heat its greenhouses.
Stringent requirements bear fruit
Manual harvesting, valorisation of the region, organic working methods and respect for the land and the trees, technology if it can benefit authenticity and taste… the producers who cultivate these stringent requirements and this passion have been Père Olive partners for over 30 years.