Olive is nature, health, taste... Culture for thousands of years... Life... First pressed grain, First drop, First dipped bread... Sweat of brow... Joy... Happiness... Olive is a life style... Faithfulness... Passion... Abundance... Seriousness... Olive is a tradition to us for one hundred years..."
History behind the Turkish Extra Virgin Olive Oil :
There are nearly 700 varieties of olives grown throughout the world, with 86 over 50 of them in Turkey alone. The most common Turkish olives are grown in the Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean and Southeast Anatolia regions. Small sized black olives are most commonly eaten for breakfast in Turkey and are used as a snack with tea, bread, cheese or tomatoes. There are also dozens of cold Turkish dishes called zeytinyagli, in which the main ingredient is olive oil. Green olives are obtained by harvesting during the ripening cycle when they have reached normal size, but prior to color change and are not suitable for oil extraction. The olive most commonly used for olive oil in Turkey is called Edremit. Virgin olive oil “sizma”, is the natural, least refined oil, derived from simple cold pressing. Another kind of oil is “Riviera,” which is a mixture of pure and refined olive oil. Flavor, color & consistency vary, like fine wines, due to different olive varieties, location and weather. Only 10% of the world's olive oil can be called top quality, or Virgin Olive Oil which is best used for dipping with crusty breads, drizzling on pasta or fresh vegetables, and salad dressings. Its low acidity and natural antioxidants come from the first pressing of the choicest, handpicked olives. Olive oil is graded by its acidity and also by its flavor as judged by experts
On the whole, however, olives from Ayvalik are judged to be the best in Turkey. Ironically, Turkey’s finest quality olive oil is not widely sold in Turkey but either exported or sold only in small quantities in very few stores.
The phenomenal effects of olives on human health are known for a long time. We know that Hypocrates recommended fresh green olives for those patients with psychological disorders. Documents have been discovered showing that olive oil was used in Mediterranean countries upon gynecological complaints, ear ache, constipation of kids and stomach complaints of grown-ups in the Middle Ages.
The Mediterranean type of diet which highlights the consumption of olive oil was first raised in 1950’s. Actually, there isn’t any single type of Mediterranean diet – the cultural, ethnical, religious, economic and agricultural production differences of the countries alongside the Mediterranean have created different diet styles. Nevertheless, the common characteristic of this type of diet is accepting abundant consumption of vegetables, milk products, fish and poultry as basic, and preferring little or no processing on these alimentary products. The only oil recommended in the Mediterranean type of diet is olive oil. This type of diet plays a major role in the prevention of coronary heart diseases, decreasing of deaths resulting from heart disease and as a preventive factor against cancer.
All this is thanks to the mono-saturated fatty acids, Vitamin E and phenol components contained in olive oil, a major element in the Mediterranean type of diet. Mono-saturated fatty acids are the most preferred ones in healthy nutrition as they decrease LDL (bad cholesterol) and increase HDL (good cholesterol). Vitamin E and phenol components, on the other hand, possess highly powerful antioxidant characteristics.
