Green olive oil, the first oil of the year

The term ‘green olive oil’ refers to the natural oil produced by pressing the first unripe olives which preserve their green colour. The ancient Greeks used to call it omotrives or omfakio.

For the ancient healing the finest olive oil was the oil given by the wild olives, the olive oil of the first pressing (omfakinon), known nowadays as green olive oil, obtained by the pressing of olives. According to Pliny, this oil is obtained by pressing the first olives when they are still white (immature) and secondly when the olive begins to change colour without, however, being matured.

Green olive oil is the oil coming from olives pressed early in the harvest season before the fruit matures, which is unripe and green. Green olive oil is only the oil produced by the first unripe olive fruit and whose pressing takes place on the day of the harvest or the next day and not all the fresh olive oils.

It has a bright green colour due to the chlorophyll of the unripe olive fruit which gives green olive oil more antioxidant properties. It has a different flavour from extra virgin olive oil as it is very acrid and a bit spicy with a strong fruity flavour from the aromas of the freshly-picked green olives.

Green olive oil retains its properties only for a few months, that’s why it is not available throughout the year. As time passes, green olive oil loses its strong taste but not its nutrients. After a certain time, pure green olive oil, which has not undergone any processing or filtration, will produce a sediment at the bottom of the container which is a natural residue of olive oil and an indication of its purity.

It contains all the vitamins and provitamins found in olive oil as well as minerals and polyphenols which protect the cells against oxidative stress, active oxygen and free radicals.