Description
A LA CARTE
🚚 The Fastest Delivery Time : 2-day delivery.
🐝 Supplier / Place Of Origin：A LA CARTE / Greece
🔖 Certification： Organic European / "BioTUV" certification, PDO Μεσσαρά / Messara
🌱 About the Producer：
Messara EVOO is not a single brand, but a product with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) in the European Union: "Mεσσαρά / Messara" extra virgin olive oil. It is produced in the Messara Plain in southern Crete, Greece, and is made from 100% Koroneiki olives using mechanical cold extraction.
We select our suppliers for the love they put in their products,
seeking the best quality while respecting traditional production methods.
Most of them are family owned, of human size. We value the direct collaboration with them.
By buying directly at the source, we are proud to contribute to the local economy,
while ensuring that, ultimately, our clients get the most tasty and fresh products at the best prices.
All our farmers follow specific certifications minimizing the use of chemicals. From sustainable agriculture ‘’Agriculture Raisonnee’’ (AR) to Organic certified ‘’Agriculture Biologique’’ (AB), these guarantees that the fruits delivered to you a safe and healthy. On top of the tests done by our farmers, we also perform our own chemical test upon each arrival of the fruits.
🌱 Supplier Products：
🛍 Product Information (Main) (English)：
It is sourced from the heart of Messara, southern Crete, Greece.
It is carefully crafted by select small-scale producers, adhering to the principles of sustainable ecological agriculture.
It bears the prestigious PDO Messara seal, guaranteeing the product's authenticity, origin, and exceptional quality.
This product is made from 100% Koroneiki olives through cold pressing (pressing at a high temperature of 27°C for up to 40 minutes), preserving the olives' natural aroma, antioxidants, and valuable nutrients. With an acidity level below 0.3%, its quality is not only remarkable but also time-tested.
It's not just olive oil; it's a lifestyle, an essential part of the Mediterranean diet, and a pure embodiment of Crete's culinary heritage.
This product is certified organic by TUV AUSTRIA, meeting the highest international standards of quality, health, and environmental responsibility.
This extra virgin olive oil has won more than 11 international and regional awards around the world!
Origin and protection
Messara lies south-southwest of Heraklion prefecture: south of Mount Psiloritis, north of Mount Kofinas, and down to the Libyan Sea. It is one of the southernmost olive-growing areas in Europe—hot, dry, frost-free, with intense sunlight and calcareous soils. Olive growing here goes back to Minoan times; stone presses have been found at sites such as Phaistos and Kommos.
The name Μεσσαρά (Messara) was registered as an EU Protected Designation of Origin in October 2013. Growing, harvest, cleaning, milling and grading must all take place inside the delimited area.
Fruit and process
- Variety: 100% Koroneiki.
- Harvest: typically mid-November to mid-February; fruit is picked as the skin turns from yellow-green to red-purple. Premium lots are often early-harvest.
- Extraction: mechanical only, cold-extracted (commonly ≤27°C). No refining or solvents. Bottled commercial oils frequently test at 0.2–0.3% acidity versus the PDO ceiling of 0.6%.
Sensory and official specs (at bottling)
- Colour: bright green, shifting to green-yellow with age.
- Taste: medium fruitiness; fruitiness 4.0–5.0, pungency 3.5–4.0, bitterness 3.0–3.5; median defect = 0. The signature is a harmonious fruit–pepper–bitter balance.
- Chemistry (PDO): acidity ≤0.6%; peroxides ≤8.5 meq O₂/kg; K232 ≤1.80; K270 ≤0.13; waxes ≤130 mg/kg; oleic acid 75–83%; polyphenols ≥100 mg/kg. Top lots often exceed this by a wide margin.
What the terroir does
Heat and drought limit the olive fly (helping keep acidity down). Hillside exposure and long sunshine raise aromatic compounds. Water stress and high summer temperatures are linked to the oil’s fatty-acid and sterol fingerprint, including a characteristic campesterol range. Low peroxide values support better storage stability.
How to use
Best raw or lightly heated: green salads, feta, hummus, bread dipping, roasted potatoes and vegetables, marinades for fish or halloumi, finishing pasta and stews. Prolonged high heat dulls aroma and polyphenols.
Storage
Dark glass or tin, cool and dark, tightly closed. Use promptly after opening.
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