Kalamata's Liquid Gold
[2021] Modest but glorious at the same time, growing slowly, not scared of long draughts nor cold winters, the olive tree is famous for it’s longevity, for its fruits and most of all for the liquid gold we call olive oil.
The culture of olive oil in Greece is rooted in time through mythology to the present day: an olive tree was given by godess Athena as a gift to the city of Athens, a jar filled with olive oil was the prize for the winner athletes of the ancient Olympic Games who were also crowned with olive leaves, Asklepios used olive oil as medicine, babies are still blessed with olive oil when baptised in the Orthodox Cristian Church, while the famous Kalamata table olives can be found in gastronomy menus worldwide.
On assignment for GEO France, along with journalist Elisa Perrigueur we travelled to Messinia, the most famous region of olive oil production in Greece, to meet with producers, agronomists, oleologists, merchants and workers that convert the precious fruit into extra virgin olive oil.
Discover the story in GEO France April 2022 issue.
