Buying olive oil from a supermarket

This story goes back further - some useful pre-reading:

• Stolen heritage (Κλεμμένη κληρονομιά) http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stolen-heritage.html
• Stains in the extra virgin olive oil industry (Λαδολαδιές) http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stains-in-extra-virgin-olive-oil.html
• Degustation of extra virgin olive oil (Γευσιγνωσία του πρασίνου χρυσού)  http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/02/degustation-of-extra-virgin-olive-oil.html 
• EU olive oil wars http://www.organicallycooked.com/2013/05/eu-olive-oil-wars.html (Brexiters could use this particular article to justify their voting choice)

I don't buy olive oil because we have our own supplies of 'green gold', made from the harvest of the fruit of our own olive groves, but if I were living far away from my own supplies, I would have to work out how to keep myself supplied with quality olive oil, and I would probably do most of my shopping at the supermarket. So how does one go about choosing the product that will best suit one's needs?

In Crete, we always talk about λάδι (= oil) when we talk about olive oil. The more correct term would be ελαιόλαδο (= olive oil). But we generally assume that everyone is using the same λάδι in their food. We produce so much olive oil in the first place - there isn't a place in Crete where an olive tree isn't visible - that we naturally assume that everyone uses olive oil in their food preparations.
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211156424883512

This bring us to another issue: Why do olive oil packaging labels use the words 'extra-virgin' to describe the olive oil? The answer to that questions lies in the acidity level of the olive oil: There will be times when your olive oil will not be extra virgin olive oil, because there are times when olive oil need not be extra virgin. Confused? I hope this post will help you. As you read through it, please DO open the embedded facebook posts, and check the comments in them, because this post is based on them. (If you can't see the facebook post, click on the facebook link instead.)

For a start, it should be mentioned that olive oil is more expensive than other cooking oils. That's what makes it the most controversial cooking oils in the world: Its high cost of purchase urges buyers to seek the best quality for the money they pay for it. Olive oil quality is determined by factors such as the following:
- Variety of olive used
- Location and soil conditions where the olives were grown
- Environmental factors and weather during the growing season
- Olive ripeness
- Timing of the harvest
- Harvesting method
- Length of time between the harvest and pressing
- Pressing technique
- Packaging and storage methods
(from http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/how-olive-oil-works2.htm)

Don't be fooled by things like the colour of the oil, the container shape/design, the label design and the brand name under which the oil is being sold: they do not determine the quality of the product you are buying; you may be paying a premium price for such things without realising it. Such factors all have to do with our perceptions of beauty, which as we all know is in the eyes of the beholder.

The International Olive Oil Council designates 'virgin olive oils' as: "the oils obtained from the fruit of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.) solely by mechanical or other physical means under conditions, particularly thermal conditions, that do not lead to alterations in the oil, and which have not undergone any treatment other than washing, decantation, centrifugation and filtration". But the end product is categorised in different ways, because of the many different factors involved in making olive oil. From the same species of fruit, Olea europaea L., we can have:

- Extra virgin olive oil, characterised by a free acidity of not more than 0.8 grams per 100 grams
- Virgin olive oil, characterised by a free acidity of not more than 2 grams per 100 grams
- Ordinary virgin olive oil, characterised by a free acidity of not more 3.3 grams per 100 grams
- Lampante olive oil, characterised by a free acidity of more than 3.3 grams per 100 grams, which is not intended for human consumption (it has industrial uses)
- Refined olive oil, obtained from virgin olive oils by refining methods, which is then characterised by a free acidity of not more than 0.3 grams per 100 grams
- Olive oil, consisting of a blend of refined olive oil and virgin olive oils, which is then characterised by a free acidity of not more than 1 gram per 100 grams
- Olive pomace oil, obtained by treating pulped olives with solvents or other physical treatments
(from http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/estaticos/view/83-designations-and-definitions-of-olive-oils)

By the above definitions, my family's production of olive oil is always extra virgin because we never produce olive oil with an acidity level of higher than 0.8. This is no surprise as Crete's olive oil industry is based solely on the production of extra-virgin olive oil, while 80% of Greece's annual olive oil production consists of extra virgin olive oil. To distinguish between very low acidity and and higher acidity in the extra virgin olive oil category, we also have the designation of 'extra-extra virgin olive oil' when the acidity is no more than 0.3-0.4

From the above, we can understand that:
- Not all olive oil is extra virgin.
- Not all packaged olive oil has been produced in the same way.
- The acidity level of olive oil plays a role in its quality.
How virgin an olive oil is will therefore affect olive oil prices: Acidity is the key here.
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211271807047994

There are also other factors involved in pricing olive oil: In the present olive oil producing season, Greek producers have received good prices for their product, based on the hindered production of other olive oil producing countries, namely Italy and Spain. Italy's trees were ravaged by disease in early 2016 while Spain's were highly affected by drought. Greece's trees do not yet show any signs of the Italian disease, while the very dry summer weather suddenly eased in December which saw a lot of rain in Greece. The rain came at just the right time for olive, as it is usually ripe by this time, and olive oil production is in its full swing at this time.

Since the acidity level of an olive oil is important in pricing the product, the acidity level is the very first thing that will be checked by a producer in Crete. This may sound incredible because in international terms, the acidity level is NOT required to be stated (see https://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/labeling-regulations#Primary). Acidity level can be implied from the name on the label, eg 'extra virgin olive oil' implies that the acidity level is no more than 0.8. But low acidity can also be reached by mixing and refining techniques; therefore, the original acidity level at the time of production loses its importance, (see http://www.oliveoiloftheworld.com/2013/01/22/acidity-levels-in-extra-virgin-olive-oil/).

If you rely on the information on the labels of the products you buy to provide you with all the information you need about a product - and you trust it - you can leave it at that, and feel that you are getting value for money. But if you know that olive oil producers are getting higher prices for their product based on the acidity level of the product, surely that should be just one more factor that you should be considering when you are buying olive oil. After all, most extra virgin olive oil labels state words to the effect of:

"... produced entirely by mechanical means without the use of any solvents..."

which one would think could be taken for granted. But very few packaged extra virgin olive oils will include the acidity level on the label. Most olive oil labels will include information about the origin of olive oil, and will even tell you if it is a 'mixie-mixie' kind of oil (my terminology, to describe a product that contains a mixture of olive oil from different countries). Why the need for such wording, and nothing about acidity?

Despite the fact that mentioning the acidity level of extra virgin olive oil on a label is not a legal requirement, many Greek producers of extra virgin olive oil still mention it. It's no surprise then, when a customer finds acidity level mentioned on the label of packaged olive oil of a Greek origin:

"My customer told me she was purchasing an EVOO from Greece with an acidity level of .3%. She wanted to know if the EVOOs I carried had the acidity level listed on the label like hers. Much like customers that look for the words first cold pressed/ing on the labeling because marketing tactics tell them to specifically look for those words,  her concern arose because of this newest method to market olive oil... the acidity levels of extra virgin olive oil mean very little unless someone has a medical condition where a .5% to .8% would cause stomach upset.  So long as the oil is real EVOO (and many are not even though they claim to be) there is no reason to choose based on acidity. It should be based on taste and what one wants to do with the olive oil." http://www.oliveoiloftheworld.com/2013/01/22/acidity-levels-in-extra-virgin-olive-oil/

If there is NO reason to choose extra virgin olive oil based on acidity levels, why does acidity level determine the price of olive oil? Ignoring the acidity of an olive oil may be misleading for a number of reasons:
- The lower the acidity of freshly produced olive oil, the higher the price it can command.
- Low acidity extra virgin olive oil has a lighter taste, which is why it's the best choice for drizzling over your salads.
- Higher acidity levels are better for use in cooking, ie the process of heating olive oil, because they reach a smoking point more quickly; therefore, cooking with a low acidity olive oil may feel like you're boiling your food rather than frying it.
- Very low acidity in olive oil is a sign of less ripening of the fruit, so it can taste more peppery, with a bit of a zing to it when it goes down your throat. This has to do with the sensory perceptions of the product: Some like it hot, some like it cold.
- High acidity olive oil cannot be labelled extra-virgin.
Is the acidity level of an olive oil really a non-issue, given the above information?

 *** *** ***

When I visit friends in London, I always bring some of our own extra-extra virgin olive oil supplies to them as a present. I put into a clean coca-cola type bottle (they are very strong) and securely fasten the cap. Then I seal the cap with cellotape. Then I place the bottle on a plastic bag and tie it up with cellotape, repeating the last step twice. I also checked the olive oil selection at the two supermarkets that I went to: Waitrose, Greenwich... https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211422859184203

... and Sainsbury's, Lewisham Shopping Centre.
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211455161471740

Hardly any of the labels mention the acidity level of the product. I found only one in Waitrose (Morgenster, South Africa), and only one in Sainsbury's (Iliada, Greece). Both these olive oils were produced in one region, whereas the other olive oils were made from a mixture of olive oils produced in different places: in other words, mixie-mixie, according to my terminology. Without doubt, such oils are more difficult to control for quality. Own-brand labels are far more common than any other kinds of olive oil. Own-brand supermarket olive oils are a kind of '[generic' of olive oil, and they do not state the acidity level of the product. You cannot guarantee quality in such cases. Monovarietals (olive oil produced with one variety of olives) are rare, as are olive oils produced in specific geographical regions. Supermarkets are competing with each other for prices. And in London, it is only natural to assume that specialised products will command high prices, perhaps too high for the average shopper to consider paying at a supermarket counter.

Crete is a major producer of olive oil, so you may be surprised to see a similar 'small' range of olive oil products being sold at our supermarkets. This is probably because the average buyer of olive oil from the supermarket is NOT Greek! Most of us have our own supplies of green gold. Those who do not will probably not buy their needs from the supermarket... They will buy it from a producer they know, or go directly to an olive oil factory and buy it in bulk. What use is a 1L bottle of olive oil - or even a 5L canister of olive oil! - when the average amount of olive oil consumed per capita per annum in Crete is... 25-30 kilos?! It's a little lower for the rest of Greece - Cretans use more olive oil than other Greeks (and according to statistics, they eat more cheese too, even more than the average French person).

Even so, it is worth noting what local Greek supermarkets are selling. Not all olive oils sold in Crete mention the acidity level on their packaging. Here's what I found at LIDL, a German supermarket chain...
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211586562956695?pnref=story

... and SYNKA, a supermarket chain founded in Hania:
https://www.facebook.com/maria.verivaki/posts/10211586529915869?pnref=story

I was mainly interested in extra virgin olive oil. All the supermarkets I took photographs in (both in London and in Hania) sell a variety of olive oil types, not just extra-virgin olive oil. I did not make a point of including the prices for all the olive oil labels I photographed. Sometimes price is misleading: is it a sign of quality, or is it a sign of status? Likewise, if you have a preference for 'organic', you may end up paying more money for organic olive oil, even though its quality as olive oil may be compromised.

Olive oil sold at SYNKA supermarket, Hania. Notice that you can also buy seed oil here too. If you don;t have your own supplies of olive oil, using seed oil to fry with will turn out cheaper.

To conclude, I would say that the best extra virgin olive oil is that which is produced locally. Buying your own country's production is probably the best way of going about buying olive oil for your own use. This includes non-traditional, new producer countries that have entered the olive oil market relatively recently, like South Africa and the US. If you are using olive oil in its raw form, you should be using only extra-virgin olive oil. If you are using it to cook with, you can buy non-extra virgin olive oil which will be cheaper. Finally, since most of the packaged extra virgin olive oil sold in a local Greek non-international supermarket chain mention an acidity level on the label, and it's mainly our tourists who buy such packaged products, you can bet that they are buying very good quality extra virgin olive oil to take back home with them.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

EU olive oil wars

The latest olive oil news to hit the headlines is that the EU has decided to ban the use or refillable olive oil dispensers in eateries all over Europe. So the classic foursome found on every taverna table is set to become a threesome. The news has been met mainly with scorn by the European press:

 Located at a summer restaurant by the sea in Hania

"They should let the people decide what olive oil bottles they want to use and not dictate uniformity from the center," said Paul Nuttall, a member of the European parliament from Britain's UK Independence Party. (Source: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_17/05/2013_499485 )

Sam Clark, the food writer, chef and proprietor of the award winning Moro restaurant in London, told The Daily Telegraph that the ban would stop him serving his customers specially selected Spanish olive oil in dipping bowls with bread when they are seated at their table. "This will affect us. It is about choice and freedom of choice. We buy our oil, which we have selected from a farm in Spain, to serve our customers," he said.(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10064787/EU-to-ban-olive-oil-jugs-from-restaurants.html )

"If the European Union was logical and properly run, people wouldn't be so anti-Europe. But when it comes up with crazy things like this, it quite rightly calls into question their legitimacy and judgment," said Marina Yannakoudakis, a British Conservative member of the European Parliament. (Source: http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.home&id=956 )

Critics have accused the EU of unwarranted meddling at a time of economic crisis. (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22579896 )

Britain, which regularly cites perceived meddling from Brussels as the reason for its strained relationship with Europe, abstained [from the vote]. (Source: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/19/eu-banning-olive-oil-jugs-restaurants )

Enzo Sica, owner of Italian restaurant Creche des Artistes close to the EU quarter of Brussels, said the rules would prevent him from buying his extra virgin olive oil direct from a traditional supplier in Italy. "They say they're thinking about consumers, but this will increase costs for us and our customers as well. In this time of crisis, surely they should be worrying about other things rather than stupid stuff like this. (Source: 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/18/us-eu-oliveoil-idUSBRE94H09820130518 )

On the face of it, it sounds like a stupid law, meddling with an age-old custom in an attempt to standardise a habit. But it's actually already been implemented in Portugal and some parts of Italy; the proposal has been accepted by many other countries, including the main producers of olive oil (Spain, Italy, and Greece). Germany, one of the prime EU health-safety-hygiene freaks, voted against the proposed law, while the UK, another laws-and-regulations freak, abstained from voting, which can be put down indirectly to the current anti-EU stance ripping UK politics apart. The far-right who recently rose in popularity in the UK are using this proposed law to sway people against the Europeanisation of Britain. So the anti-campaigners of this law could be said to be influenced by factors other than logic.

In the meantime, the UK has become a connoisseur nation when it come to live oil quality (see http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stains-in-extra-virgin-olive-oil.html) while Germany exports olive oil even though it isn't even a producer ( see http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stolen-heritage.html)!

The reasons for bringing in this measure are much less deviant than the excuses people have against it: customers are often fooled by being served cheap olive oil, non-refillable bottles will improve hygiene, tamper-proof packaging protects the consumer, the proposed law attempts to reassure consumers that the olive oil has not been diluted with an inferior product, among others; above all, it helps to preserve the image of olive oil, as getting what one pays for will now become more transparent to the consumer. There do seem to be many good reasons for the law after all, which is why it seemed a perfectly acceptable step to take...

A typical self-service eaterie in the UK (Ponti's, Lewisham Shopping Centre, which closed down two months after this photo was taken - a tea and coffee muffin shop opened in its place instead). Note that ALL the dressings and sauces are packaged, and in this case, none are left on the table (making that hot-headed British Conservative member of the European Parliament with the very Cretan-sounding name look a bit of a ninny now - she must be very used to sights like this in the UK). Can you imagine being served HP sauce form a refillable container? Not everyone needs or uses extra dressings. Greeks use a lot of olive oil, but this will not necessarily create a barrier to the bottling issue (there are ways to get round this law, and they are waiting to be created). 

Taking the case of the average Cretan restaurant, the olive oil used in it could possibly be the owner's own production; at any rate, it will be bought and/or stored in bulk. The average olive oil canister found on a restaurant table has a capacity of about 100-200ml, so filling up small containers sounds like extra packaging and costs, especially at a time of crisis. But the owner of the average Greek (as opposed to Cretan) restaurant will not be a producer - there are many parts of Greece that do NOT produce olive oil - so no doubt s/he is buying the olive oil they use in their business. It will come in (approximately) 17-litre canisters. From here, the crockery sitting at the tables will be filled up...

... but hang on: olive oil connoisseurs will have heard about the different uses of olive oil with different acidity levels: low acidity is good for salads, while higher acidity is better in cooking, and refined olive oil is useful in baking. If olive oil is being poured out of 17-litre canisters, it's probably being used like all-purpose flour - one size fits all, and you know how awful those clothes look on you, don't you?

It's all about gimmicks - we remember restaurants for their perks. (KOUZINA EPE, Hania)

Seriously, when you have been eating horse for beef for more than a year, surely you'd welcome a law that demands greater transparency in your food chain, especially when you live in a country where only one in five people work in agriculture, and your country imports most of its food needs out of necessity.   There can simply be no trust in the refillable bottle of extra-virgin olive oil - or the refillable sea salt dispenser, or the gourmet balsamic vinegar bottle, for that matter. Restaurant owner-producers would now be forced to label their product, certifying that it is indeed what it purports to be.

We cherish the corked wine bottle and scorn the cheap home-made bulk wine, which most Greek restaurants and tavernas use; complaints of inferior wine are often based on the use of home-brew. Over-priced bottled water is also seen as superior to tap water. So the problem with the excess packaging can be solved by recycling. We dispose so much for recycling purposes that it hardly seems an issue to throw out a few more glass/metal/aluminium/plastic vessels.

Above: Ladywell Tavern, Lewisham, London.
Below: Spanich Galleon, Greenwich, London.

You may think that choosing what wine or water to drink is up to the customer, who specifically orders it, whereas the olive oil canister is sitting on the table, waiting to be used. When it's provided for free, it doesn't actually have to be there in the first place. Restaurants may choose to serve their salads already dressed, like they usually do in Western countries - there is no need to have a canister of olive oil on the table. Restaurants are now vying for trade - it's their choice what corners they will cut. Some restaurants don't serve bread any more, which used to be a pretext for a cover charge. At the end of the day, it's up to the restaurant to make use of the laws for its benefit.

Soya sauce is often brought bottled to your table (WONG KEI, London). It may be a refillable bottle, but it can be checked for quality. If it is not the same soy sauce that is stated in the bottle, then the restaurant has to answer quite a few questions.

What about dipping bowls which are served with bread as an appetiser? If that is being paid for (and it wasn't provided for free in the first place), why not bring both the bowls and the canisters to the table, so that people can see for themselves where that oil you are serving came from? This leads to a whole new ball game - novel packaging ideas will follow on from the importance of correct labelling, which is how most olive oil snobs buy their EVOO. The new law will create more mystique around elitist culinary traditions, which can only lead to more profits.

The cost factor will figure greatly among the moaners and groaners of the restaurant trade - but the cleverest dicks will have already figured this one out ages ago, especially since Portugal is already implementing the law. Olive oil is already being transported to restaurants in canisters for cooking use. Now, they can have some of the best EVOO transported to them in the same way, in smaller vessels, which will be placed at the tables and can then be admired by the customers (for their pretty packaging), who will read the labels (to check the validity of the product), and try the oil (it had be better be good, or else...).

These bottles are part of a collection at my workplace (www.maich.gr) - they are very old, and the oil contained in them won't be useable now; the collection is purely for souvenir purposes.


To go that extra mile, in EU olive oil-producing countries (as opposed to EU non-producing countries like Germany and the UK, who also happen to be the greatest users of olive oil in EU non-producing countries), during the tourist season, the restaurant could encourage customers to try the olive oil in the vessel (or to take the bottle home with them as a souvenir, if they don't wish to to use extra oil in the food they were served); if the customer likes it enough to want to use it in their own food back home, they can buy more in larger containers from the restaurant itself. Who said there is no profit to be made from this gesture after all?! The possibilities are endless, in a sense; I'm only providing a taster here. And that free little bottle of olive oil - it's one of the best ways for Greece to nationalise its product!

Could the restaurant owner have a choice in the matter? There are ways to work around this issue too - what about placing an own-bottled olive oil (eg garlic, lemon, herbs, etc) on the table that the owner has scented and produced in the restaurant kitchen? I'm sure there are others already implementing this law by now, who have already solved this problem. I doubt it would raise the cost of a meal -there is no more room for raising prices in crisis-ridden EU; people are already going out for a meal less often.remember, what is provided free doesn't have to be provided at all in the first place. Olive oil could be bought to the table only if the customer asks for it. The bottom line is: would you go to a restaurant that serves inferior olive oil (or wine for that matter)? The new law is forcing the restaurant trade to clean up their act!

Olive oil is treated like gold in many countries; here in Greece, in fact, we like to call it 'green gold'. It's time we began promoting it like gold outside Greece, which will help nationlise the product and boost its image.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Apple orange pudding (Πουτίγκα με μήλο και πoρτοκάλι)

At the moment, eggs are plentiful becuase they are in season. Go on, laugh all you like - during winter, hens don't lay so many, but as soon as the weather warms up, they do, and when it gets too hot, they stop again till it cools down, and they stop in winter. Last year, in one of Crete's coldest winters, I didn't get given many eggs. This year, in one of Crete's shortest winters (that wood fire stopped working at the beginning of March), I am constantly given eggs by friends and relatives, which means more omelettes and more desserts.  When you know the taste of real free-range eggs, you won't be able to go back to store-bought eggs in an omelette.

Although oranges are a year-round commodity, we notice that the summer variety (Valencia) is starting to ripen a little too quickly, again due to the good weather. So that's another seasonal commodity that needs to be used up creatively. Apart from fresh orange juice, orange can also be used a flavouring agent in sweets and savouries. 

We also had a lot of apples at home, due to the chidlren being given boxes of fruit at school under the asupices of the EU. They each brought home a box of fruit containing oranges, pears and apples. Unfortunately, the apples and pears were not in the best condition; they were OK under their mottly skin, but kids only notice the mottley skin. They went uneaten all through the week. 

In keeping with my frugal regime of using fresh produce creatively to ensure the family doesn't get bored with eating the same thing, I used our seasonal and abundant fresh produce and gifts, together with our own olive oil, to make a delicious dessert, based on a traditional recipe for English apple pudding.  

I recreated it in my Cretan kitchen, replacing (like I usually do) ingredients which I don't normally use (eg butter) with local produce (eg olive oil) in the batter (although I kept the butter in the syrup to make sure it congealed). Instead of milk, I decided to use freshly squeezed orange juice in both the cake and the syrup. The result was a heavily scented orange pudding, reminscent of the Greek portokalopita, a refreshing pie made with oranges which uses torn up sheets of filo pastry.

The syrup was poured out spoon by spoon over the pudding. What strayed to the bottom of the baking pan was eventually soaked up by the next day. 

This pudding made a fantastic breakfast to go with my sugarless morning coffee. All in all, it cost me a mere €1 to make. In this modern world, where we want to have more than we can afford but don't know how to do it without begging, stealing or borrowing, my thriftiness makes me feel that I can conquer the difficult financial hurdles that have been imposed on us. Since Thatcher's death, we are constantly reminded that the economy of a country cannot be run like a household:

Despite my dislike of Thatcher's policies, I could not help but have a regard for her commonsense attitude to good housekeeping, her wartime spirit of keeping the larder full of baked beans and dried goods just in case. Many economists despised this spirit, and warned her you couldn't run the country as you ran a household budget... (Guardian, 13/4/2013)

but at least I'm not trying to make my household go down the drain together with the country. And the country can be assured that I won't become Prime Minister.

 ©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Spaghetti with pesto and calamari

I've taken the remaining days of my annual leave at this period, which has given me the chance to cook more creative dishes than the usual rotating menu in our household (which is something like bean stew, spaghetti bolognaise, pita, freezer dish and leftovers). I had bought some calamari when it was on sale at the supermarket and finally got round to cooking it the way I had wanted to for a long time now. My creation involved getting quite a few pots and pans dirty, so it definitely isn't the kind of dish you want to make when you are feeling tired or you don't have much time to cook.

Cooking makes your kitchen dirty and intidy - mine is always a very busy-looking station. 

For this dish, you need a lot of olive oil. You can make it with much less if you really want to. But I find it difficult to admit how much olive oil I actually used, but I could see the oil disappearing from the litre-capacity bottle and I refilled it at least once. I live in Crete, where we use the most olive oil per capita in the whole world; we only use extra virgin olive oil, and this year's bounty from our own fields brought in 250 litres. We had about 50 litres remaining from the last time we bought olivesome olive oil (olive trees produce enough fruit to produce olive oil every second year and our trees did not produce enough oil in the previous season), which means that we have about 300 litres of olive oil to last us for the next two years. Considering that Cretans consume 30 litres of olive oil per year per person, that's just enough to last us until the next harvest. We're rich.

Green gold - we bring the oil rom the press in the press's plastic containers and pour them into our own terracotta barrels (mimicking the clay urns of our ancestors).

The 250 litres we produced this year cost us €270 to produce, as we hired an Albanian immigrant living here in Crete for many years with his family. He harvests 1300 trees per year and gets to keep some of the oil that is produced from them. But we decided not to give him the oil, and paid in cash instead. Either way, he would have sold the oil (as he gets a lot of oil in this way form the trees he tends on behalf of others). We preferred to keep this 100% organic EVOO for ourselves, knowing that this quality (0.7% acidity) and quantity will keep us well fed until harvest time in two years. 

It's true that olive oil is best kept for no longer than 18 months, according to experts who believe that the quality deteriorates after that. But that is not the way Cretans think of their olive oil - they know it's good for as long as you need it, as long as it's stored appropriately. And if you think about the cost of this olive oil for us, here's a small breakdown: 250 litres @  €270 for 5 people for 2 years - that's less than €0.07 per day. 

The Albanian worker (he's been living here with his family for nearly as long as I have) who harvested the olives for us was also paid very well. He gets a share of the oil - 50% of the oil produced, for the work that he did. Since we're not giving him the oil, we pay him for the value of the oil; right at this moment, fresdhly produced olive oil is being paid at 2.16 by the olive press (125 litres at €2.16 = €270). He and his wife worked two full days harvesting our trees. From the money they receive from this work, they will also pay their taxes and health insurance (altogether, about €1 per day per person). If we had been more scrupulous, we could have hired him (and his wife) at labourer's wages for €35 a day (each). He gave us the choice - we chose the more expensive option; we appreciate the work he puts into our fields every year, because we're working people and we don't have the time to do it ourselves (the last time my husband harvested his own crop was just before the trees were burnt to the ground, about 20 years ago). 

For all the above reasons, I don't skimp on olive oil - or fresh vegetables, because we have a plethora of those too. With some bread and cheese or a small piece of low-cost meat, we can keep ourselves fed very well during these difficult financial times. The added bonus: this kind of eating keeps us healthy, which means more savings - it may help on reducing doctors' bills.

You need:

some cleaned calamari, chopped into chunks (I needed about 800g for 4 generous servings)

a bunch of fresh parsley (Greeks rarely use basil in their cooking - I used parsley for my pesto)

3 cloves of garlic

salt and pepper

spaghetti (I used about 400g for the 4 of us)

flour for dusting

as much or as little olive oil as you can afford

Mince the garlic. Place some olive oil (I used about half a cup) in a frying pan and saute the garlic without cooking it too much. Chop the parsley super finely (I place it in a bag in the freezer, and then crush it so it becomes as fine as dust). Add it to the garlic, salt and pepper mix well and add some more olvie oil (another half a cup should be good). 

Drain the calamari in a colander. Dust each chunk with flour (I placed half a cup of flour in a plastic bag and then added the calamari and shook it, to coat all the pieces evenly). Fry the calamari in very hot oil on high heat, for about 8-10 minutes. (If the calamari is already prepared and was bought frozen, you won't need much more cooking time, and it will tender when cooked.) Remove the calamari with a slotted spoon and place it in the pot with the parsley/garlic pesto. Allow the pesto and calamari to blend well and heat through (about 5 minutes). 

In the meantime, boil the spaghetti al dente. Drain it while hot and place a serving of pasta on a plate. Scoop up a portion of pesto/calamari and pour over the plate. Sprinkle (if liked) with grated parmesan (my chidlren loved it like this - I preferred it plain). Eat while steaming hot. And don't forget some good white wine to go with it. 

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Olive harvest

Although the olive harvest was a good one this year,

it began and is finishing much earlier than other years.



Our own olive harvest usually took place in January, but this year, we're harvesting this month.

Climate change, and all that jazz.

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Olive harvest (Μάζεμα)

It's olive picking season now, and the work is in full swing at the moment in Hania. Even though it hasn't rained a lot, the precipitation that has fallen in the area was enough to strengthen the crops.

When I arrived at work yesterday, I found the gardeners gathering (mechanically with the help of a motorised beating stick) the olives of the tree in the main courtyard. 

Despite the fact that the olive trees at the campus of MAICh are mainly ornamental, they are not exempt from this mainstay activity.
This one tree will yield 5kg of fruit, which should yield 1 litre of olive oil.

Panda, MAICh's resident cat, is now more easily able to climb into the heart of the trunk to get a nap while the weather is still good.  

“Agriculture is the mother of all arts. When it is well conducted, all other arts prosper. When it is neglected, all other arts decline”, Xenophon 430-355 BC 

The method of gathering olives depicted in the photos is standard practice all over the island in our times.

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Cheap 'n' Greek 'n' frugal: Red pepper chickpea stew (Ρεβύθια με κόκκινη πιπεριά)

The summer garden is almost over, but the peppers are continuing to do very well. We've had all colours and sizes, except hot (chili) peppers, which is a shame, as they would have been fun preserving for the winter months ahead. Heat in food is not a desirable element in Greek cooking: individuals may add heat if desired, but not the cook. Even though our peppers are not hot, each different variety has its own special taste. The red and yellow ones came out sweet, the green ones piquant, and the little green banana peppers were spicy. The light green horn-shaped peppers had a lighter taste than the green ones, whle the red horn-shaped peppers were sweeter than the bell-shaped peppers.

During the summer, we ate very few bean dishes, as we had a garden full of fresh food. Now that the summer garden has nearly packed up for the season and the weather is (only slightly) cooler, it's back to bean stews. With the dearth of tomatoes and a plethora of peppers, I decided to make a peppery chickpea stew, using red peppers as the base. It was a hit with the family, who were surprised that the colour of the stew came solely form the peppers - although they thought it was tomato, there wasn't a single tomato in it!

This recipe is probably more suited to people who grow their own vegetables, because the quantity of peppers used in it is more up to the individual. I used as many as I thought were needed to make the stew look like a tomato-based one.

You need:
a 500g packet of chickpeas
1-2 large onions roughly chopped in large chunks
2-3 cloves of garlic finely minced
a good few glugs of olive oil (this dish tastes better oily; use at least half-to-one cup)
some red peppers - the more, the tastier - roughly chopped in large chunks (I used about 10 medium-sized horn-shaped)
a handful of rice
salt and pepper
a teaspoon of smoked paprika
some lemon juice

Soak the chickpeas overnight. The next day, drain the chickpeas and bring them to the boil in a large pot with fresh water. Boil the beans for 5 minutes, then drain the water, rinse the peas and place them in the pot again with fresh water. Cook till quite soft (this will take some time), then drain them and set them aside.

Clean the pot you used to boil the chickpeas. Pour in some olive oil and add the onion and garlic. Saute till transparent. Add the red peppers and coat them well in oil. Add the chickpeas, and coat them well in the oil, too. (That's why you need a good few glugs of oil to make this dish.) Mix everything well together and then add enough water to cover the pot up to 1cm above the beans. Let the pot cook covered for at least half an hour. Turn off the heat and allow the stew to cool down slightly. Then skim off the peppers and onions (they will be floating at the top of the stew) and puree them in a blender, together with some chickpeas. Add this puree together with the smoked paprika to the stew; stir well.

At this point, the stew can be left until it is time to serve it (I usually make it at night and serve it the next day). It can be served as is, or with some rice added to it. The rice can be cooked separately, and then added to the stew, or (as I prefer to do it) the stew can be heated and the raw rice added to it, so that it cooks in the stew. It will need about 15 minutes to cook - be sure to stir the pot so that the rice doesn't stick to the bottom.

Serve this dish with lemon juice sprinkled over it. It pairs well with cheese and bread.

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Seafood pasta (Μακαρόνια θαλασσινών)

Fresh seafood is never really the most frugal fish option in Crete, unless you are a fisherman. Frozen seafood is the best choice for something cheap. I recently came across a mixed bag of seafood chunks including mussels and calamari for less than €3, which I used to recreate a pasta dish that I tried at an expensive fish restaurant. The pasta sauce had a pesto base, which is usually made of basil, but if you're out of fresh basil, a good pesto can also be made with other green herbs.

You need:
a small bunch of parsley (I only had a little parsley available, so I also added purslane leaves and finely minced fresh green peppers)
a few cloves of garlic
olive oil - I use quite a lot, and I get a very oily dish; the amount depends on the tastes of the cook and his/her guests!
salt and pepper
a 300g pack of frozen mixed seafood chunks (cheap frozen seafood is usually not Greek)
350g linguine (or spaghettini)

Boil the pasta till al dente. I usually pour a tablespoon of olive oil into the pasta pot to stop it sticking while I'm preparing the sauce. In the meantime, finely chop all the herbs and garlic and place in a small saucepan; add the salt, pepper and olive oil to the greens. Heat the mixture and place the rinsed seafood (don't defrost it). Let the seafood cook for a few minutes on very low heat, till everything has just heated through.


When the pasta is ready, drain it, place it back in the pot and add the seafood sauce.



Serve with a fresh salad and white or rose wine.

Total cost of meal if you have access to your own supplies of olive oil, salad ingredients and herbs: €4-5 -about €1.25 per person (serves 4).

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FISIKA - organic olive oil soap products (FISIKA - Σαπούνι από βιολογικό ελαιόλαδο)

Doing business these days is getting increasingly difficult due to competition from large companies that kill off their smaller competitors. Multi-nationals have moved in for good, and they can't be smashed. Small businesses are on the ruin, and they can't be saved. To survive in the business world today, you need to be selling a product or service that is unique and cheap, as well as sustainable. You've got to come up with an idea that no one else has thought of, and the idea needs to be worked over in great detail both in theory and in practice, so that the end result is a high quality product that people will prefer over cheaper alternatives.

FISIKA: producers of organic olive oil soap products and personal care products like creams and balms. They use natural products to scent their soaps, including lavender, grown on the only lavender farm in Crete.

For this to happen, you obviously have to put in a lot of work, devoting your time selflessly to the task. Hence, it's best if you love what you're doing, because you will be occupying a lot of your time doing the same thing. There's no point in the early stages of a small business in hiring third parties to do the work for you - not only will they not be able to grasp your original idea and sense your vision (because they don't really understand it), their contribution will purely be of a functional nature and they will need to be paid from your profits, which will be small because your product is competing in a very tight business world.

Organically produced olive oil soap for the home, to be given as presents, and as a aromatising agent in rooms and cars, cupboards and wardrobes, all at reasonable and affordable prices.

Once you've worked out a really good new product/service, you've then got to market it in such a way that it reaches not just the mass audience, but also an appropriate potential audience. If you don't target your product to the right people, your super-product will fail to bring in that small profit that will keep you and your business going. Even if we love doing something, and our hands are hard-working, we cannot do it without a way to pay the expenses involved in doing it.

All the products are hand-crafted; the whole procedure uses natural processes.

After visiting the oldest olive tree in the world, I got back onto the coastal road instead of the highway to get back home. The highway is great for getting from A to B very fast, but it's not as well sigh-posted for sightseeing as the old national road, which in this case is the coastal road from Kissamos to Hania. Apart from historical and archaeological sites of interest, it hides many delights for olive devotees - organic olive oil producers, olive wood carpenters and olive oil soap makers, to name a few. These people are dedicated to producing wholly local natural products from wholly local resources. There is great interest all over the world in high quality natural products. Coupled with the move against multi-nationals constantly being in control over our pockets and our minds, these kinds of businesses have now made a great impact on the market.

Maria's hand-crafted soap carvings are the first thing you see before entering the FISIKA store.

The workshop of FISIKA, a producer of natural soap products, is located just a few metres past the old German bridge in Maleme*. It is run by Voula, Filio and Maria, three women who have been involved in soap making for many years of their life. Sisters Voula and Filio used to help their grandmother and aunt to make soap when they were young, while Maria now decorates and carves the soap made by her mother and aunt. As Voula explains:

I've been involved in village activities all my life, even though I have lived in a variety of places like Germany, Alexandroupolis, and Samothraki, before coming to Crete, which I now feel is my home. Before I got involved in the soap business, I used to work in various places: restaurants, olive farms, olive processing units, the tourist trade, you name it. Before we even put it into our minds to open the business, we used to make the same soap we sell here in our own home. Eventually we began to experiment with herbs and essential oils for their properties and natural scents and different soap textures for different skin types. Gradually we realised we could be making these products on a larger scale. But we also knew that none of us could actually afford not to continue to work in other paid employment while we are building up the business. We have been open for about 18 months till now. And although we work many hours, every single day of the year, and we've had hardly any time off since we decided to open the shop, we enjoy what we do, and my tiredness is relieved from being involved in what I really like doing.

We use the standard Haniotiko olive oil soap in our home, so we are quite familiar with this natural product. But FISIKA's olive oil soaps have that added dimension which is lacking from ABEA's products: they are made using purely organic olive oil, they are scented with organically produced substances, and they are all hand-crafted and designed in such a way that you are attracted to the product. My children also got the chance to watch part of the process involved in making soap, while I reminded them that this is what their grandmother used to do too, and this is what their father used for many years, which was made using their own olive oil supplies from the village fields. I wonder if yiayia is up to making soap one more time, to pass on the trade to me...

Organic olive oil soap for all skin types and scent preferences: palin, coffee-vanilla, laurel,  ash-sandalwood, myrtle-aloe vera, nettle-rosemary, chocolate-jasmine, milk-honey and orange. These natural products, suitable for all skin types, feel beautiful to touch, they are lightly scented and of course, they are environmentally friendly to the greatest degree.

The Sika family's business is just another of the many that have come out as an answer to the crisis. Opening up a new business these days will not make you a rich person. It will not pay off immediately. But if you enjoy what you are doing, and you are devoted to perfecting your craft, it will be appreciated by those who seek your product.

*The German bridge was originally built in 1901, using steel imported from Germany, but it was designed and built by Greeks. It was partly destroyed during the Nazi occupation, and was roughly rebuilt by the Germans. It has been renovated twice since then.

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Cheap 'n' Greek 'n' frugal: Ugly ducklings

The price of crisps may rise soon in the UK, if it doesn't stop raining; the wet weather is affecting the potato harvest. This is devastating news indeed - during the Olympic games, no doubt many packets of crisps will be bought, and if the potato harvest fails, this will result in a shortage of the all-time favorite crispy snack in the long-term.

The potato harvest in Greece this year is anything but a failure. Beautiful potatoes are making their way to the fruit and vege stands everywhere in my town. I am still surviving on a gift from my uncles: they gave me a large bag full of medium-sized potatoes, good for chipping, and a crate full of baby potatoes, which they used to feed their animals with, but now keep aside for me, because they know I have more patience when it comes to peeling them. These dirty little babes are some of the ugliest edible vegetables you may have seen in your life, and they really are a pain to prepare for eating. Few people realise that by removing so much dirt from their diet, they are prone to more allergies, exacerbates by the over-use of hand sanitisers, wet wipes and Caesarean births:

"Nature’s dirt floor has been replaced by tile; our once soiled and sooted bodies and clothes are cleaned almost daily; our muddy water is filtered and treated; our rotting and fermenting food has been chilled; and the cowshed has been neatly tucked out of sight. While these improvements in hygiene and sanitation deserve applause, they have inadvertently given rise to a set of truly human-made diseases."

This kind of food is not available for sale in places where hygiene plays an important role. Dirt clinging to one's food is regarded as below certain standards, hazardous to touch, full of bacteria. But potatoes need to be dug out of the earth, so somebody must have touched that food to get it to a place where it would be washed and sanitised, then prepared in all sorts of non-toxic (as the wording will probably state on the packet) chemical mixtures, before it was processed into something that is edible and extremely clean.  

My dirty little spuds are excellent for roasting (peeled) or boiling (unpeeled) whole, without cutting them. Because they were covered in a lot of dirt when they were given to me, I can't roast them whole unpeeled. But if you scrub their exterior with a soft sponge...

... place them in a pot of water, ...

... and boil them till tender in the middle, ...

 ... you will be able to peel them effortlessly, and will end up with a beautiful soft clean potato, perfect for your summer (or monsoon, depending on your whereabouts) salads.


This heavenly salad contains a simple mix of boiled baby potatoes, a sliced onion, some banana peppers and a bed of purslane, dressed in olive oil and salt.. Everything has come from a private garden - the amount of money that I would have needed to buy these ingredients from a store has been spent instead in the time that I needed to process the ingredients.

*** *** ***

Speaking of crisps, Greek preferences mainly tend towards the plain salted variety, or flavoured with oregano. Salt and vinegar is sold in multi-national supermarket chains, but it's not really a Greek preference. A flavour which is very slowly catching on is cheese and onion (my personal favorite, marketed by Crunchips), while barbecue flavour (whatever that means) is usually the third option available at the supermarket. Then there are also the quirky flavours like feta cheese, tomato, tzatziki and Mediterranean herbs (etc), but they never really last long on the shelves, often replaced other quirky new flavours, as in the international market - who would really want to eat fish and chips, chili chocolate or squirrel-flavoured crisps?! Apart from Greek brands, you can also get Lays, which are often on sale, but I find that they are too flaky and don't crush too easily; while Ruffles (also a Lays product) are thicker and chunkier, they don't have the right combination of taste and salt that I want in a potato crisp, like Kettles and Boxer crisps, which aren't sold in Greece (my personal favorites).

But crisps are also easy to make at home, and when the potatoes are as good (albeit dirty) as the ones I have access to, they are a good cheap alternative to store-bought crisps.With just four not-so-medium potatoes and a mandolin slicer, I made enough crisps for the whole family.

 

You generally need one potato per person, thinly sliced. Pat each slice dry (to make crispier crisps), place in batches in very very hot oil, one by one, and watch the crisps form. Drain in a colander with large holes (don't place them on absorbent paper - they will simply soak up more oil and lose their crispness), then flavour as you want - I did the Greek classic salt and oregano, and served them with tzatziki. Now there's no need to worry about a shortage of crisps. And how much does one potato and some olive oil cost you? Much much less than a bag of store-bought crisps (which are slightly more expensive in Greece than they are in Northern Europe).

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The way we are: Cretan olive oil (Κρητικό ελαιόλαδο)

I have always wondered whether it is truly possible to buy olive oil at the supermarket and get high quality stuff. Naturally, as producers and connoisseurs, we don't buy our olive oil from there. It is always bought in bulk, just when it is freshly pressed (whether it's from our own supplies or someone else's). But when I visited friends and relatives in Northern Europe, I decided that it was best to buy pre-packaged olive oil for safety reasons, rather than trying to package the stuff myself (imagine the contents seeping out into your suitcase).

I chose a 2L bottles on the second shelf, as well as the 1L rectagular can on the same shelf: two different varieties (the former is considered 'generic' while the other is 'boutique'). 

Most Cretan supermarkets stock only Cretan olive oil 90% of the time; not only that, but Cretan olive oil is 90% of the time extra-virgin; what's more, it is most likely that the olive oil being sold there will come from the same region, making Cretan olive oil a highly localised product. But how to choose from the varieites on the shelves? I made a choice based on what I considered a high-quality conveniently-packed olive oil. I used my judgment in what I would consider a good olive oil, keeping in mind what other friends from overseas have told us about the kind that they buy when they holiday in Crete, or when they look for Cretan olive oil at their non-Greek supermarkets and olive oil suppliers. In making my choice, I also took into consideration the fact that the same containers were being exported in the same form, so that my friends and family could search for the same product in their own country if they wanted to. We carried 7 kilos of olive oil in our suitcases in cans and bottles, at a cost of approximately €4-4.50 a litre. More expensive varieties were also available on the shelves.

I liked the convenient packaging of OMADIKO - squared, no wobbly bits, with a non-drip spout.

Yesterday, one of my friends finally started using her supplies of the olive oil that I bought for her, after exhausting her supplies of olive oil that she already had in her home. Here's what she wrote:

"I just opened the first bottle of Cretan olive oil and it is really sooooooo good and so so so different from what we buy here!!!! I am afraid to waste it! Rather drink it nip by nip! It is indeed like fluid gold!"

Well, I'm not surprised. It confirms what happened in our own home just after Christmas, when I played a little trick on my family: I bought some olive oil from the supermarket and poured it into our home containers (the ones we use for dressing salads, feta cheese, bread slices, etc) after purposely allowing the supply in the λαδικό to run out.

This act was done under secrecy; if the test were not conducted 'blind', I'm sure the outcome would have been quite different and more judgmental...

No cries of 'What's this?!' or 'The λάδι tastes different'. In terms of colour, texture and taste, there seemed to be no difference. So my trick didn't end up being a trick. In the land of true extra virgin olive oil, there ar no tricks.

 

Dakos dregs don't get thrown away in our house - they are put in the fridge and eaten with bread during a peckish moment. 

Cretan olive oil is among the best EVOOs in the world market.

Little update: the cheapest pre-packaged locally produced EVOO in Hania can be bought from ABEA at 116 Skalidi St, which sells a range of olive oil products (including body soap and detergent). 

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