The Olive Oil of Halkidiki: Home of Greece’s Big Green Olives

Southeast of Greece’s 2nd most populous city, Thessaloniki, known for culture, history, art and scenery, the region of Halkidiki (Chalkidiki) is particularly famous for its large green table olives. For the past decade, those olives have been used to make excellent extra virgin olive oil.

Yanni's Olive Oil photo courtesy of Yanni's Olive Grove

The most widespread olive variety in the area is the “big fat olive of Halkidiki,” a translation of the olive’s Greek name, “Hondroelia Halkidikis” (which is also spelled Hondrolia, Chondrolia, and Chondroelia). The name is appropriate for the fleshiest olive in Greece, which has six times more fleshy fruit than pit, making it an ideal table olive. In addition, 10 years ago Yanni’s Olive Grove began using this variety for tasty, nutritious early harvest extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).

A few other companies followed in Yanni’s footsteps with the goal of putting “our Halkidiki variety olive oil on the global olive oil map,” as Dimitris Garofallos of Marmaro olive oil company reported. According to Garofallos everybody in Halkidiki previously used waste olives that were not very good for olive oil, but now his company and some others use what he considers, “the best olives for olive oil.”

Halkidiki olives photo courtesy of Yanni's Olive Grove

In economic terms, table olives remain more important than olive oil, since 55% of Greece’s table olives originate in Halkidiki, as Olympia Boudioukou of the Chamber of Halkidiki reveals. However, the early harvest extra virgin olive oil called Agoureleo Chalkidikis, which earned Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status in 2013, has made the area’s olive oil better known.

Olive Oil and Tourism

Evi Psounou Prodromou of Yanni’s Olive Grove and Propharco refers to early harvest EVOO and green table olives as “the crown jewels of Halkidiki’s food products.” She suggests that every tourist who enjoys tasting them should also be learning about how they are produced.

Garofallos also considers olive oil important for tourism, so he continues to produce it, even though 10 kg of Halkidiki olives yield only a liter of olive oil, while 3 or 4 kg of other varieties of olives can produce one liter of oil. Halkidiki olive oil is thus more expensive, making it more difficult to sell. So why do producers continue creating it? Garofallos says it’s “because we are romantic and want to create the best for visitors in Halkidiki.”

Halkidiki beaches

Not everyone agrees that olive oil plays a significant role in tourism there. For example, Dimitrios Psathas at the Krinos Olive Center of Perrotis College, American Farm School, believes that “olive oil is not important for tourism yet, because the region is famous for the table olives, and no coordinated effort to promote extra virgin olive oil has been made” so far.

Nevertheless, Irini Kokolaki of Elia Quality Group thinks olive oil tourism may be developing in Halkidiki. Boudioukou adds that the region is “starting to open mills and farms to tourists, for olive picking” and other agrotourism ventures. Since 2020, when the Taste Halkidiki program began to promote the local gastronomy, producers of olive oil, olives, cheese, honey, wine, beer, and herbs have been welcoming tourists.

The Cuisine of Halkidiki

Greek food photo by Loes Klinker

In Haldiki tourists can savor a variety of foods that arise from a “rich gastronomic tradition which is a mixture of nations and cultures” imported by many refugees from Asia Minor (now part of Turkey) after the 1922 Greco-Turkish war, according to the Taste Halkidiki website.

As that site (which includes recipes) indicates, “the traditional cuisine of Halkidiki has many characteristics coming from Greeks of Constantinople,” such as the use of fresh ingredients, balanced spices, and simple cooking. Halkidiki gastronomy has also been influenced by the Orthodox Christian monastic tradition of Greece’s Holy Mountain, Mount Athos, which borders the area.

Noteworthy for its varied ingredients, the cuisine of Halkidiki is also very rich in olive oil, like Greek food in general. “I don’t think there’s one food without olive oil in the Greek kitchen; you just start with olive oil if you’re cooking,” Boudioukou points out. “We use it like water,” adds Garofallos.

Olive Oil Flavors and Aromas

Halkidiki olives photo courtesy of Yanni's Olive Grove

Halkidiki’s extra virgin olive oil is, however, much tastier than water. Kokolaki associates a typical Hondroelia Halkidikis EVOO with “an intense organoleptic profile with tomato aromas and the taste of intense bitterness and pungency.” In the area’s early harvest oils, Psathas notices “black pepper and herbs” in the mouthfeel.

Another type of olive in Halkidiki, Galani, can be used to make “a unique early harvest extra virgin olive oil” with a “smooth taste, low acidity, and the fruity aromas of freshly cut grass,” according to Prodromou.

The Health Benefits of Halkidiki’s Olive Oil

MICOIL photo courtesy of Yanni's Olive Grove

Halkidiki’s extra virgin olive oil offers more than flavor: it also has significant health benefits. Prodromou shares that multiple clinical and laboratory studies in major international medical journals have shown that Halkidiki’s early harvest high phenolic EVOO can help patients fight off mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s.

Prodromou says her Halkidiki-based neutraceutical company Propharco has already created one of the top functional foods based on this high quality olive oil, which is now being recommended by Greek neurologists, psychiatrists, and family doctors. This product, MICOIL, is sold in pharmacies in Greece and will soon be available in the USA.

Halkidiki Olive and Olive Oil Data

Olive tree

Olive trees cover a third of the agricultural land in Halkidiki, according to the Regional Administration of Central Macedonia - Regional Unit of Halkidiki, filling over 360,000,000 square meters with more than 6,000,000 olive trees owned by 62,000 olive farmers. Each year, 80,000-120,000 metric tons of table olives are harvested from trees on 225,000,000 square meters of that land and processed in 110 factories.

In an average year, the other 135,000,000 square meters of land yield 7,000 metric tons of olive oil, which is extracted in over 40 olive oil mills. Early harvest extra virgin olive oil is made from green olives (which have not yet ripened enough to turn black) from mid September to late October. The regular harvest can go on through November and December, although this varies according to the weather and the quantity.

The Regional Administration emphasizes that Halkidiki’s green olives are a national product. 95% of the trees’ production is exported, either as table olives or early harvest olive oil. Kokolaki points out that research about Greek olive oil production cites northern Greece as the only area in the country where olive cultivation is expanding.

Olive Oil through the Generations

Yanni’s Olive Grove in Halkidiki photo courtesy of Yanni's Olive Grove

Beyond food, the role of olive oil has been central to the cultural heritage of many families in Halkidiki. For example, after moving to Halkidiki from a village near Istanbul, Yanni Prodromou’s grandfather (like countless other immigrants) planted olive trees in groves given to him by Mount Athos monasteries. Yanni’s ancestors nurtured these trees during decades of table olive production. Then Evi and Yanni Prodromou decided to learn about olive oil production, turning to experts to find out about best practices and smart farming, and establishing their own bottling facilities near their groves.

Now Yanni’s Olive Grove is an award-winning family business dedicated to producing high quality, healthy products from early harvest Halkidiki olives grown on their 9,500 olive trees by the sea in Nea Potidaia on the Halkidiki peninsula. Utilizing the latest scientific knowledge, they offer both table olives and olive oils with excellent flavor. More recently, the same family’s new Propharco company has also been producing extra healthy, natural plant-based food products based on high phenolic extra virgin olive oil. Enriched with natural extracts, these MICOIL products’ health benefits have been confirmed by scientists in clinical trials.

“Our family’s past and future are bonded with our olive groves,” Evi Prodromou explains. “We are very proud that the fourth generation of our family, our son Nikos, decided to continue this tradition after his graduation from Thessaloniki’s university. Moreover, Nikos started to plant more trees with his father Yanni’s help, because he understands that the university gave him valuable knowledge, but the olive trees are his true power in life.”