Our Regeneratively Grown EVOO Combines Tradition With Sustainability

Whether you’re an aspiring home cook or a full-fledged culinary expert, there’s one essential ingredient that counters and pantries across the globe have in common: olive oil, aka liquid gold.

Our Regeneratively Grown Organic Olive Oil starts like all other olive oils do: with olives, those tiny yet mighty stone fruits that are often mistaken for vegetables. What sets our oil apart is the vibrant, peppery zing derived from the Koroneiki olive variety, the enduring practices behind the cultivation of these flavorful olives, and the lengths our Owned Brand team went to to source it the right way.

According to Coldiretti, a European farming organization, olive oil is an often mislabelled food product, especially in Europe. While a bottle might tout the “extra virgin” certification, the reality is that it could be diluted with sunflower, canola, or other seed or nut oils. And for a kitchen staple that’s used as often as olive oil, we knew ours had to be the real deal. 

On a mission to find the purest oil possible, we traveled to groves situated in the Laconia region of Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula, where farmers have passed down their prized possessions—centuries-old olive trees—from one descendant to the next.

Regenerative Ruled From the Start

The Greek farmers who tend to the groves that bring us our Regeneratively Grown EVOO do things differently than conventional olive growers. They don’t use herbicides, pesticides, or chemical fertilizers. They don’t till any parts of the land to avoid accelerating erosion and water runoff. And they periodically sow various legumes among the olive trees to promote biodiversity. 

After visiting the gravelly hillside where the olive trees are located, we caught up with Daniela Jensen, our sourcing partner who connects us with the farmers and the groves. “Traditional farming has persisted unchanged here, while agricultural chemicals have dominated and transformed olive cultivation in other regions,” she explains.

The farmers’ divergence from the norm has made an impact. A five-year study conducted by the European Union as part of the oLIVE-CLIMA program concluded that regenerative practices lead to a 27% increase in organic microorganisms that help enrich soil and a 37.5% boost in olive leaf nutrients. 

The study also found that rather than releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, regenerative methods actually help trap carbon in the soil. The Rodale Institute suggests that these eco-friendly techniques have the potential to sequester more than 100% of current annual CO2 emissions while also making crops more resilient to climate change.

This is especially significant because, as Jensen explains, “olive farms throughout Europe experienced a significant decline in yields in 2023 due to cold spells, severe droughts, and excessive heat. Unfortunately, this is not a temporary spike, but a concerning trend.” If the trend continues, olive oil prices will skyrocket to keep up with global demand. 

Tree to Table Deliciousness

There’s a delicate balance when it comes to making the perfect olive oil—it’s equal parts science and age-old customs that lend to its exceptional, drizzle-it-on-everything flavor. Jensen explains that while many conventional growers are forced to focus on quantity over quality, they often reserve parts of their harvest to make olive oil in the traditional way for their family and friends. 

In our case, the olives that make up our oil are hand-picked at optimum ripeness, cold-pressed as soon as possible (within 12 hours) at temperatures below 82° F, then stored in stainless steel settling tanks right before being bottled. To preserve the taste and purity of the oil, it goes directly from the tank to a stainless steel canister that limits exposure to outside influences, namely heat and light.

While these time-honored processes require thoughtful skill and craft, the juice is worth the squeeze. Each time you dunk a piece of crusty bread, dress a homemade salad, or sauté some crisp greens, you can be sure that not only will this olive oil taste the way it’s supposed to, but you’re also supporting a passion that spans generations and embraces the benefits of regenerative, sustainable farming.