Harvest and preparation

The olives are hand-picked by 20 female workers and are collected in baskets. They are then washed, hand-sorted and ground in an old granite stone mill. The resulting paste is filled into thick coconut-fibre sacks. The oil slowly trickles out of the sacks, which are stacked and which are only gently pressed at the end. Water and fruit pulp separate out in stainless- steel tanks within 5 days. The oil ,which floats on top, is skimmed off and filtered through muslin, prior to being bottled.

It’s up to Mother nature

No centrifuge, no warm washing, only gentle pressing of the olives and, it goes without saying, a completely organic cultivation. The soil on which the olive groves in Ephesus grow, has never come into contact with chemicals. The rest is done by hand. And the result of this gentle method of olive growing can be found in the bottles of oil. The family Ileri’s olive oil is of the highest quality. It possesses a flowery bouquet with olive and earthy notes, and has a mild , fruity flavour with no hint of bitterness.

The olive mill

The olive trees at Abu-u Hayat