HYGEIA 756 - Very high polyphenol, very low acidity organic Greek extra virgin olive oil from the October 2024 harvest
Hygeia 756 is a premium Greek extra virgin olive oil from the October 2024 harvest of koroneiki olives from our private estate in Northern Crete. It is available as a special limited edition of only two hundred and forty 250ml bottles.
What makes this oil so special is not only it’s very high polyphenol levels at 756mg/kg at the time of bottling – an indicator of its superb antioxidant health value – but it’s very low acidity of 0.17% - an indicator of quality - whilst being 100% organic.
We achieve this quality by taking meticulous care of our trees throughout the year, harvesting by hand, and pressing the oil immediately under the best conditions. The koroneiki olives are cultivated 100% organically, carefully pruned, and hand-harvesting minimizes damage to the olives and trees. The olives are collected in open crates, allowing fresh air to circulate to minimise anaerobic damage to the olives; the olives are taken immediately for pressing (within 4 hours) to the factory - which is open in October exclusively for organic harvests. Our factory is immaculately clean, has a state-of-the-art Pieralisi olive press, entirely individualised, with no contamination by other harvests. The oil is cold pressed and cold extracted; it is immediately sent for analysis, and bottled with minimal exposure to air: the bottles are filled with inert gas to remove oxygen from the bottle and prevent oxidation.
We try to offer this oil at the best possible price but we realise it is not cheap. There are reasons for this:
- Provenance: we know exactly where our oil comes from and how it is made – because it is ours! We produce it ourselves, on the Filoxenia and Mirabello Estates which we own in Crete; we know exactly what happens to it every step of the way. We do not blend our oil with previous harvests, nor do we ever ‘buy in’ from anyone else.
- Current season early October 2024 harvest – This is important because fresh oil is tastier and healthier than older oil. The composition of polyphenols changes as the oil ages: the content of secoiridoids decreases whilst simple polyphenols increase.
- Health and Quality The oil is very high in polyphenols, but it is also of extremely low acidity (0.17%): this means that the integrity of the fat in the oil has been very well preserved: ie there is minimal breakdown of fat into fatty acids. This preserves the content of the healthy monounsaturated fats and its fat soluble vitamins.
- Timing of analysis: Our laboratory analysis for polyphenols and acidity is done immediately prior to bottling using state of the art Italian produced equipment – so the values for polyphenols and acidity relate exactly to the oil you are receiving in that bottle.
- Production costs are very high: organic farming is much more expensive and time consuming; drought has meant that much more irrigation is required, at high cost; and green olives yield less than half the amount of oil than a later harvest oil made from ripe olives. Therefore our yield is small.
Our organic green koroneiki olive harvest
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Healthy Green organic olives just prior to harvest |
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Green olives in open mesh crates |
En route to the factory |
At the factory, our olives being washed |
Our barrels being filled with our oil produced using state of the art Pieralisi equipment
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Why is early harvest olive oil from Green olives of value?
In traditional Cretan society, it is common knowledge that the olive oil produced from a very early harvest (ie in October) - when the olives are still green and ‘unripe’ – has ‘medicinal’ qualities or ‘pharmako’. It even has its own special name: “Agouro-lado” which literally means “unripe” (agouro) “oil” (lado) or “agour-eleo” -which means “unripe-olives”. Because this precious oil is produced in only very small quantities (green olives produce about half the amount of oil than black fully ripe olives) and is more costly to produce the farmers usually keep it for their own family – not for sale. We produce our own limited quantities of agourolado specifically to bring to our UK customers.
But it’s not just traditional Cretan society that knows about the health properties of this type of oil. The Ancient Greeks produced early harvest olive oil and called it “omphakion.” Hippocrates described 60 different ailments that could be treated with oil specifically from unripe olives.
Modern science has now confirmed what the ancient Greeks knew thousands of years ago: oil from unripe olives is very good for you. And one of the reasons for this is that this type of olive oil – from the right type of olive (different varieties of olive vary in their intrinsic polyphenol content) – is very high in Polyphenols.
What are polyphenols??
There are over 8,000 different types of plant polyphenols. Polyphenols are powerful anti-oxidants – which means they help to mop up harmful ‘free radicals’ which are constantly being generated in our bodies – particularly when the body is under stress. These antioxidant properties of polyphenols have numerous health benefits, which is why eating foods which are high in polyphenols is linked to lower risks of certain chronic inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and diabetes, cancer, cardiac disease and neurodegenerative diseases. A diet rich in polyphenols improves the bowel microbiome and strengthens the immune system for fighting infections.
Examples of the different types of polyphenols found in different foods include: Flavonoids like quercetin and catechins in fruits; capsaicinoids in chili peppers; lignans in vegetables; resveratrol in red wine; ellagic acid in berries – whilst high polyphenolic olive oil has a greater concentration and variety of polyphenols than almost any other food. It has no fewer than 6 different classes of polyphenols: Phenolic alcohols; phenolic acids; secoiridoids (which give the bitter and peppery taste); hydrox-isocromans; lignans; flavonoids. The most abundant polyphenols, and those associated with the greatest bioactive activity are Hydroxytyrosol, Tyrosol and Oleuropin.
European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) authorised the following claim to be used on the packaging of qualifying olive oils: “olive oil polyphenols contribute to the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress”. This claim is valid for those olive oils containing at least 250mg/Kg of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives (tyrosol and oleuropin). Our level of 756mg/Kg is a measure of the total hydroxytyrosol level – three times the level of standard ‘high polyphenol’ olive oils.
How much high polyphenol olive oil should you consume?
Studies have shown that people who have polyphenol rich diets – consuming more than 650mg per day – have lower death risks than those who get less than 500mg/day. Obviously not all of this should come from olive oil! It’s important to get a balanced diet. Ideally – when it comes to bioactive components in foods – it is best to obtain the various components from as wide a range of different fresh and unprocessed foods as possible. The daily recommended intake is 10-20ml (a tablespoon) per day. We enjoy Hygeia 756 each morning with some sourdough bread.
Olive oil is also the healthy choice for dietary fat intake: avoid saturated and trans-fats and instead use a good quality olive oil wherever possible: in all your cooking; on your salads and drizzled raw over food.
What to Expect: High polyphenol olive oil made from Green olives has a special appearance and taste
Appearance: Olive oil made from green olives has a higher chlorophyll content than oil made from riper olives; thus it often has a bright green golden appearance. Later harvest olive oils are paler and more golden.
Aroma: early harvest oils tend to be more astringent, with less fruity aroma than riper olive oils
Taste: Early harvest oils have a rich full taste with a strong bitter after taste and pepperiness. The taste may make you cough! But note - not all people can taste bitter! Depending on the cultivar and the geographical region and microclimate, the taste may include herby, grassy or fruity elements. Riper olive oils tend to have much less bitterness and pepperiness and more of the mature fruit and vegetable overtones. As a general rule: BITTER IS BETTER!
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