Turkish Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Limited bottles every harvest! We are launching an EVOO Openhouse this June/July 2025, you can come down to try and purchase. Please follow @vizu.co instagram for updates.

Cultivation: Organic farming, with natural goat poop as fertilisers

Extraction method: Traditional cold-pressed

Harvest date: November 2024, early-mid harvest olives.

Best before: November 2026, but best to consume within 1 year from opening, for optimal health benefits.

Origin: Ayvalik, Aegean coast of Turkiye

Direction of use: Dips, dressings, in salads, drizzle over mezzes/tapas and dishes. Take a spoonful neat before meals for constipation issues. Suitable for very low heat cooking only.

It is not easy to find honest people in big businesses, especially when it comes to commodities such as olive oil - the kitchen staple of the world currently.

Olive, an indigenous fruit to the Mediterranean and Levent region, whose oil is now being produced heavily for the world's demands. Spain, Italy and Turkiye are the top 3 olive oil producers of the world. And in order to have more yield and also acquiring a certain distinct taste in the oil, undesirable steps are introduced in commercial production.

We are very blessed to be able to work with an artisan olive oil producer, Murat, who is a old friend of my husband. He owns an olive farm in my husband’s hometown, Ayvalik. Ayvalik is a quaint coastal town by the Aegean sea and it used to be part of Greece just 150 years ago or so. Ayvalik has the perfect climate for growing olives, hence its olive oil and soaps are well known all over Turkiye because of its exquisite quality and taste. The olives in this EVOO are hand-harvested, sorted, washed, pressed/extracted and bottled within the same day, so as to prevent oxidation and also keeping the FFA % low - which is very crucial for high quality EVOO.

It is no surprise that the original landscape, together with the mixed descendants of Greek – Turkish people, have known the secrets of caring, cultivating, and producing olive oil, passing down from generations since antiquity. Olive harvesting season is like an annual family bonding affair for the people. People come together to pick olives for their families, and they often pick together with their community, strengthening bonds and kinship within the olive groves. Not only do olives sustain the villagers as a vital food source and kitchen staple, but they also provide employment, serving as a key trade commodity that supports their family, village and local economy.

So now you know that every time you purchase a bottle of village produced olive oil - there are so many hands, stories and community efforts involved in the production of this sacred oil from Ayvalik's ancient Greek olive grove.