Honest Toil Olive Oil 500ml

Honest Toil is a small project run by Tom & Juli, based just south of Kyparissia, on the west coast of the Peloponnese, Greece. With sustainability at the heart of their process they hand-harvest olives from their small grove using traditional, low-intervention methods, which avoid unnecessary strain on the trees or the disruption of wildlife. These olives are then pressed in the family-owned, collectively used village press. Everything is pressed the same day it’s picked and the oil has an acidity of between 0.2-0.3%, which is pretty impressively low. It’s also completely unblended: unlike most “extra virgin olive oil” found on supermarket shelves, it really is small-batch production, and isn’t mixed with inferior oils or oil from previous harvests… consequently it tastes ridiculously good. As it's unfiltered, the oil contains the sediment from olive skins and pips, giving it a great green opaqueness with a thick texture, and the raw, grassy result is pretty much the same thing the ancient Greeks would have consumed!

As people have noticed their oil really is something different, they’ve debated taking a loan to buy more trees, but instead decided to work with the other small farmers in the neighbourhood. This way, they guarantee an income for them and ensure that this high quality oil, produced with complete integrity and traceability is brought straight to customers rather than mixed in with inferior oils by big-scale corporations.

They were certified organic with the Soil Association until February 2023, but after much deliberation decided to let that expire and to put the emphasis on working with their neighbours instead of larger producers who can afford expensive certificates. They have confirmed they don't use any pesticides, fertilisers, sprays or chemicals of any sort on their own trees and explain how olive production in rural Greece is a far cry from the intensive/industrial olive farming of the huge producers in Spain and Italy.