Psarakis Harvest
Welcome
we Providing You With the Very Best
Psarakis’ Harvest is a family business which operates in the field of cultivation and production of olive oil from olive trees grown in the area of Faistos in Messara, Matala, Heraklion, Crete. Our olive groves are among the oldest ones in Greece as there are archaeological findings which evidence the cultivation of olive trees in this particular area which date as far back as the early Minoan Era almost 5000 years ago. We use traditional, tested methods for cultivation and harvesting, which respect the fruit as well as the environment.We personally oversee all the stages of production in order to control the origin of each amount of olive oil we produce (traceability).
We have a passion for perfection and we guarantee that every drop of the olive oil we produce maintains its high nutritional value and has steadily the best possible taste every year. The olives are picked with care, only when fully mature, and the oil is extracted on the same day by the Cold Extraction Method.
Subsequently it is stored under ideal, strictly controlled conditions.
This is the reason why we can guarantee that Psarakis’ Harvest olive has a stable quality, a particularly delicate taste, and it preserves nutritional values at the highest possible levels, so that it has excellent qualitative features.
Psaraki’s Harvest
The olive becomes olive oil… The process from “Psarakis Harvest”
In order to present the production process of an extra virgin olive oil of high nutritional value, we think it is appropriate to explain its difference from a “common” extra virgin olive oil. Through living alongside the olive trees and connecting to the olive oil and, of course, nature, a deeply rooted relationship is created; a relationship that is taught to be kept from father to son, and to the next generation, based on respect to the olive tree. This means that we daily try to understand the needs of this sacred tree that for years tenderly offers its fruit, its juice and even its wood to many generations. It deserves, at least, an analogous respect and behavior.
The olive tree informs us of its need to allow it to keep as much fruit as the nature defines, by not pressuring it, in order to achieve larger production- that is easily achieved due to the climate of the island. We simply act protectively towards it, making it possible for the olive tree to offer us the best quality of its fruit. Accordingly, a very different extra virgin olive oil is produced, enhanced with high content of Polyphenol and Oleocanthal, ingredients that are proven to positively affect the human cardiovascular system. In such ways continues this sacred tree to protect us, through the harshness and difficulties of daily life. Through, just, our participation to the production process of such a valuable product, before any professional gain, we feel blessed to work beside it.
By understanding the value of the extra virgin olive oil, we begin the process of collecting the fruit of the olive tree- the olive. We use, contemporary methods, in order to avoid hurting the fruit, which protect it from the phenomena of oxidation and hydrolysis. It is transferred in special plastic crates to the oil mill, in order for the elision of the olive to start immediately and the production of the olive oil to continue. The elision, usually, lasts 6 to 10 hours. During the production process- that includes the washing, the milling, the and the elision- we are always present aiming to control and check every parameter (no use of water, cold elision) for the best result. Afterwards, follows the transportation of the olive oil to our facilities and it is stored in special airtight and antioxidant tanks, so its natural cleansing begins, which is completed two months later.
Finally, the stage of standardization is completed.
