Newly Arrived Olive Oil from Western Greece

Captain Vassilis Constantakopoulos was born in 1935 in the small village Diavolitsi in Messenia in the southwest of Greece—due north of the town of Kalamata, and due east of the island of Sicily that I wrote about last week. As a young man, he was forced to flee the village for Athens during the Greek Civil War in the late 1940s. From the port of Piraeus in Athens, he went out to sea for the first time at the age of 13. Constantakopoulos quickly fell in love with the ocean. He went on to become a leading Greek businessman, most of his work centering around shipping, sailing, and the seacoast. Navarino was one of the capstones of his long and creative career. It’s the leading sustainable resort on the Mediterranean. That commitment to the environment is at the center of their work. They reduced carbon emissions by 80% between 2019 and 2022 and they devote almost 10% of their annual spending to making ecological improvements in all facets of the work.

The Navarino Icons segment of their work is very aligned with our longtime focus here at Zingerman’s on full-flavored and traditional foods. Offering, as they say, “Authentic food products inspired by the culinary history of the Peloponnese region” they are true to Captain Constantakopoulos’ hope to honor the kind of simple and delicious country dishes he grew up on. All are made using regional recipes and local ingredients. We’ve carried many of their products over the years, and each has been excellent.

Last month, we scored some of their limited-edition, single-estate extra virgin olive oil. It’s made from the beloved, native-to-Greece, Koroneiki olives. The trees are farmed organically, without any chemicals. All the olives are hand-picked, which is super labor-intensive and very costly but makes for exceptional oil. They are then pressed within two hours at a local mill—the impressively short time between the tree and pressing is a significant contributor to keeping the oil’s quality so high. The flavor is fantastic. Big, bold, and peppery, but not overpowering. I’m impressed anew each time I eat it.

Our wonderful longtime importer, Vivianna Karamanis of Hellenic Imports, is the one who makes it possible for us to get this special oil. She shared that “the project has hired the local community and the local, family producers, giving them work and building a community and almost like a security for them by packaging and selling these great traditional foods.”

The oil is terrific on toast, and great on the many autumn salad greens at the market right now. I used it the other evening to finish a dish of Mancini spaghetti, sautéed radish greens, and Fishwife anchovies. I added a bit of the IASA pepperoncino as well! Great on sautéed fresh fish—swordfish is still in season, and would be fantastic. It would be great, as well, in my friend Aglaia Kremezi’s classic Potato and Olive stew.

Nab your Navarino