In Ancient Greece, the pomegranate was the traditional representation of fertility. This is because pomegranate had a key role in the Greek myth of Persephone; the myth which explains the origin of the seasons!

According to the myth, beautiful Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the Goddess of Harvest, was kidnapped by Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. Her mother Demeter, heart-broken by the loss of her daughter, started crying and crying and in her grief neglected her role as nourisher of the earth, and life began to wither away.

Zeus, the King of the Gods, could not leave the earth to die and commanded Hades to release Persephone. The rules of the Underworld forbade anybody from consuming any food or drink or they would spend an eternity there. Before Persephone could be released she was tempted by Hades into eating a few pomegranate seeds. This marked the end of her life on earth, as the rules of the Underworld had to be obeyed.

And so it was that Zeus had to make a deal with Hades: Persephone would stay and marry Hades and be the Queen of the Underworld for half of the year only. When Persephone is in the Underworld, Demeter makes winter and the days are dark and cold. When Persephone returns to earth, spring comes and the flowers start to bloom again...

Pomegranates have a shiny firm skin which contains around 600 bright pink seeds. They have an aromatic sweet but sharp juice that gives delight to salads, desserts and savoury dishes. They are in season from December to February.

The pomegranate is rich in antioxidant properties, potassium, fibre, niacin and vitamin C. Hippocrates recommended pomegranate as a laxative.

In Greek mythology, the goddess Athena created the olive tree. She gave it powers to cure illness, heal wounds, and provide nourishment. A tree hardy and resistant to disease itself; many olive trees have lived for as long as three thousand years. Some old traditions say that the olive has the ability to be born again from "its own ashes" or from dead shoots it can produce a new tree. This explains its reputation in Greece being an immortal tree.

Nobody knows how old this olive tree in our farm is...

The epic Greek poet Homer called olive oil "liquid gold". Its mystical glow has illuminated the history of Greece from ancient times.

This year we had the opportunity to taste the first oil of the season. The taste of freshly pressed olive oil is exceptional! It is almost luminous green, and has an amazing grassy flavour. These oils will now sit in special tanks for a few months in order to be slowly filtered through natural sedimentation.