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.

This month, we are launching a  wonderful, unusual speciality oil. Oliveology 21°C is made with semi ripe Koroneiki olives, hand picked and pressed within hours. These olives are pressed with walnuts, purslane, fennel seeds, bay leaves, oregano and rosemary exclusively grown on our organic farm in Sparta.

Walnuts and purslane are an exceptional source of Omega-3 fatty acids. In the case of walnuts this is common knowledge, but what about purslane? Purslane is a leafy vegetable plant that most people consider a weed. In Greece it grows wild in abundance and is widely used in salads or cooked as a vegetable. It is extraordinary that purslane contains more Omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy vegetable plant.

The power of walnuts and purslane is what makes Oliveology 21°C an exceptionally good source of Omega-3 (with an excellent Omega-6 to Omega 3 ratio at 5.9!).  It has a fresh taste that is full of flavour, which makes it really appealing to all ages. (much tastier than yucky fish oil capsules!) This is a limited edition oil and is only available in 350 ml.

Excellent on salads or on roasted, grilled or steamed vegetables!

Visit our Glossary page to find out more about purslane and fatty acids.

How much do we know really about the food we buy at local supermarkets and feed to our families?

Food Inc. an apocalyptic new food documentary, reveals surprising and shocking truths about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become and where we are going from here…

You can change the world three times a day.
You can change the world with every bite.

Food Inc. is released in February 2010
http://foodincmovie.co.uk/
http://foodincmovie.co.uk/cinemas.php