Greek Olives: A Guide to 5 Table Olives

Photo Getty Images

With so many delicious varieties to choose between, from juicy and meaty to buttery and briney, there's an olive for every occasion and every palette.

Here's our pick of some of the best Greek olives for eating or cooking. How many have you tried?

1. Kalamata

Image: arsheffield/flickr

A popular choice, regal and distinctive deep purple and shiny skinned kalamata olives have a rich and fruity flavour, leaving fans in little doubt why they're crowned the queen of olives.

2. Conservoila Olives

Including Amfissa, Volos, Amphissa, Agrinio, Stylida and Atalanti.

Source: Sagliklimiyim.com

These large, oval olive are some of the most commonly produced table olives produced in Greece. While they start off a rich dark green when unripe they finally turn dark, bluish-black when mature.

3. Amfissa

These characteristic round, mellow olives hail from central Greece where they are harvested by hand when very ripe. They have a meaty and mildly sweet soft flesh.

Source: DeLallo

4. Tsakistes

This distinctive wrinkled olive is native to Greece and commonly grown in the Attica region. The word “tsakistes” actually means, “cracked,” in reference ot their skin.

Source: Greek Boston

5. Halkidiki

The famous pale green oval Halkidiki olive is grown and harvested exclusively in northern Greece on the Halkidiki Peninsula. Their plumpness and meaty bite with a fruity, briny, buttery and pleasantly sour flavor make them a great table olive.

Source: Olivellas SA

Want to brush up on your olive geography?

Try this Greek Olive Map we came across by UrbanGrains. Click on the map to enlarge.

By FDL