Which type of olive tastes best?
It’s hard to choose which olive variety is the best. Olives offer a wide range of flavour notes, and each variety has its own unique character, origin and history. Zelected Foods offers a wide selection and many different types of olives from small local producers in the Mediterranean region. Which olive variety is best depends on what you’ll be using your olives for and which flavour you like best. So taste your way to your own favourite among the best olives.
Olives
Zelected Foods specialises in olives and offers a wide range of exciting olives.
Here you may find varieties you won’t always find in shops.
Olives packed with flavour
Olives are a Mediterranean delicacy, and the flavour can vary a lot—from mild black olives to slightly bitter green ones. Olives are great as snacks, essential on a tapas board, and an exciting ingredient in countless dishes. People have eaten olives for thousands of years. Back in antiquity, olives were a symbol of peace, fertility and wisdom. You may know the image of the white dove with an olive branch in its beak. Olive cultivation is therefore an age-old tradition, and harvesting has always required precision and care. Even today, in many places the olive harvest is still done by hand to avoid damaging the delicate fruit.
Olives can be harvested while they’re still green and haven’t yet developed as much oil, or once they’ve ripened and turned dark in colour. The riper an olive is, the more oil-rich it is and the softer its flavour. Green olives are actually unripe fruit, and in return they’re firmer than the softer black ones. Freshly harvested olives are very bitter. To soften and balance the bitterness and make them edible, they need to be fermented and brined, or marinated in olive oil and spices. Each region has its traditional preparation methods, used for generations.
A wonderful selection of delicious, flavourful olives
Zelected Foods offers a wide range of exciting olive varieties, with or without pits, and stuffed. Olives with pits are great as an aperitif and snack, and perfect for a tapas board or cheese board. Olives with pits are firmer and crunchier than pitted varieties.
Pitted olives are often easier and quicker to use in cooking, for example in pasta dishes, on pizza or in salads. Olives can also be stuffed with tasty fillings and enjoyed as small delicacies. Try our classic olive varieties stuffed with garlic, almond or pepper, and other olive specialities such as:
Snack olives with lemon oil and Snack olives with red pepper. These are olives without brine, ready straight from the bag or as a topping on a bowl of salad.
Grilled Green Olives, pitted. Grilled olives look great in salads, are delicious with tapas, or as a snack with drinks.
Semi-dried Black Olives. Semi-dried olives are ripe black olives with a salty, intense, aromatic olive flavour. Delicious and decorative in salads, with tapas, or as a snack with drinks.
Here you’ll find the best table olives
At Zelected Foods, we think life is too short for boring olives. We believe there are far too many dull, forgettable olives out there. It’s simply hard to find proper quality olives on the shelves. That’s why we’ve travelled around the Mediterranean countries and tasted loads of different kinds of olives. We then carefully selected and put together a range of olives, so you can taste the best table olives, grown and harvested in the very best olive groves in the Mediterranean region.
Greece, Italy and Spain in particular are known for their great table olives. A wide range of local olive varieties is grown, but there’s a big difference in where the olive trees grow and how the small fruits are processed. We’ve selected the most exciting ones for our range and can offer a broad spectrum of flavour notes. We’d love to inspire you to taste some of the many exciting types of olives out there.
Here are some of the best table olives the countries around the Mediterranean have to offer.
Greek olive varieties
Chalkidiki olives are grown in northern Greece and are a green, incredibly tasty table olive. Chalkidiki is naturally fermented and has a unique flavour. Chalkidiki olives have a little extra bite compared to other types, which is a sign of quality. Chalkidiki olives are perfect for meze, the Greek version of tapas.
Kalamata olives are the best-known Greek olive variety. They’re named after the city of Kalamata, located in southern Greece on the Mediterranean. Kalamata olives are characterised by their purple colour and a very full-bodied, intense olive flavour. They’re great as a snack on a tapas board and in salads, and they’re also suitable for baking.
Kalamata Blonde olives are a variation of the classic Kalamata olives. Kalamata Blonde olives are harvested while still green and not fully ripe, giving them a fresher, milder flavour than regular Kalamata olives.
Italian olive varieties
Bella Di Cerignola comes from the province of Apulia, which forms the south-eastern heel of boot-shaped Italy. Bella di Cerignola olives are very large olives with more flesh than ordinary olives. They’re a beautiful olive to serve on the table as a snack or antipasti. The mild, slightly sweet flavour is a perfect match for cheese and cured meats, and they’re delicious in a salad.
Leccino olives are small, crisp and delicate olives from the sunny hills of Tuscany. They have a gentle, lightly piquant flavour, and with the pit they’re perfect as antipasti, for a tapas snack or in salads—ideally with cheese.
Spanish olive varieties and olive mixes
Arbequina olives are grown in the province of Salamanca in northern Spain. Arbequina is a small green olive with a lightly bitter yet sweet, fruity flavour—with notes of green almonds.
Cuquillo olives are medium-sized, black-purple olives grown by the Segura mountain range near Murcia. Cuquillo olives have an exceptionally delicate and intensely piquant flavour—really well suited for salads, with cheese and for tapas.
Gordal olives are large, delicious, hand-harvested olives from the Seville region. Gordal is one of the world’s best-known olive varieties because it’s large and exceptionally fleshy. It has a fantastic olive flavour with a hint of anchovy. Delicious and decorative in salads, with tapas, or as a snack with drinks.
Hojiblanca olives come from Andalusia, mainly around Córdoba. Hojiblanca means “white leaves”, and from a distance the olive trees actually resemble silver poplars. Hojiblanca olives both taste and smell of freshly cut grass, green apples and aromatic herbs.
Manzanilla olives come from Andalusia in Spain. They’re believed to be one of the oldest known varieties of olive trees and are known for their delicate flavour. Green Manzanilla olives are small and crisp, with a mild, delicate taste, a slight bitterness and notes of citrus.
Gazpacha Olive Mix is a traditional olive mix from the Seville region, made with hand-harvested Manzanilla olives, pepper, carrot and pearl onions. A wonderfully tasty mix on its own or with bread and most Mediterranean food.
Olive Cocktail Mix and Appetizer Olive Mix are classic olive mixes from Andalusia, made with two types of Spanish olives (Manzanilla olives and Hojiblanca olives), cornichons and pearl onions. Great for tapas, with cheese, or as a fresh snack on a charcuterie board.
