ILIDA
Ilida S.A. is a family company that has been processing olives for
many years. Their modern factory in Western Greece has all the latest machinery.
They cure and preserve olives in the traditional way, under strict hygienic
supervision, to ensure the highest quality of the products. Out of their extensive
range of products, we have selected seven, for their quality, taste and popularity,
as well as two varieties of olive paste.
Greek Olive
The olive tree and the collection of olives for food go back to prehistoric Greece.
The history of the eating olive is the same to that of the olive
oil. Archaeological evidence indicate cultivation of the olive tree in Minoan
Crete as far back as 3500 BC.
Greece offers the ideal conditions for the olive tree to thrive,
and the love of the people, deeply rooted in tradition, does the rest.
The majority of the olives are grown for the production of olive
oil. Nonetheless, there is a range of “table olives” in Greece prepared in
a large number of ways. The variety is so great that there are specialist
shops that sale only olives.
Not only there are local recipes all over Greece for preparing olives,
but also, well-kept family secrets passing from mother to daughter are common.
By and large there are two types of olives: Green and black! However
the variety of the fruit and the way of preparation and preservation provides
the uniqueness of taste for each of them.
The best known varieties of Greek olives are: KALAMATA black olives, Amphissa
big black, Nafplion small green cracked olives, AGRINION large Green, Volos
throumbes, Mount Pelion blonde pitted, Thassos, Chalkidiki, Megaron and more.
They are Green and black, pitted or with their stone, preserved in brine,
vinegar or olive oil, with or without herbs, spicy or mild. The list is endless.
The Great nutritional value of Greek olives has long been established.
Olives are tasty, pure, natural and essential for a healthy balanced
diet. They are low in calories (less than 10 per olive), high in vitamin A,
B1, B2 and C, and rich in iron and calcium, all essential elements for a healthy
and normal body. Further more, aminoacids present in olives speed-up the metabolism
of the body thus helping burn unwanted fat. The presence in olives of mono-unsaturated
fatty acids, help in the prevention of heart disease by both lowering the
level of LDL cholesterol, and by maintaining the level of HDL cholesterol,
that helps prevent arteriosclerosis.
