By Lisa Radinovsky from Greek Liquid Gold.
Corfu has a deep-rooted olive oil tradition, but in 2010 its oil had the worst reputation in Greece, and olive oil production was about to stop. Alarmed, Spyros and George Dafnis took action. The brothers inspired a revolution in Corfu’s olive oil sector, bringing it back to life and offering hope to young farmers who would have abandoned their groves.
Near the beginning of the millennium, 60-70% of Corfu’s olive groves were being destroyed by neglect as young people departed for the Greek mainland. Determined to stop the exodus that resulted in desertion of the island’s centenarian olive trees, which they view as natural monuments and a national treasure, the Dafnis brothers established the Olive Fabrica company. They created The Governor, the first olive oil brand completely composed of Corfu’s native Lianolia olive variety. Emphasizing the history of their island, their brand name honors the first governor of independent Greece, the Corfiot Count Ioannis Kapodistrias.
Reclaiming the Olive Groves of Corfu: Tradition, Improved
On an island without a single olive oil brand in 2010, without the machinery required to make high quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), The Governor’s team started with 2000 forsaken, unproductive olive trees. “We didn’t inherit the keys of a huge business,” Dafnis explains. “We started with a small family-run olive mill and set very important goals not only for us, but for the community around us.”
Why were they doing this? “Our mission was not to just present another brand of olive oil, but to create, establish, and share a brand new oleoculture. We wanted everyone, especially locals, to believe there are alternatives that can make 4½ million olive trees productive again. We wanted to show the way for the sustainable growth of the countryside of Corfu,” to enable rural communities to be the productive homes of young Corfiots once again.
High Quality, Healthy Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Innovation
Today, after painstaking work using organic cultivation methods, modern machinery, and the latest production practices, the Dafnis family has 12,000 productive trees that yield some of the world’s healthiest, most flavorful extra virgin olive oil.
In addition, Dafnis reports, “now we collaborate. We created a cluster of 100 local producers trying to improve farming traditions and skills and share knowledge.” These producers bring their olives to The Governor’s mill. Everything branded The Governor is produced at their mill, under ideal, innovative milling conditions.
After years of grueling effort, The Governor’s success has shown that “nothing is impossible,” as Spyros Dafnis insists. This EVOO has won awards for its flavor, quality, and health benefits, earned recognition from scientists who use it for research, and attracted the attention of journalists, tourists, and students.
The Governor’s Support for Research: Science and Health
Repeated tests (and related awards) confirm that The Governor is unusually rich in the natural anti-inflammatory phenolic compound called oleocanthal, which has shown great promise in combatting a number of diseases. Dafnis considers the production of ultra-healthy high phenolic extra virgin olive oil “our greatest mission.”
Back in 2013, The Governor became the first olive oil to display the EU health claim on its bottle’s label. Since then, The Governor has been used in many scientific studies. Dafnis believes it has been donated to more scientific research projects than any other Greek olive oil—11 so far.
Greek and American scientists have studied The Governor to see if it can help fight off Alzheimer’s disease, lung cancer, breast cancer, leukemia, and a less-known but serious disease called neurofibromatosis, type 1. The studies have indicated that this EVOO can offer noteworthy benefits in each case.
Outreach: Education about Olive Oil
To share their hard-earned knowledge with the public, the Dafnis family set up Corfu Olive Tours to welcome both tourists and schoolchildren to the first olive oil tourism (oleotourism) venture on their island. They also established The Olive House, the first and only olive oil bar in Corfu, where customers indulge in a tasty gastronomic experience based on extra virgin olive oil.
The goal of their oleotouristic project goes beyond tourism to “fill the knowledge gap people around the world have around liquid gold,” according to Dafnis. Ηe believes “the best way and place to be educated is at the heart and source of production, directly on the estate and in the mill.” In addition to reaching tourists, he and his team have offered free programs for over 6000 students from Greece and abroad, because “if we want to invest truly in the future of this land, we have to invest in the future of our young community.”
Dedicated to making a complete olive oil experience accessible to everyone, the Corfu Olive Tours team also worked with an expert from the deaf community in Athens to create the world’s first video about olive oil tasting and the olive oil culture in Greek sign language. They plan to invest in a British sign language video this year.
Oleotourism: Olive Oil Tours in Corfu
The basic Corfu Olive Tour starts in a museum that shows how olive oil was produced long ago using stone mills and presses, and continues in the modern mill, where guests learn how healthy high phenolic EVOO is made today. An olive oil tasting seminar then explains how to determine and appreciate an oil’s quality. The longer Corfu Olive Tour adds a drive through the olive grove and a stop at one of The Governor’s two monumental olive trees.
In October, once the harvest has begun, some tourists choose to live like Greeks and become olive oil producers for a day. They harvest olives in the grove, transport the olives to the mill, and watch as modern machinery extracts fresh olive oil they can both taste in the mill and take home in a bottle.
At The Olive House in the center of Corfu’s historic old town, visitors can enjoy an olive oil tasting experience or select from an a la carte degustation menu featuring sweet and savory options for “a symphony of flavors” appropriate on this island of music and olive groves.
*Originally published on Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (greekliquidgold.com). See that site for recipes with olive oil, photos from Greece, agrotourism and food tourism suggestions, and olive oil news and information.
