Meet Tunisia’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil Producers

Johnson City, TN—New York will get a new meaning of what ‘100% Tunisian’ means when it comes to extra virgin olive oil.  With a delicate, fruity and complex flavor profile sought the world over, this extraordinary ‘juice of the olive’ will be featured in Booth #5062 of the Fancy Food Show in New York June 28-30.

   Five growers and producers will offer their best to discriminating palettes interested in discovering all that Tunisia has to offer.

Huilerie Loued

   Since 1928, family LOUED, Mokrine, has practiced the craft of carefully extracting olive oil by traditional methods.  In Tunisia, and more specifically in the Sahel region—whose name is associated for over 2000 years with the olive tree as a symbol of peace and prosperity—they have invested heart and soul, and applied years of expertise in continuing the long family tradition.  Knowledge passed from father-to-son-to-son, they have continued to develop their craft by improving production systems through the use of new technologies and modern equipment, and have strived to elevate quality standards to ensure an unsurpassed product that retains the integrity and authenticity of the product, and pays respect to each individual phase of production.
   The extra virgin olive oil "Rivière d’Or or River of Gold" comes from the sunny oliverais hills and plains that Tunisians have planted for centuries.  Nurtured by experienced, caring hands and carefully picked the months of November and December, at the time or reach their olives optimal degrees of maturity, harvest is manually gathered to get healthy fruits and guarantee the distinct acidic and flavor profile.
   The same day the olives are harvested, they are transported in ventilated crates to "Huilerie Loued" where they will be selected with great care before being defoliated and washed with clean water before being crushed. The oil is then separated from the olive paste by cold pressure in order to preserve its taste and flavour.
While the extraction process is driven by a mechanical system made of stainless steel. The storage of the oil is made in subterranean vats ceramic to ensure its customers extra virgin olive oil high quality with low acidity and a fruity taste.

This is the result of a passionate work done by caring professionals, resulting in extraordinary extra virgin olive oil.

CHO – Mediterranean Delight

   Our company, Mediterranean Delight, Inc, is a proud subsidiary of C.H.O—Societe de conditionnement des huiles d’olive—the biggest Tunisian olive oil producer.

   Our mills started with our grand fathers, collecting olives from their own fields and crashing them with the traditional horse and camel powered crusher. We inherited their love for the olive tree, their respect for olive oil and most of all their knowledge of the when, where and how to collect and crash our olives.

   The family of products, hand packed by our factory included green olive, olive niçoise, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes hearts with olive oil, olive wood grilled artichoke hearts in olive oil, artichoke paste, sun dried tomato paste, Harissa berber, roasted pepper in olive oil, mechouia salad, and our famous Mediterranean tapenade. The whole family of appetizers and antipasti is offered along with the extra light, pure, organic and extra virgin olive oil under the label ‘Terre Delyssa’, so named in gratitude to the queen Elyssa.

    During the last decades our mills witnessed drastic improvements. Our plants became modern facilities with a complete product flow from receiving field-graded olives, handpicked from our own groves or obtained from controlled farmers, to finished packing.
   Our industrial size hasn’t removed us from our artisanal roots. We still hand pack most of our products, control our olives on their trees and make sure they are washed and crushed within 24 hours to insure that there is no oxidation of the olives and that we retain the freshest olive oil with the highest level of polyphenols (the substance promoting anti-oxidants that reduces LDL, which is known as the bad cholesterol).

Torkhani

Information available soon!

MedOliveOil

Information available soon!

Tunisia Olive Oil – Republic of Tunisia

   Olives and olive oil represent Tunisia’s #1 agricultural export, so it’s no surprise that the government is actively engaged in promoting this distinctive agribusiness solution to the world.  Ms. Lémia Thabet of Packtec, with cooperation of the Ministry of Industry, leads this group of growers and producers of extra virgin olive oil.

   For thousands of years, olive oil has been prominent in all the great civilizations that have prospered in Tunisia. The olive tree was cultivated by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, the Romans and the Arabs, in a tradition that has been passed down from father to son ever since.

   Olive cultivation in Tunisia dates back to the 8th century BC, even before the founding of Carthage by the Queen Dido. The Phoenicians were the first to introduce this crop to North Africa.

   In the Carthaginian period olive cultivation started to spread an account of several advantages granted to olive-growers.

   Romans continued the expansion of olive-growing stepped-up irrigation, olive oil extraction technique. Excavations at Sufeitula (present-day Sbeitla) and Thysdrus (El Jem) and Roman mosaics discovered in Sousse attest to the widespread culture of olive-trees throughout Tunisia.

   Today, Tunisia becomes the largest olive oil producer outside the European Union, and comes fourth in the world following Spain, Italy and Greece.

   From ancient times olive oil was used for various purposes: Athletes used it to massage their muscles to make them suppler, women used it to keep their skin looking young, it was thought to be a strengthening tonic which helped prevent baldness, and with addition of wine and spices, it was used for cosmetic.

   The collection of the archeological and ethnographic objects and utensils attest the importance of olive oil in the everyday life and art living of peoples throughout the History of Tunisia.

   Please visit these sites for more information regarding Tunisian Olive Oil:

·         ‘100% Tunisian’ Olive Oil Backgrounder

http://www.hammanmarketing.com/evoo_101.htm

·         Tunisian Olive Oil on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Johnson-City-TN/Tunisian-Olive-Oil/68590872627?ref=ts

   For more information contact Bethany Wilson at Bethany@HammanMarketing.com or call 1 (423) 467-9864.

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  P.O. Box 3852 • Johnson City, TN 37602-3852 •  +1 (423) 467-9864

© 2009 HMA