ONE OF THE WORLD’S TOP 20 OLIVE OIL BRANDS IS PRODUCED IN AYDIN

With Memecik olives gathered from the 300.000 m2 garden in Aydin, owned by Zetay, an affiliate of Aydiner Group, comprising over 15 thousand olive trees one of world’s top 20 olive brands is produced. This year Zetay was ranked among  20 olive oil brands in the list of “World’s Best 500 Olive oils” where it was listed last year as well and for the company’s award winning olive oil made from Zetay’s own produce, 2015-2016 harvest season has already started.

Zetay Natural Extra-virgin Cold-press Olive Oil had entered rankings in the list of “World’s Best 500 Olive oils” last year and this year the brand managed to enter among top 20 brands in the same list and will receive its award in Rome on 28 November 2015.

This year’s harvest at the olive garden in Kulloğulları Village where the award winning olive oil is produced, started with a festival on Friday, 23 October 2015. A panel titled “How to notice a high quality olive oil and how should it be produced?” and chaired by World renowned Olive oil expert Dr. Gino Celetti who joined the harvest festival was held alongside a tasting event.

Ayhan Sicimoğlu, a well-known olive lover and a vibrant celebrity completed the shootings of his TV Show “Renkler” at Zetay Olive Harvest. Presenting with his unique style, the journey of olive, from olive harvest to olive oil production, Sicimoğlu spiced up the festival.

Preserving the natural flavor

Briefing about the production process, Aydıner Group Vice Chairman of the Board Ömer Aydıner said “Our olive garden was created in a planned manner in the middle of carefully selected olive gardens origins of which date back to centuries old on the skirts of Madran mountains. And our early harvest olives gathered from this garden are pressed right away in modern pressing units at 26-27 °C within a few hours using the cold press technique. Our olive oil, the natural flavor of which is preserved by leaving the oil in special tanks, are poured in dark glass bottles with totally automated systems under hygienic conditions.”

“Olive is actually a fruit”

Aydiner who indicated that their Zetay Natural Extra-virgin Cold-press olive oil is produced from high quality Memecik olive they grow in their own gardens in the region, said “Companies producing olive oil from their own olives are rare in Turkey. For us quality comes first. In order to preserve the nutritious value and health benefits of the olive separated from the tree, the olive must be pressed right away. Because of this we press our olives within at most 2 hours after gathering. In a short time, we’ll have garden to meet all our production capacity.” Aydıner also mentioned that polyphenols in early harvest olives offer unique health benefits and said: “Memecik olive which we use, is resistant to draught. It also has a very high yield and high oil quality. Its oil has dark greenish-yellowish color and has a strong fruit odor. When processed correctly, you can get extremely high quality oil from this olive type.”

Award Winning Olive oil

Zetay, won the gold medal in 2 categories at the “7th National Natural Extra-Virgin Olive oil Quality Contest” held by Zeytin Dostu Society in 2014. And the company again won the gold medal at the “8th National Natural Extra-Virgin Olive oil Quality Contest” organized this year. Also honored with the “Gino Celletti Certificate – Gold Medal” award at Monocultivar Olive oil Expo held in Milano, Zetay also won the Gold Medal at the OliveJapan International Extra-virgin Olive oil Contest in 2014. Zetay, which also became the champion by receiving 9.4 points on a scale of 10 in the Medium class at the Copenhagen International Olive Oil Awards Contest, recently was ranked among top 20 in the Flos Olei 2016 and proved its quality once again.