a gourmet’s guide to the sustainable hotspot
"Now hit the tree with force," says the gardener, trying to suppress his laughter at the sight of me swinging a garden rake at a Koroneiki olive tree. With the sound of raindrops, a dozen grape-sized fruits land on a green mesh cloth on the floor to catch them. They are then transferred to a truck and finally to a factory where the oil is extracted.
It's harvest season in Messenia, the lush mountainous region of the Peloponnese famous for its olives - and there couldn't be a better setting to go picking them. We are on the Navarino Dunes ...