Olive Oil from the Soufli Hills

This is the oil in the kitchen, in the taramosalata, over the horta and in the lakerda jars. It is not a separate, better oil kept for selling.

Where it comes from

A grove of about four hundred trees behind Soufli, forty minutes north, worked by the Terzoglou family. Mostly Makri, which is the local variety and gives a green, slightly bitter oil with a peppery finish at the back of the throat.

Unfiltered

There will be sediment at the bottom of the bottle. This is olive, not a fault, and it is where a good deal of the flavour is. Do not decant it off.

How to use it

• Raw, over boiled greens, beans and grilled fish.
• In the pan for frying saganaki, which is what we do with it in quantity.
• Not for deep frying. It is too good and too expensive, and a neutral oil is better at it.

Keeping it

Dark cupboard, lid on, and use it within a year of the November it was pressed. Oil does not improve with age.