Pamako
Pamakon was founded in 2014 by Eftychios Androulakis, who had previously carried out continuous research for two years to develop an optimal and state-of-the-art method for pressing olives and preserving and bottling olive oil. The passion of youth, combined with the experience of older generations, winged us to create a rare, premium extra-virgin olive oil. "Our olive groves have provided a livelihood for more than four generations, all of which have laid the foundations for the world’s healthiest Mediterranean diet."
Crete, the mountain range of Selino
Our challenging and meticulous development work began in the mountain range of Selino in Crete, where hundreds of years old olive trees grow. As a guideline, we used the advice of our grandparents: "Love and respect the trees, and they will reward you with their abundant harvest." Our award was the highest quality olive oil that offers all the health benefits of olive oil. Pamako is one of the few extra virgin olive oils in the world to have a health claim permitted under European Union Regulation 432/2012 on the label! The health effects of our olive oil have been confirmed in studies by the University of Athens.
Medicine, Minoan culture
The word Pamako is a translation of ideograms and it means medicine. Ideograms have their roots in the linear B-byte typeface developed by Minoan culture, which is the first known written language in Europe. Our olive groves are located on the outskirts of the ancient city of Elyros in the mountain range of Selino in Crete, where olive trees grow at an altitude of 500-700 meters.Access to the olive groves is, for the most part, very difficult, as you will not be led there. Cultivation and harvesting are also challenging due to soil shapes and tree size. Following the traditions taught by more than four generations and respecting the gift that nature offers us, we treat each olive tree as an individual in accordance with its needs. Our olive trees have an average age of about 200 years and an average height of about 11 meters, although some of them have grown to a height of up to 20 meters. However, each tree has its own character, which is why we treat them differently.
On nature terms
Challenge, diligence, tradition and innovation - these four words can describe the creative process that resulted in our first-class olive oil. Due to the soil shape of the area, we cannot use heavy machinery in olive growing. Harvesting is done by hand by climbing up olive trees and gently shaking the branches with electric sticks. The olives are harvested light green before they begin to turn purple. Harvesting begins in mid-October and takes about four weeks until all the olives have been harvested.
The magic of harvesting
The olives are pressed on the day of collection at a low temperature of less than 27 ° C, known as cold pressing. The process takes a maximum of 50 minutes for each batch. In this way, we ensure that all the aromas and valuable polyphenols of our premium olive oil are preserved. What we lose in quantity we get back many times over as health benefits. We store our olive oil in stainless steel containers protected from sunlight and at a carefully controlled temperature. We fill the containers with nitrogen gas suitable for food use, which means that the oil stays fresh for as long as possible. In the last stage, the oil is bottled by hand using semi-automatic machines. Every bottle that ends up on the consumer’s table is full of our passion and love for olive oil.
Results of chemical analysis
In a chemical analysis conducted by the Department of Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy and Natural Product Chemistry at the University of Athens in October 2018, both of our olive oils yielded impressive results. The oleocantal and oleosin contents of our Pamako Monovarietal and Pamako Blend olive oils exceed all average values found so far in international university studies. Oleocanthalum and oleosin are important polyphenols that act as antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective effects. According to the level set by European Union Regulation 432/2012, the amount of hydroxytyrosol derivatives in Pamako olive oils exceeds 5 mg per 20 g of olive oil. Consuming 20 g of Pamako olive oil per day thus achieves health benefits as it protects blood lipids from oxidative stress. To preserve these health benefits, we bottle our extra-virgin olive oil into dark bottles with a light-protective mirror-wrapped wrapper. In addition, we use natural cork to close the bottles, which helps preserve the aromas of olive oil. We are proud of the test results we have achieved, as they differentiate our products from conventional olive oils. Pamako olive oils offer consumers all the health benefits and flavors that only premium extra-virgin olive oil produced in a clean mountain environment can contain.