Our Story
Puranda Extra Virgin Olive Oil is crafted from family-owned orchards in Turkey.
We are dedicated to preserving traditional methods while innovating quality control measures that align with modern tastes.
In 2015 Andreas joined Sezen (his new wife) at the family’s olive orchard just south of Izmir. For the first time Andreas, born in Austria and with a background in food marketing, tasted "real" olive oil and what followed can only be described as a love affair – and not just with his wife!
Olive oil from the family orchards had just arrived in time for lunch and in an unassuming tin can - "finally, this year's harvest - look at the beautiful colour and take in the smell! " Sezen exclaimed whilst sprinkling fresh olive oil on a newly prepared salad.
Unlike Andreas’ previous experience of blended supermarket olive oil, what he tasted was something else entirely – a fruity, slightly bitter and peppery taste offering subtle sensations which radiated slowly through his mouth, nose and the back of his throat, transporting him into the olive orchards.
Several generations of Sezen’s family had lived lives intertwined with the olive fruit along the volcanic slopes of the Aegean coast. Olive oil had always been a treasured ‘magic’ potion against illness, an elixir for wellbeing and rejuvenation in Sezen's family's house. Her great grandma had taken care of a small olive garden but the orchards were now overgrown and hadn’t been cultivated for centuries. Every year the family would receive a few cans of olive oil being the sum total of each year’s harvest….. sadly the orchards were overgrown, a dormant paradise waiting to be re-discovered.
With a rallying cry of "let's make our own olive oil – an oil to be proud of", the family went about reviving old parcels of olive land. They spent many months pruning trees (after getting the necessary licences of course!) and planting new seedlings. After years of effort, a productive land that had been dormant for so many years, was finally revived and flourishing again.
And here it is - “Puranda”, our family’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and the product of our family’s dreams and labour…..
Green olives are still being picked by hand and cold pressed within 8 hours to guarantee the freshest quality of our olive oil. Polyphenol levels are really high and, while the taste is still balanced, notes of fresh herbs and fruits with a slightly bitter, peppery sensation are felt in the back of the throat.
Although our orchards are small, the good news is that we are now able to share some of our harvest outside the family. We hope you can get hold of some!