This month, we are off to meet with Tom, one of the founders of Honest Toil olive oil. From an experimental venture to a leading olive oil producer and brand, Tom tells all about how the brand has develop and what sets them apart from other producers.
GR – Honest Toil started out as an experimental venture. What was the experiment and how did that grow into the business Honest Toil is today?
It was pure serendipity. We definitely never set out to start another olive oil ‘brand’ or even had any intention of starting a business… but after travelling a lot around the Peloponnese and taking part in olive picking here and there, we ended up with more oil than we needed and thought we’d fund some travels by selling at Berlin flea markets. So from the back of a friend’s cargobike, the oil somehow became our companion on a life of travel. People were so used to processed, heated, and mixed oils that this unadulterated, fresh-pressed olive juice seemed to take everyone by surprise. Before we knew it, we were spending more time in the Peloponnese and ultimately bought a small piece of land. It’s not easy to find land here without olive trees on it, so when harvest time rolled around, we worked with the neighbours and took our olives to the village press. The business today is essentially the same; mostly the two of us, still collaborating with the same press and neighbours here in Kyparissia.
GR – What is so special about the Peloponnese and why is this considered the heartland of Greek olive oil cultivation?
Olive growing here couldn’t be further from the mass-scale production of a lot of olive producing regions… it’s all picked by hand and the groves are made up of thousands of small pockets of land, rather than the huge estates of Spain and Australia. Consequently, it’s a far cry from the huge monocultures that a lot of olive regions have become. I think because of the mountains here, it means it really isn’t possible to farm olives industrially, so it really is the same process as it’s been for generations, if not millenia, which is fantastic. A few years ago we started getting a lot of questions about whether our olive oil was ‘bird friendly’ which seemed like such a bizarre question to us; of course we didn’t harm any birds when picking our olives! Only once we started to do some research did we realise that so much olive production around the world is just on such a mass scale, that some places use huge combine harvester style equipment to ‘vacuum’ olives from the trees! Again it just couldn’t be further than the small-scale production here, which is definitely worth supporting.
Honest Toil comes from a very specific small area (the villages around Kyparissia), so it never travels thousands of miles to get blended in with oils from elsewhere, eventually losing its provenance and personality. We’re a really small-scale operation, not only in terms of locality, but also in terms of the scale of our business, so we really do have full control over the whole process from tree to table, and happy to be fully accountable for the quality as well as the sustainability of the oil.
GR – You produce only one variety of olive. Is there a particular reason for this?
Koroneiki olives are native to this part of Greece, and they’re naturally the olives with lowest acidity and highest polyphenol content, so really are something special.
This oil a homage to the koroneiki olive as well as the traditional growing and harvesting practices of the Western Peloponnese… The olives are pressed the same day to preserve their freshness, during the pressing process the temperature is strictly kept under 27 degrees, so all the necessities for the much-coveted high Polyphenol content. The end result is a green, vivid, thick liquid that we don’t put through any further chemical or physical filters: this means that some residue of the olive’s skin and pips can be found in the final oil, accounting for the characteristic unfiltered texture of Honest Toil… it’s really something special; completely unadulterated, and unlike many mass-produced oils, isn’t mixed with the previous year’s harvest or olive oils from other varieties or areas.
I still remember the sensation of tasting our own cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil for the first time… we’ve been chasing that same flavour ever since, and it really is that characteristic “Honest Toil” taste that people love so much: fresh and green with a grassy, peppery bite.
GR – Honest Toil is a family project; aside from yourself and Juli, are there any other family members involved in the business?
We’re mostly the three of us; Tom, Juli and my brother Louis, working on the project throughout the year, but harvest time means everyone gets roped in and friends and relatives end up getting grubby in the quest for the best cold pressed e.v. olive oil. In the beginning, the oil from our groves was enough for Honest Toil, but as more people were wooed by the unique flavour we brought to the table, we realised that our production was not going to be enough. Instead of taking a loan to buy more land and expanding, we decided to cooperate directly with other local producers who already grow the same koroneiki variety and harvest their trees with the same traditional methods. This way, we guarantee an income for our neighbours, support local livelihoods, and make sure that the high-quality olive oil from these groves ends up directly in your kitchen instead of being bought up at rock bottom prices and mixed in with inferior oils by large-scale corporations.
GR – How do you and Juli split your roles. For example, do you spend most of your time in the UK working with distributors?
It depends on whether you catch us during the harvest season (October-December) or the rest of the year. The harvest period is always ridiculously busy for us, as it’s just juggling everything at once: by night I’m in front of a laptop doing calculations or customs declarations, and by day I’ll be out in the field in muddy boots picking olives, or down the village press glugging fresh pressed oil with press masters Alexander and Sakis. For 3 months we barely sleep, but once the pruning is done, the rest of the year is more chilled and we’re freer to travel with the oil, connecting the Peloponnese with customers in Budapest, where Juli is from, and England, where I’m from, as well as Berlin, where we also sell the oil to friends and restaurants. I’m increasingly realising that it’s quite unusual how we’re connected to all aspects of the business rather than just one element, which is probably testament to the fact that it is our lives and a real labour of love, rather than just a business!
GR – You recently had a new label designed for the 500ml bottles which looks great! What was the thinking behind the design?
As with every part of the Honest Toil process, we think of it as a collaboration and organic process, so the label/design is really no different. Olive oil branding is often so dull and pretentious, and we know so many amazing artists that it really seems natural to play with our labels and not get too hung up on one look. Like the harvest and really the whole process, it’s an honest extension of what we find interesting, inspiring and fun; we like to view the look of our bottles and cans as something playful and creative, potentially changing with seasons and harvests as wine labels do. This last incarnation was illustrated by local tattoo artist Dori Berczi and inspired by local flora, fauna and folklore… I think it’s a fitting capsule for the magic inside 🙂
GR – What are the company’s core values?
Spending our time between Greece, Budapest, Berlin, and the UK, we’ve been bringing the oil from our groves to the other places we call ‘home’ for over 10 years now, sharing the experience of having this raw and fresh ingredient at hand. Honest Toil is our way of life and a way of connecting with and supporting the people and environment around us, so collaboration really is key. As it’s so connected to our own day-to-day lives in every aspect, it really is easy to keep doing what we’re doing with integrity, and without losing a sense of why we ended up here; 10 years down the line and we still get just as excited every time the harvest rolls around and we get to share the fresh oil with those who appreciate it.
To view the full range of Honest Toil products please click here
