Fruit, vegetables and pulses

Geracese olive

Geracese olive: a late-ripening Locride variety with a herbal bite

A long-standing cultivar of the Ionian coast around Reggio Calabria, grown mainly between Monasterace and Brancaleone, the geracese ripens late and is gathered in November, still by knocking the fruit onto nets with long poles. Fires and abandoned land have thinned its groves; the few remaining growers are reviving it, and in 2026 it became a Slow Food Presidium.

• Fully ripe, the slightly lopsided oval fruit turns a deep wine-black
• A bold, green flavour recalling sage, mint, fennel and rosemary
• Mostly pressed for oil, though the largest fruits are kept for the table

How to enjoy it. Most of the crop is pressed into oil; the bigger olives are cured in brine, crushed in the Calabrian way or made into pâté. Serve them with bread, cheese and cured meats.

Production areas

Calabria

Season

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