The best olives online! West Country Olives was born 4 years ago around the time of covid which we found was actually a great time to launch a postal product.
West Country Olives began as an idea of our MD Tim’s whose love of olives gave him the passion to start producing them himself.
Established in 2020, (I think we’ll all agree a great year to start a business!) Our passion and aim has always been to source the highest quality olives from around the Mediterranean and marinate them from our unit here in Sowton, Exeter with amazing locally sourced ingredients.
The olives themselves are predominantly the Green Mammoth Halkidki variety sourced from Greece. Which we now source directly from Stergioudis Olives in Ormylia, Greece. We had the opportunity to go and visit them last September and see some of the harvest and processes.
Halkidiki Mammoth Olives are simultaneously the perfect olive to enjoy simply with a little oil but they are also big and bold enough to take on extra flavour.
We also use Greek Kalamata olives which are typically a bit richer and saltier than the green, Nocellara olives which are bright green in colour with a slight butter taste and Moroccan Black olives which are full flavoured and salty and mostly used in cooking.
There are currently 12 different varieties of olives and each variety is first blended with local Devon rapeseed oil from Bell & Loxton. We love using Bell & Loxton rapeseed oil, we prefer the taste to other oils and rapeseed oil is actually alot better for you and has lots of health benefits.
Bell & Loxton was the first local ingredient we used with our olive blends. We love working with Jonathon and Rachel too and supporting another small business through using the local product.
What makes our olives the best?
1 – Premium quality olives, with traceability
Everything starts with the olives and we predominantly use Mammoth Green Halkidiki olives which is the second largest halkidiki available. This variety is mammoth in size but also in texture with an incredibly ‘meaty’ feel and a proper crunch.
We now work directly with a supplier in Halkidiki, Greece where we have met them and seen the olive farm and processes, having traceability and authenticity is something we have wanted to achieve since we began our Olive journey and we are so pleased to work with Giannis and Dimitris, it is fantastic for us also being their first and only UK customer giving us exclusivity too.
2 – Marinating in local ingredients
These include Bell & Loxton rapeseed oil which contains much less saturated fats than other oils including olive and sunflower. It is also grown here in the UK and even better, here in Devon, which dramatically reduces their climate footprint. The chillies are sourced from South Devon Chilli Farm and the homemade Basil Pesto is from Feast Kitchen in South Devon which is also vegan, nut free and absolutely delicious!
3 – Gas flushed packaging results in less oil and more olives per pack
We are one of only a few olive producers in the country who gas flush their packaging rather than using oil to preserve the life of the olives. This process results in the full flavour of the olive coming through unmasked by oil as well as lengthening the shelf life of each pack. It also means that the olives can be stored at ambient temperatures rather than in the fridge.
4 – Multi award-winning olives
Despite only being in production for just over four years we have a multitude of awards to our name including the well renowned Taste of the West, Food Drink Devon and Great Taste – proving it’s not just us who think they’re great!
5 – Available in 175g and 1kg bags
We sell the olives in 175g pouches which are perfect for retail as well as 1kg bags which are great for deli counters and restaurants.
You can purchase our 175g olives via our website as a consumer, our olives are also available wholesale via our Sister Company Orchardlea Foods where they are offered at a discounted rate for both our 175g and 1kg bags.
We have got new packaging being launched very soon too, which is recyclable and labels are pre printed on the packaging which will save us alot of time and they look more professional.
Olive Flavours
Award winning flavours!
Classic Blend – Mammoth pitted green Halkidiki olives and pitted Kalamata olives, blended with citrus flavours, thyme, parsley and rapeseed oil.
Hand Stuffed Garlic – Award winning Mammoth pitted green Halkidiki olives stuffed with garlic cloves, minced pickled garlic and a little rapeseed oil.
South Devon Basil Pesto – Mammoth pitted green Halkidiki olives, marinated in a vibrant, vegan, Feast Kitchen Deli basil and garlic pesto. Finished with rapeseed oil and lemon juice.
Garlic & Chilli – Mammoth pitted green Halkidiki olives with diced pickled garlic, fiery chilli flakes, herbs and west country rapeseed oil. Mild heat, rich flavour.
Rosemary & Garlic – Mammoth Green Halkidiki olives mixed with minced garlic and a sprinkling of rosemary and finished with a little lemon juice and rapeseed oil.
Lemon & Tarragon – Mammoth pitted green Halkidiki olives bursting with fresh lemon juice & zest, combined with tarragon and rapeseed oil.
The rest of our flavours, 12 in total.
Green Pitted – Mammoth pitted green Halkidiki olives simply with a little rapeseed oil and lemon juice, perfect for creating your own blends.
Kalamata – whole kalamata olives with a small amount of rapeseed oil and lemon juice. The true taste of the Kalamata olive.
Hot Chilli – Mammoth pitted green Halkidiki stuffed with birds eye chillies and marinated in harissa paste and west country rapeseed oil – very hot!
Nocellara – Whole Sicilian Castelvetrano bright green Nocellara olives drizzled with west country rapeseed oil.
Picante Pimento – Mammoth pitted green Halkidiki olives stuffed with red peppers and finished with harissa and rapeseed oil.
Moroccan Black – Whole black olives, dry-cured in sea salt. Plump and naturally ripened for a strong fuller flavour, these are incredibly salty and work well in cooking.
Click here to see the full range and purchase the best olives online!