For thousands of years, olive trees have been cultivated near Sparta in Lakonia, Peloponnese, between the Taygetus and Parnonas mountain ranges, where the olive tree is considered sacred, and the climate and natural environment are ideal for olive growing. There, Sakellaropoulos Organic Farming cultivates organic Kalamata and Koroneiki olives.
Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms produces a wide range of exceptional olive products, always aiming for the highest quality. “From generation to generation, we learn, experiment, and create,” with “love and absolute respect for nature,” explains George Sakellaropoulos. They seek “harmony with nature and tradition.” Nothing is left to chance: the cooperation and harmony are based on scientific knowledge of such techniques as crop rotation and co-cultivation, and their work undergoes scientific monitoring and inspection.
George’s son Nick Sakellaropoulos explains that he is the third generation involved in his family’s business. Equipped with a master’s in chemical engineering, he focuses on “improvement and development of new products through scientific methods, in cooperation with researchers and universities worldwide, to produce healthful products with great flavor.” He and his family “are producers, not traders; we do not buy olive oil or olives from other producers,” but “only use our own olives and olive oil, all organically produced. We also self-package our products according to international standards” in a vertically integrated company, using modern equipment.
Following all European regulations regarding organic farming, Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms is certified by BIO – HELLAS. Moreover, they apply the HACCP quality control system and have ISO 22000:2005 certification. Their facilities are approved by the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food, their company is approved and registered by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and they are registered under the international REX system concerning the Canada – European Union Trade Agreement.
Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms produces sixteen different olive oil products, thirteen olive products (including olives with seven types of herbs), and natural cosmetics based on organic olive oil and St. John’s wort oil. Their extensive product line includes everything from early harvest extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) to flavored premium oils, from unripe and ripe table olives to unsalted olives with aromatic herbs, olives without vinegar, and olives with orange, apple, or even ouzo.
Nick Sakellaropoulos believes “what really makes us different from any producer in the world is our olives, which have been produced in the traditional way, starting with my grandfather many years ago.” They use only natural fermentation processes, and no pasteurization, so the polyphenols, probiotics, and other antioxidants remain in the fruit. Those techniques, combined with constant monitoring using modern scientific equipment, produce natural, wholesome olives.
The Sakellaropoulos family’s very low acidity, unfiltered, multi award winning monovarietal Koroneiki extra virgin olive oils are cold extracted promptly after harvest. Their especially healthy early harvest EVOOs, Fyllikon First Harvest and Agourelaio Early Harvest, are made from unripe olives in September and October, with oil extracted at unusually low temperatures (between 16 and 20° C). Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms was the first in Greece to package the first harvest organic unripe olive oil that is called agourelaio or protelaio in Greek.
Their flavored olive oils feature unusual, award winning combinations. For example, their Gemstone Blend, naturally infused with ginger, lime and basil, was ranked 1st place worldwide in the flavored olive oil category by the international ranking system EVOO World Ranking (EVOOWR) for 2019, while their blend of oils from three olive varieties with lemongrass and tarragon in Majestic was ranked 1st place in the same category for 2018 and 2021. On top of that, they have ranked 1st place worldwide for 2023, 2024 and 2025 as producers of flavored olive oils in the EVOOWR.
In fact, Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms’s olive oils and olives have won an astonishing 1232 awards (and counting) at prestigious international competitions such as the New York International Olive Oil Competition (IOOC), the Los Angeles IOOC, Premio BIOL Italy, Terraolivo, EVO IOOC, Olive Japan, the Japan Olive Oil Prize (JOOP), and Great Taste Awards.
In addition to being lauded for their wonderful flavor, Sakellaropoulos products have also earned Aristoleo High Phenolic Olive Oil Awards and Olympia Health and Nutrition Awards for their high phenolic olive oil and olives. Furthermore, both products have been selected for use in various scientific studies on the health benefits of the healthiest olives and olive oil, carried out in renowned institutions in Greece and abroad.
As Marilyn Harding wrote in Huffington Post, Dr. Prokopios Magiatis and his team at the University of Athens discovered that the Sakellaropoulos family’s Kalamata table olives contained five times more of the healthy phenolic compounds hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol than usual—more than any other olives tested in that lab. Dr. Martha Spyridoula-Katsarou subsequently reported the results of a study using these olives: eating just five of them per day can improve the cholesterol profile enough that it “may contribute to reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease.” A second and third clinical study with additional amazing results led to the creation of the Cholestolive dietary supplement (with an international patent).
Due to their healthy high phenolic content, the Sakellaropoulos family’s olives also participate in the “Olives for Health” Research Project carried out by the School of Public Health of Yale University.
Moreover, their extra virgin olive oils participate in the following studies and trials: Harvard University School of Public Health’s Feeding America’s Bravest study of the effect of the Mediterranean diet on firefighters in the USA; the “EVOO for Brain Health” research project by Auburn, Temple, and Yale (USA); and the “Oleocanthal Plus” Cardio preparatory project by Yale School of Public Health researchers in collaboration with Dr. Artemis Morris of the Artemis Wellness Naturopathic Practice (USA).
The Sakellaropoulos family hopes their donations of olives and olive oil to scientific studies can contribute to the improvement of study participants’ health, while helping to extend scientists’ understanding of the ways olives and olive oil can make humankind healthier worldwide. Their long list of awards for quality and flavor suggests that their products can also help make humankind happier.