Selection

As in ancient times, the first date in our processing calendar is September to December, when the olive harvest takes place. Olives are still gathered by hand with great care as they were by our ancestors to prevent even the slightest bruising to the precious fruit.

We then inspect and sort the olives, and classify them by size, selecting only the best fruit for processing.

Quality

From the moment they are gathered until the time they are packed for sale, our olives undergo a long and painstaking process, during which they acquire their full quality and flavour. The process differs according to the style of olive to be produced:

Green Olives are harvested starting in the month of September and are sorted by our highly qualified staff. Once their stems are removed the olives are treated to extract their natural bitterness, then preserved to ferment in underground tanks at a constant temperature.

Our Black Olives remain on the tree somewhat longer, until they take on a rosy glow, the first sign of ripening. They are harvested at this stage, then ripened in vats to produce a handsome, round and glossy Black Olive.

The olives used for our Greek-Style Black Olives are left to ripen in the sun on the tree. They are picked once they are a mature, glossy black and are heavy with oil. They are dried in salt to produce "greek-style" olives, which are full and smooth in texture and have a characteristic wrinkled appearance.

Over the years we have developed numerous variations of these styles, including a range of stuffed and seasoned olives and a collection of culinary condiments, all produced with the same expert care and life-long family traditions.

Our Guarantee

Our olives are carefully selected and checked from the minute they are delivered to our plants from the groves. Their quality is then monitored by our Quality Control Specialists throughout the production and packing processes.

Only those olives produced to the expert standards of our plants at Seville (Spain) and Marrakech (Morocco), will carry the Crespo label. Our experience and savoir-faire are the key to the renowned "Crespo" quality, acclaimed by even the most demanding olive-lovers all over the world.

Both production plants are entirely owned and run by the Crespo family.