Olive Powder captures the full character of the Mediterranean fruit in a shelf-stable dust.

Olive Powder starts with hand-picked green Koroneiki olives harvested just before colour change, when flesh is still firm and chlorophyll high. 

The fruit is washed, pitted, air-dried below 45 °C, then milled into a light khaki dust. This gentle process keeps vegetal aromas, bright acidity and the characteristic bitter note of oleuropein while removing water and brine.

Dried olive powder is the trade term; 

Chemical Composition

Laboratory profiles place residual oil near six percent, dominated by oleic acid (≈ 70 % of total lipids).

Fibre reaches forty-two percent, mostly insoluble lignocellulose from the pit fragments that travel through the mill.

Total phenolics average twenty-eight mg GAE g-1, led by oleuropein, verbascoside and hydroxytyrosol precursors.

Chlorophylls A and B give the soft green hue; carotenoids sit lower than in ripe olives.

Sodium is minimal because curing brine is skipped. Calcium and magnesium hold at 120 mg and 65 mg per 100 g respectively, reflecting the calcareous soils of western Crete.

Origin & Nutritional Composition

Olive Powder used by La Botanique Sacrée is produced in the Messara Valley on Crete, altitude 250-400 m.

Trees are non-irrigated, letting seasonal drought concentrate secondary metabolites.

Fruit is picked late September, shade-dried on reed frames for five days, then finished in low-temperature tunnel dryers.

A five-gram serving of Olive Powder yields twenty calories, 1.5 g fibre, 1.2 g heart-friendly fat and around 100 μg vitamin E. Chlorophyll retains magnesium, adding subtle minerality.

Reported Health Benefits

Scientific literature credits olive polyphenols with antioxidant capacity, normal inflammatory modulation and support for lipid metabolism. 

Green-stage olives provide higher oleuropein , known for bitterness and for helping maintain microbial balance in the gut. 

Soluble fibre slows glucose uptake, while natural emulsifiers aid bioavailability of the lipid fraction. 

Olive Powder offers these nutrients in dry form yet all statements stay within culinary context, not therapeutic claims.

Cultural Significance & Historical Significance

Olive trees have shaded Mediterranean settlements for five millennia. Linear B tablets record oil rations for Cretan palace workers circa 1400 BC.

Green olives, harvested early for their vivid flavour, were often dried in amphora-top baskets to supply sailors crossing the Aegean: sun and sea breeze preserved them when salt was scarce.

Roman agronomist Columella noted that “pressed, dried green olives lend savour when oil is dear,” hinting at a forerunner of today’s Olive Powder.


In Andalusia, Moorish farmers dried unripe olives and ground them into zaytun-sagr spice for couscous.

In Provence, mule drivers carried cakes made of cracked green olives, thyme and coarse flour: portable calories that resisted spoilage.

During the Levantine silk trade, powdered olives rode caravans as seasoning that bypassed liquid-tax checkpoints. The nineteenth-century Greek diaspora to New York revived the technique: immigrants dried surplus harvest, created powder in small stone mortars, and folded it into bread to evoke homeland taste.


Modern freeze-drying refines the craft, but heritage intent remains: concentrate flavour, cut transport weight and extend shelf life without chemicals. Olive Powder thus bridges Bronze-Age practice and contemporary clean-label design, honouring a continuous line of Mediterranean food ingenuity.

Flavor Profile

Expect fresh grassy top notes, gentle lactic tang and a persistent bitter-savory umami echo.

Fun Tidbits

• An olive branch crafted from Crete’s oldest grove crowned the Athens 2004 Olympic marathon winner.
  
  
• Olive pits fuel solar-assisted dryers that dehydrate the next harvest, closing an energy loop.
  
  
• Patent filings show Olive Powder as salt-reduction aid in snack coatings, lowering sodium up to 30 % without sensory loss.

La Botanique Sacrée selects Olive Powder for crisp vegetal bite, subtle bitterness and chlorophyll-driven colour that rounds Nordic herbs, steadies seaweed and deepens citrus.

The powder integrates without oil separation, meeting the brand’s modern apothecary ethos of flavour plus function.

Products featuring Camu Camu: 

• DULSE VITA – mineral sea salt with Wild Greek Oregano, Dulse Seaweed and Green Olive Powder