Greece
Elia Kalamatas PDO covers the famous almond-shaped purple-black table olives grown in the Kalamata area of Messenia, in the Greek Peloponnese. Rich, meaty and cured in brine, they are among the most prized eating olives in the world, and the region's olive oil is protected too.
The imitation is any dark ‘kalamata-style’ olive grown elsewhere. Only olives from that defined Messenian zone carry the Kalamata PDO.
