It has long been known that olive leaves are rich in polyphenolic substances that have excellent health properties.
Their extract is used to produce many products on the market today in herbal shops or available on the shelf among dietary supplements. The innovation, this time, however, concerns a different use: the use of olive leaf extract to produce an alternative to table salt.
Its name is Olavoro Toscano, a natural spray seasoning obtained from the olive leaf and considered by the Italians to be able to completely replace table salt, provide a saltier taste to dishes, provide olive polyphenols useful for maintaining normal blood pressure and contain 80% less sodium chloride.
Every day 90 thousand bottles will be produced with a market that will include North America and the Far East in addition to Italy. It will be produced by Isf of Livorno – Italy Smart Food , whose CEO, Dario Nadimi Zahedani, illustrated the project in recent days in the hall of Castagneto Banca (whose financial company Invitalia supports Isf).
It is produced with new cold technologies and circular bioeconomy systems without the use of chemical additives and heat, preserving the beneficial polyphenols and the native aromas of the olive. In short, according to the company, an innovative production process that uses less energy and does not release chemicals into the environment.
“Ours is a new green technology – emphasized the CEO of Italy Smart Food – with reduced process times, high extraction capacity, zero solvents, one hundred percent ecologically sustainable and no release of contaminating residues into the environment. It should also be considered that the leaves have zero cost and after processing we return them to the producers for fertilizer use.”
With various flavours and tastes – classic, aromatic, citron, spicy and savoury and finally – Olavoro according to Nadimi boasts a glorious history: ‘The ancestor of the first Olavoro arrived in the port of Livorno in the form of preserved olive leaves in salt, transported by ships coming from ancient Persia. It was brought by the Persians and my family from there produces it today, and on the other hand the Bible also says that the product is worthy of trust.”