Stuff it! These organic almond-stuffed green olives from Halkidiki are everything this Christmas

Rich taste, crunchy texture...pair with a glass of Mani rosé?

Here’s a shocking confession that may reveal my culinary naiveté but stick with me for a minute and we’ll all come out of this with a stocking stuffer to remember—to put it bluntly, I did not know that you could stuff olives with almonds.

Let me rephrase that: I did not know that you could stuff olives with almonds!

So imagine my surprise when a prosaic detour to a roadside grocery on the outskirts of Athens turned up what is likely to be the final foodie discovery of the year: Halkidi Almond Stuffed Olives from a mysterious food company called ERIZA. The folks at ERIZA are “passionate about the growing need for a more balanced diet” so they started the ERIZA brand in 2019, developing a series of high quality organic products. Among which these delectable olives.

I approached the clear glass jar with some trepidation. It wasn’t easy to read the label very clearly because I was wearing a mask and glasses, which thanks to the cold damp Athenian winter keep fogging up. So I removed my glasses for a closer look at these plump beauties. Reason I was nervous? Because almonds have

a tendency to be not very kind to teeth that have had a lot of dental work, and there was no way of judging the hardness of almonds from a cursory glance. But I took a chance…and Holy Halkidiki!* It turns out that not only did the almonds retain their snap without too heavy of a crunch, but the olives themselves were a taste revelation. I concur with the company’s own description: “green organic olives are gently harvested and naturally debittered without the addition of preservatives. Preserved in brine with a firm, fruity flesh texture indicative of their harvesting.”

*Actually the Halkidiki peninsula is kind of holy, at least the part that’s home to the famous Mount Athos monastery. It’s also incredibly scenic with plenty of beaches and soil favorable to the cultivation of green olives.

The attractively designed jars weigh in at just over ten ounces and cost less than four bucks apiece, making them perfect stocking stuffers this Christmas.

ERIZA also produces a range of organic chutneys, jams and even handmade soaps. Check out all the offerings here.