Gemlik olives
Turkey’s beloved black breakfast olive — small, soft and rich.
The Gemlik is Turkey’s most famous table olive, named for the Gemlik region on the Sea of Marmara. Small, round and black when ripe, it is soft, oily and rich, with a gentle savoury flavour — and it is the olive on the Turkish breakfast table, served whole alongside cheese, bread and tea. Turkey is one of the world’s largest olive producers, and the Gemlik is its table-olive star.
- Origin
- Gemlik, Marmara · Türkiye
- Type
- Table olive (some oil)
- Colour
- Black
- Size
- Small, round
- Flavour
- Soft, rich, savoury
- Best for
- Breakfast, mezze, eating whole
The breakfast olive
Few olives are as woven into a daily ritual as the Gemlik is into Turkish breakfast (kahvaltı). Cured black, it is high in oil, soft-fleshed and mellow — less briny-sharp than a Kalamata, richer and rounder. It is usually brine- or dry-cured and served simply, dressed with a little olive oil, perhaps oregano or lemon.
Turkey is consistently among the top handful of olive and olive-oil producing countries in the world — another sign that the olive belongs to far more than a few famous Mediterranean names. The Gemlik is proof that a “table-olive culture” can be every bit as deep outside Italy, Spain and Greece.