The olive skin gives way under your teeth with a slight snap, and the basil surges right behind it, green, warm, a taste of summer arriving in the middle of winter.

The lid opens, and the scent arrives before anything else: fresh, herbaceous, luminous basil, resting on the deep, salty aroma of a Spanish olive. You lean toward the jar before you’ve even taken out a fork.

Then the first olive. The skin gives way gently, and underneath, the flesh is smooth and fleshy, with that tender richness of the Manzanilla that spreads across the tongue. Just after, the pesto: green, herbaceous, a little sweet, a little salty, clinging to the olive so that every bite tastes like both at once. The salt first, then the basil, then that warmth of herbs that stays in the mouth long after you’ve swallowed. You end up putting the pits in a small bowl, reaching for another olive, and losing count.

Jolca, master olive growers from Spain, have taken the flavors of the Mediterranean’s most famous sauce and offered them to the olive. Manzanillas dressed as a good pesto should be: herbaceous, flavorful, creamy. The idea is bold, and it works because it tastes like something you already know and love, but in a place you didn't expect it.

You don’t buy this jar to have it sit quietly on a tray. You buy it for the moment someone tastes one and asks, "Wait, what is this?", and then can't stop. For the wine you just opened, the bread still warm, the cheese that calls for something green on the side.

And all across Canada, when the snow is piling up outside and the sky has been grey for weeks, a bowl of pesto olives on the table brings a bit of green and a bit of sunshine into the room. For the length of an evening, it’s a Mediterranean summer, and no one wants it to end.

Why our customers love it:

• Two flavors in one bite: the fleshy Manzanilla olive and fresh, fragrant basil pesto
• An evolving flavor: salt, then basil, then a lingering warmth of herbs
• Herbaceous, flavorful and creamy, a Mediterranean touch you won't find in an ordinary jar of olives
• Jolca, master olive growers, crafted in Spain
• Generous 400g format, for snacking, garnishing a board, and sharing
• Serve on a charcuterie board, in a salad, with a glass of white wine, or straight from the jar, standing in the kitchen, when no one is looking