Chanel Taps Bosana Olives from Sardinia for New 'Youth Serum'

Skincare spe­cial­ists for Chanel have selected ​‘longevity ingre­di­ents’ from areas of the world where peo­ple live bet­ter and longer — the so-called Blue Zones — to include in the fash­ion house’s prod­uct range.

Blue Zones are char­ac­ter­ized by the adher­ence of their inhab­i­tants to healthy prac­tices and foods, some of which were cho­sen by the iconic French brand to for­mu­late a new serum with antiox­i­dant and revi­tal­iz­ing prop­er­ties.

The for­mu­la­tion of the com­pa­ny’s new Youth Activator includes cof­fee from Costa Rica for its anti-inflam­ma­tory attrib­utes, mas­tic from Greece rich in oleano­lic acid, and olives from Sardinia for their high con­cen­tra­tion of polyphe­nols and essen­tial fatty acids.

Sardinia’s coun­cilor of tourism, crafts, and com­merce, Francesco Morandi called the selec­tion ​“a grat­i­fy­ing and unusual recog­ni­tion of unique and extra­or­di­nary envi­ron­ment, nature and pro­duc­tions of the island.”

“Moreover, it per­fectly fits into the vision focused on qual­ity of life in Sardinia, which is actu­ally at the base of the region’s pro­mo­tional cam­paign world­wide. The choice of the fash­ion house Chanel paid homage to the most valu­able things that our land offers, through peo­ple and prod­ucts of the ter­ri­tory,” he told Olive Oil Times.

The native vari­ety Bosana in the new anti-aging prod­uct is iden­ti­fied as one of the ele­ments respon­si­ble for the longevity of inhab­i­tants of the Mediterranean island.

“From the most wide­spread vari­ety of the island, espe­cially in the Northern area, we obtain a medium fruity extra vir­gin olive oil,” said Leonardo Delogu, a pro­ducer and miller in Ittiri, in the province of Sassari. ​“Herbaceous, with pre­vail­ing notes of arti­choke and car­doon and hints of fresh almond and tomato, the Bosana mono­va­ri­etal has bal­anced bit­ter­ness and pun­gency.”

Delogu and his brother Baingio man­age almost 50 acres of olive groves with 1,500 sec­u­lar olive trees belong­ing to their fam­ily for gen­er­a­tions.

The local dou­ble-apti­tude vari­ety (it can be used for table olives and olive oil) are har­vested soon after verai­son and just before the olives are fully ripened. The largest fruits are cho­sen for table olive pro­duc­tion.

“We wash them with run­ning water and soak them in a 3 per­cent brine solu­tion (1.06 oz of salt per liter of water) for three or four days. This pro­ce­dure must be repeated three or four times before finally dip­ping them in a 10 per­cent brine solu­tion (3.5 oz of salt per liter of water),” Delogu said.

The olives man­u­fac­tured this way must be stored in ter­ra­cotta or glass con­tain­ers kept in a cool place. After six months, they can be con­sumed and through­out the year they grad­u­ally lose their bit­ter­ness.

“Our tra­di­tion sug­gested the best pair­ings,” Delogu observed. ​“Toiling in the fields, our grand­par­ents drew energy and com­fort from snacks based on plain bread and Bosana olives.”

• ANSA


• La Nuova Sardegna