Igadi
Estate Agency in Robertson

Igadi™ Estate is in the Western Cape, Olive Leaf Tea, handcrafted Vinegar, South Africa and produces award winning Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Kalahari Salt and dried olive products on biodynamic principles.

For decades, vines graced the hills, until a devastating harvest in 1998 forced the previous farmers to give up their vines and plant olive trees instead. The family Van Wassenhove with three teenage boys immigrated to South Africa in 2005 from Belgium. Today, Fernand make his own unique bio-dynamic olive oil from different varieties of olives. The ripened olives produce a pale gold olive oil with a sweetness of ripe bananas and a little touch of walnuts and almonds without any bitterness or being peppery. This oil is like a good marriage: it strolls smoothly over the palette and blends beautifully with the food. This precious oil is pressed form green olives, only one variety. It is a robust oil, full of polyphenols, taste of fresh green grass, with a bitterness and full peppery aftertaste that lingers. Use it for special occasions and after cooking with a pinch of flaked natural salt. This precious oil is pressed from a variety of premium olives. It is a milder oil and its taste is slightly grassy with a banana and light peppery aftertaste. The sweet fragrance and exquisite taste of a really fresh bio-dynamic extra virgin olive oil from the press, or perhaps even the added pleasure of fresh bread. Members enjoy the freshest and most superior of olive oil in bottle or on tap. Membership numbers are strictly limited; application is currently open. It has been established through previous research that a Mediterranean style diet, rich in olive oil, fruits, vegetables, and legumes can protect you from metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors that increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Exercise also has beneficial effects for this particular syndrome. For this study, published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology, 45 sedentary men and women from the ages of 50 to 66 years with Metabolic syndrome were randomly assigned to one of two groups; either following a hypo caloric, normal protein Mediterranean diet, or following the same diet plus a moderate exercise program for 14 weeks. A number of questionnaires and tests were conducted to measure quality of life and metabolic syndrome risk factors. The results showed that the Mediterranean diet only group had improvements in several factors such as physical function, vitality, general physical health among others, they lost weight and also had improvement in some metabolic syndrome factors. The group that also followed an exercise program had greater improvement in health-related quality of life components and, as expected, lost more weight. A Mediterranean diet with a moderate intensity exercise program can not only decrease risk factors of metabolic syndrome but may improve quality of life. In addition it can be used as an effective weight loss tool.