EHTL olive oil from Greece awarded the BIO label

The efforts and tenacity of the Vassilacou-Fassea couple have paid off: 7 years after taking over the family olive grove, the olive oil produced in the south of the Peloponnese has been awarded organic certification. “We worked very hard, underwent advanced training and implemented very demanding criteria to earn this distinction”, explain the olive growers, before adding, “in the region, we were taken for fools, because we didn’t follow conventional methods, which were less restrictive and less expensive. But today, the situation has changed, and some producers even come to us for advice.”

As a result, the produce from the next harvest, most of which is stamped EHTL (thanks to a collaboration launched in 2019), will bear the “Eurofeuille”, i.e. the European organic logo.

Every year, the EHTL has the pleasure of welcoming this couple of passionate olive growers to Diekirch, and this time Mrs Toula Vassilacou met the students to talk about know-how and quality, as well as the tourist attractions of the Peloponnese.

Chef de cuisine Gildas Leclerc then explained how to use olive oil in hot, cold and even dessert dishes.

The students enjoyed this lively and fascinating exchange, as well as the tasting session and the bottle of olive oil they received as a gift.

Four of them, in their final year of training to become restaurateurs, are particularly lucky: at the beginning of December, they will travel to Greece to discover the 1,200-tree estate, take part in the olive harvest and follow all the stages right through to bottling. A study trip that may well be the first of many, since as director Michel Lanners often reminds us: “The best courses are those that don’t take place in a classroom, but in the field.”