Recent social media posts
21/03/2021
Handmade organic extra virgin olive oil soap, made with Avlaki's finest oils: a new product to celebrate our new look website: olive oilavlaki.com. The texture is amazing! Silky to touch, gentle for all skin types, very moisturising which is important in these handwashing days... It cleans beautifully. It doesn't make much lather so it doesn't leave scum behind (good for the drains), it's long lasting not disintegrating into a mush in the soap dish and it's super simple. Made to an ancient tradition: 65% organic extra virgin olive oil, 25% water, 10% saponifier and a dash of salt to harden the blocks.... NO added perfumes, NO artificial ingredients, NOT tested on animals - it's super eco-friendly.
And now on sale on the website: www oliveoilavlaki.com.
14/04/2020
Am thinking about growing things: gardens, balconies, window boxes.... nothing better than to watch a living thing develop and thrive... I have personal experience having given up an urban life of concert halls, theatres, high arts superior things - for looking after trees in fields and caring for the plants and animals who have chosen to make their lives in our land. I'm saddened by tales of the woes of farmers in these times - and if I was younger and fitter I'd sign up at once for the army of helpers that are needed to get in the crops, look after the animals etc. It's disgraceful to read of supermarkets ordering in extra stocks from foreign parts when our very own producers could do with all the help they can get. At the very least, buy British if you can to support them.
04/04/2020
Brilliant news just sent from Avlaki that it's been raining: a good thunderstorm followed by solid wetting rain which will please the olive trees greatly. The blossom for this year's olives is just starting to bud, and apparently the trees are covered - so a good drink will help the flowers to develop. Other news is that a lot of work is going on in the fields, pruning, clearing and burning the mess, which should help a lot to control the olive fly which can decimate the crop. What we need now is a gentle breeze so the flowers pollinate and then a little more rain to help the pin head olives start to swell. This is the time of year when the farmers cross their fingers........
15/03/2020
Every year we hold our breath until we get to taste the new oil - will it be as good as last year's, or better - or, given the horrible time that olive growers have been having with bug attacks and virus atacks - will it be not very nice. But praise be, this year's offerings are delicious and the lab tests have just come back giving them the healthy OK, the quality approval for low oleic acid count - and they are verified EXTRA VIRGIN WITH ORGANOLEPTIC TESTS...... this is very important in a business where it could be too easy to doctor inferior oils to get the oleic acid count down to the official extra-virgin limit. All very technical perhaps, but we small growers fight for the quality we know in the face of some pretty unlovely big boys....
The fun of it is meeting and working with terrific people who toil in the fields, with their trees, in their communities; who by and large still live by old fashioned traditional values of friendship and support.
There will be no old people left forgotten here on Lesvos in the Covid-19 situation.
And of course, we all dose ourselves liberally with the elixir of the Mediterranean health phenomenon - olive oil!
By the way, if you want some, details of the new harvest is up on-line - www.oliveoilavlaki.com. Delivery charge included of course - as always.
22/01/2019
Intensive tasting of extra virgin oliveoils really blows the head off.... so far we've sniffed, sipped, rolled it round the mouth, sucked on the air and swallowed nearly 100 samples - and can we stand the strain? The roll call of varieties from which to choose for any kind of dish you can think of is perfectly mind boggling. Never ever think that only one olive oil is enough: by the end of the 6 day NYIOOC Olive Oil Sommelier Certification Course (first time held in London) we'll have been introduced to something like 200 different products - from all over the world. Today's amazement was a delicious oil made from the picholine olive - in China - one of the first bottles from their new olive industry!
28/12/2018
Christmas doesn't always bring good cheer - apologies to all who wanted our organic extra virgin olive oils for the festivities and were foiled by IT - our website malfunctioned from 18th December and we only learned of the full extent yesterday. Bah! However emails still work - so if you've been frustrated by the non-response please email us: [email protected] will get a swift response! Happy New Year.
30/11/2018
A weekend of 'tastings' to come - the amazing Burford Garden Centre today (30th), Coppice Garden Centre in Tamworth tomorrow (1st) and the amazing Kew Village Market on Sunday (2nd) . Such fun to get out to meet people and introduce our olive oils which are SO different to those in the shops.....It's the time of year when we get the Christmas energy drive - tiring after a day on our feet, but so rewarding to be able to share the taste experience of our organic extra virgin olive oils.
28/06/2018
Our new oils from 2018 are now up for sale on the website - and with a new super efficient despatch house immediately on the case from the web your purchase should get to you in super quick time. We're very pleased!
Two vintages are current: 2017 (Best Before End 02/2019) & the freshest from 2018 (Best Before End 02/2010 (only a tidge of price rise for Agatherí Groves this year).
We also have some 2016 vintage (BBE 02/2018) and the astonishing tasting real bin ends from 2013 (BBE 01/2015).
The in-between years are now off to be made into soap - with a fabulous ancient recipe which leaves no frothy suds to clag up the drains and will have no perfume or other matters added to pollute the atmosphere.... But cleans like a dream....
Watch this space!
26/01/2018
SO exciting! We have just got back the test samples from the lab which is working on AVLAKI organic olive oils for liquid soap. A fabulous product which cleans amazingly, without too much lather and bother and leaves the skin soft and supple.
Apart from the saponifier, we're not adding anything else to the oil - no perfumes, flavours, colourings, frothing substances - to keep it as natural as possible.
It's the oldest kind of soap in the world, we're very excited to be going back to something so tried and tested over millennia!
Watch this space for further developments... if the sums are good, we will have it ready for Christmas presents.
We'll be sending off all our 'Bin Ends' oils for processing next month - so hurry hurry if you still want to buy for your culinary purposes! Everything up on the website shop as always.
29/07/2017
‘Use By’ – or use your nose?
Good news that the powers-that-be are consulting on getting rid of the ‘use by’ information on food. It’s madness for us because so often shopkeepers confuse ‘best before’ with ‘use by’ and chuck out perfectly good olive oil which they haven’t succeeded in selling - and there’s no arguing apparently that they could discount the price…..
Taste and smell will tell you if the product is off…. Sour milk, rotting meat, bad eggs, disintegrating veg, blocked drains…. The no-no is pretty obvious.
But lots of ambient products last far longer than the given rules on shelf life – which are often a pretty random stab at a passage of time.
Olive oil, for example, can go on and on and has been used for millenia as a preservative…..
We recently had a tremendous ‘Bin End’ sale of our organic extra virgin olive oils, some of them dating back to a December 2012 harvest. That vintage was the best seller: still delicious after 4+ years, the taste and aroma still pretty lively – (because we bottle the oils as soon as we can after harvest in January, keeping out the air and light so nothing can start to oxidise ) .
It was fabulous to open a bottle of 2012/13 for a really serious olive oil snob who was pooh-poohing the possibility the oil could still be any good – and to see them stunned by the quality of the taste – and then to buy cases of it to pass around their friends!
Funnily enough, it seems the EU minders have now back tracked on stipulating the precise length of shelf life: the last I heard they were leaving it to the manufacturers to decide on BBE.
Which opens up a different can of worms. The EU rules you don’t have to put the date of harvest on the bottle, so the oils could have been around for several years stored in dubious conditions before getting to bottling.
So that’s why tasting and smelling is essential before you buy…
By the way, we have a few cases of our sweetest 2012/13 vintage still for sale on www.oliveoilavlaki.com
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What people say
Avlaki Superb Organic Olive Oils is a caterer that offers an unparalleled taste experience with their fresh and authentic olive oils. Unlike the oils found in shops, Avlaki's oils are bottled as soon as possible after milling, ensuring that every bottle is new season, unfiltered, and from single estates so unblended. The oils are personally supervised by Deborah MacMillan and Natalie Wheen, guaranteeing that they are pure extra virgin, unadulterated and uncontaminated.
What sets Avlaki apart from other olive oil brands is their commitment to bottling only the freshest oils. They pick and mill in December and bottle the first week of January, with every bottle dated for maximum freshness. This quick bottling process ensures that the oils retain all of their nutrients, benefits, and taste.
Avlaki's oils come from Lesvos Island Greece and have a golden color and light consistency. These gourmet 'finishing' oils are perfect for dressing salads, hot vegetables, soups - or simply dipping with bread. Their organic olive oils are a must-try for anyone who appreciates high-quality ingredients in their cooking.
Overall, Avlaki Superb Organic Olive Oils is a top-notch brand that offers an exceptional taste experience with their fresh and authentic olive oils. Their commitment to quality is evident in every bottle they produce, making them a go-to choice for anyone looking to elevate their cooking game.
