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Essential to modern, Mediterranean and Lebanese cuisine, olive oil brightens all tables and all meals!

Check out the Olive Oil product line:

Virgin Olive Oil, 50 cl, obtained by cold mechanical pressing (acidity between 0.8 and 1%).
Olive Oil with Pimento, 25 cl, ideal seasoning for salads, pizza and barbecues.
Olive Oil with Oregano, 25 cl, great salad seasoning.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 50 cl, top-notch olive oil.

To buy the products:
Online in France and Europe
On call in Lebanon

Let's talk Olives, shall we?

Olive trees...

Pic taken in Kfaryachit, north of Lebanon

Olive trees are very hardy and resistant to drought, disease and fire. Their root system is actually capable of regenerating the tree even if the above-ground structure is cut-off.
The older an olive tree is, the broader its trunk appears. Many olive trees in the groves around the Mediterranean are said to be several centuries old and have long been considered sacred and symbolic.

Olive leaves symbolize abundance, glory and peace. They are mentioned in many religions and are still used today in several religious ceremonies. Also, in ancient Greece, olive oil was used to anoint kings and athletes!

More here.

Exquisite Degustation!!

Every now and then, we treat ourselves for a degustation; the team enjoys dipping some bread into a selection of jams, a bit of molasses and nibbles the exquisite grilled and salted wheat. We then brainstorm about new recipes and products to be introduced to the Terroirs du Liban family.

Organic Ketchup? Yes please!

Why choose our Fair Trade Ketchup?

1. Made from tomatoes and not tomato concentrate.
2. Made from organic tomatoes, bought from a certified organic grower. No chemicals.
3. No colouring or preservatives.

This ketchup is worthy of the best brands across the Atlantic! It goes perfectly with meat, pasta, fries...so delicious; personally one of my favorite products.

For comparison:

-Conventional Ketchup has:
Tomato concentrate made from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, salt, spice, onion powder, and natural flavours.

-Fair Trade Ketchup branded under “Terroirs du Liban” has 5 simple components:
Tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, salt and corn starch.

Be Simple, Be organic.

Available right now at the office in Hazmieh, Lebanon
(phone: 05 952 153)
In France and Europe, on Artisanat SEL website, order it here.
And real soon in the Lebanese market!!

Kfaryachit, a tiny mezmorizing village

Kfaryachit is a small village in the Caza of Zgharta. Its 250 inhabitants are mainly involved in the olive business.

Field trip on a Saturday, amazing!

In Lebanon, we live around the clock. If you are out late on a Friday night, chances are you will still find yourself hooked up in a pretty condensed program Saturday morning. This is exactly what happened to me this morning. Today, we headed North on a field trip with Fair Trade Lebanon to visit some of our olive oil producers located in a small village in the Caza of Zgharta; Amazing.

Cool ideas come when you least expect them

All right so here it goes, we finally decided to open a show room in our office! Why not? I mean for starters, we will get to meet Fair Trade supporters and then we will start to hear some Lebanese feed back about these regional produces. So far we've only been officially exporting the product line. Soon enough we will launch a little campaign to advertise it and invite you all for a visit!

Stay tuned for more details and pictures!

It's these smiles that keep us going

They are genuine, true, real.

Watch out where you're heading

Lebanese Agriculture has been experiencing a significant decline for the last thirty years.

Fact 1:
The most affected agricultural sector is the micro one: small lands which represent 80% of the current farms in Lebanon. Agricultural activities have little income effect, therefore tend to favour the rural exodus of youth.

Fact 2:
The high cost of domestic factors is leading to land abandonment; it began 30 years ago and has reached today more than 25% of the utilized agricultural area.

Fact 3:
Only 2% of farmers are below 25 years, 13% are below 35 years against 23% who are aged over 65 years.
The permanent agricultural workforce is aged, which will quickly pose a generational problem.

Fact 4:
Very few Lebanese farmers perform exclusively agricultural activities and 2 / 3 of them are often required to have other parallel activities, mainly for financial reasons.

Fact 5:
Finally, employment opportunities for women in rural areas are relatively weak or absent for cultural explanations usually.

You can either see this as a hopeless case or as an urgency to bring change. We really hope you choose with us the second option.

Be innovative and react, do it for you, your children and generations to come.

Info Source: UNDP, Lebanon 2008-2009, The national human development report, March 2009.

Women going to France with no visas

What is Ambition?

When somewhere in your heart, you are convinced. When the whole world tells you to stop and give in, yet you remain steady and focused. When no one looks towards you and still somewhere in your mind, you know you have a chance.

Take it.

Nothing will ever come to you if you don’t start walking in its direction. So whether you define it as financial expansion, as happiness, as power, as education, sports, health, whatever it is, it doesn’t matter as long as you walk.

Stay focused.

I learned that even women in the far end of my country had ambitions. They too wanted their work to be recognized. Sky is their only limit and it is looking pretty bright these days.
Proud? They definitely are…Ambitious? To the bones…and bound together, they’ve always been; because city lights haven’t blinded them, because divided, they know they would fall, and because together they are building their ultimate dreams. Brick by brick, day by day, they are building the longest, steadiest bridge from the heart of Lebanon to the biggest continents.

Lift people with you.

When a precious mother knows that her own son living in Italy goes regularly to France and buys products made by his mother’s hands and love and those of her friends, she knows she’s made it. She knows she crossed those endless borders and needed no visas nor check controls. All she had was an ambition; a desire; a possibility that she chose to pursue.

Fair Trade Lebanon is a means, a link between forgotten cooperatives and responsible consumers but not a miracle doer. Guts and Perfectionism are qualities we learn and develop everyday and in every specific scale of our work.

Carob Molasses or Dibs el Kharroub is oh so tasty...

To show you how popular and yummy it is, I decided to quote!

The Yum-oh! Blog:

Ever since discovering Carob Molasses, it has been the referred to by our group of friends as the original Secret Ingredient, because we started using it in and on absolutely everything - from pancakes to salad dressing – and people's first reaction is always: Yum-oh! – what’s that?!”

The Cupcake Project blog:

I knew I wanted carob in my Teeccino-inspired cupcakes. However, I hadn't decided on which form to use. I knew of carob powder and carob chips, but the grocery I was at only had carob molasses. I figured that would have to do.
[...] In Lebanon, carob molasses was traditionally used as an alternative to sugar. Mixed and served with tahina or sesame paste, for example, it is still eaten as a dessert called dibs bi tahina.

Carob Fruit

Carob and Health:

Apart from the health benefits obtained by substituting Carob for Cocoa and synthetic sweeteners in our diet, Carob also has excellent nutritional value. Along with up to 80% protein, it contains Magnesium, Calcium, Iron, Phosphorus, Potassium Manganese, Barium, Copper, Nickel and the vitamins A, B, B2, B3, and D. It also has medicinal uses including the treatment of coughs and diarrhea.

Our fair trade Carob Molasses is made by a cooperative in the South. 12 hard-working women get together for the production process. The syrup is mechanically extracted from the carob fruit. No sugar nor coloring are added. So as described above, carob molasses seems to be your ultimate secret ingredient: a natural liquid sugar, a great addition to cakes and sweets, also very tasty when spread over pita bread or mixed with tahini and spread over toast!

For more info, or order, check it online or call us!
In France and Europe, Artisanat SEL website, order it here.

Fair Trade Egypt...quite an encounter!

A whole day spent in the Bekaa valley with Mother Nature looking as gorgeous as ever. We were with the company of Miss Mona El-Sayed, manager of Fair Trade Egypt, who we had the pleasure to meet for the first time in Jordan and again at the ESCWA workshop in Beirut. We seized the opportunity of her presence in Lebanon to give her a “Fair Trade Tour” to one of our cooperatives, followed by a visit to the historic ruins of Anjar.

Fair Trade Egypt focused its activity on handicrafts made by ethnic groups present in remote areas all over the country. Each of their products is therefore a result of a traditional know-how, a culture, a story.

A story that we were proud to listen to and to deepen with our own experience, because at the end of the day, whether you are in Africa, Asia or anywhere else, your heart will definitely pound to these success stories taking birth in the South.