Completed with great success and participation of students and teachers, the educational activity titled “Doing it right – Tasting it right: promoting sensory quality of olive oil to high school students” was designed with the initiative of the “Captain Vassilis and Carmen Constantakopoulos” Foundation in collaboration with the International Olive Oil Council and the support of the Technological Educational Institute of the Peloponnese.
The program was attended by approximately 200 students. At the final event, held on March 17 at the Municipal Cultural Center of Kalamata, the participating students presented the program’s activities. The main purpose of the program was to teach students how to link the quality of olive oil with all life stages of the olive tree and olives. Through this activity, they became familiar with all these stages, from cultivation methods to processing and standardization. Particular emphasis was placed on the use of the sensory organs as a tool for obtaining reliable information. The tasting of the olive oil was adjusted to the students’ educational needs, providing experiential learning activities both in schools and in the olive oil tasting laboratory of the Technological Educational Institute of the Peloponnese. The educational program will also take place in the other Messinian regions in the following academic year, 2014-2015.