Olympic task to bake 50,000 tsourekia for Easter
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
With Easter around the corner the Olympian Foods factory in Thomastown is working around the clock seven days a week to produce over 50,000 tsourekia.
Owned by the Xanthopoulos family, Olympian foods have been baking tsoureki since 1998 honouring long traditions that have been cherished throughout the years.
Speaking to Neos Kosmos, Debbie Xanthopoulos, attributes the success of their products to a few factors.
Almost all of their ingredients are locally sourced and fresh. The oranges used are freshly squeezed, the eggs come from local farmers and so does the milk. The mahlepi, a key ingredient, is ground and left in its pure form.
“It’s important to stay true to the recipe in order to have an authentic flavour and texture,” Xanthopoulos says, stressing that the recipe has remained the same, “as it was, passed down from generation to generation”.
Indeed, walking past the factory, the smell of freshly cooked tsoureki, fills the air.
“Easter is a very special time for our company, we feel like we are keeping the tradition alive and teaching our younger generations our traditions,” she enthuses.
For those wondering how it is possible to bake 50,000 Easter tsourekia the baker says that demand has been growing every year.
Debbie believes that “More and more of the elderly members in our community, no longer have the strength, to spend hours in the kitchen baking, resulting in them having no other choice but to purchase them,” while recognising that younger generations, being time poor due to work and family commitments “cannot find the time to bake a successful tsoureki; it’s a process that takes time.”
“Not having the patience is also a contributing factor. Customers can spend hours in the kitchen preparing the mixture and baking it. Then it doesn’t turn out right. You have to start the whole process again. They tell us that they prefer Olympian as it’s the closest product to their parents recipe and reminds them of when they were growing up’,” Xanthopoulos explains.
Olympian foods also offer traditional and specialty baking products, as well as Easter cookies (koulourakia), paximathia (nistisima and full bake), spices such as Mahlepi and Mastiha as well as red egg dye, while their website includes traditional recipes.
“We love serving the Greek community and making sure that there are products on the family table that make everything feel like home.”
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
