Northern Lebanon’s olive landscape includes several traditional varieties, each shaped by place and cultivation.
What a cultivar tells you
A cultivar is a cultivated variety of a plant. With olives, it can influence how a tree grows, when its fruit ripens, how much oil the fruit yields, and the composition of that oil. “Olive oil” therefore describes a broad family of ingredients, not one uniform material.
Lebanon has a long olive-growing tradition and several local varieties. Souri is one of the country’s best-known olives. Baladi means “local” and is used for traditional Lebanese types. Ayrouni is especially associated with northern Lebanon. These names help describe the agricultural setting around Tripoli, where olive groves and soapmaking have been connected for generations.
The varieties are part of a regional story
The hills and growing areas around Tripoli include family-owned orchards and old olive trees. The region’s traditional varieties are part of that landscape. Their presence does not mean every batch of oil comes from one named cultivar; the exact blend can depend on the harvest and available oil.
Masbanat Awaida says it uses first-press Lebanese olive oil from family-owned orchards in the mountains and olive-growing areas in and around Tripoli. That sourcing keeps the Traditional Olive Oil Soap connected to a regional crop and its growers, rather than describing the ingredient only by a broad country label.
From regional oil to a finished bar
The workshop slowly cooks the oil into soap, then pours, hand cuts, and stamps the bars. The Traditional Olive Oil Soap is made from saponified olive oil and water and cured for six months. Once saponified, the oil is no longer simply oil sitting in the bar; it has been transformed into the soap itself.
The variety names offer a glimpse of the agricultural history behind the ingredient. The bar brings that regional oil into a craft practiced by the Awaida family in Tripoli since 1880.
From our workshop in Tripoli: the Traditional olive oil bar, our perfumed olive oil soaps, or all soaps. Common questions are answered on our FAQ page.