Cultivated olive trees are all of the species olea europaea which are believed to have originated in Crete and Syria.  It is thought that olive farming began in Crete as early as 2500 B.C.  The ancient palace of Knossos in Crete has a Room of the Olive Press.  From Crete and Syria, olive cultivation spread south and west along the shores of Northern Africa and north and west along the shores of southern Europe.

     In the ancient world, olive oil was used not only as a food, but also to lubricate the skin, as fuel in lamps, and to anoint rulers.   "Christ" means anointed, from the Greek chrism, "to anoint with oil."  The olive branch and olive oil were symbols of peace, permanence, and regeneration.  As you know, the dove that returned to Noah's ark brought an olive branch, a symbol of restored life.

     Today, most of the world's olive oil is produced in three countries: Spain (45%), Italy (25%), and Greece (20%).  Small amounts also come from Turkey, Tunisia, Portugal, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Albania, Algeria, Argentina, the area that used to be Yugoslavia, Libya, Jordan, and the United States, and a few other countries, most of them in the Middle East.  As you can see, olive oil is primarily a Mediterranean commodity.   The United States, for all of its recent efforts in olive oil production, is still responsible for only about .5% of the world's production. 

     The olive tree is quite hardy and can grow in poor soil with little water.  Its roots actually help prevent erosion from rain and wind.   Olive trees grow slowly, taking from five to seven years to produce fruit.   When they do, each tree yields only three to four quarts of oil!  However, they can live for over 1,000 years.  At the Trevi oil production facility, there is an olive tree that is 1,800 years old.  In Palestine, there are trees that date back to the time of Christ. Heavy frosts will kill olive trees.  In 1956 and 1985, heavy frosts devastated the olive trees in Provence, France.  Frosts regularly kill the olive trees in Trevi requiring new plantings.

Olive Harvest and Oil Extraction

     Different regions pick the olives at different times.  In Chinati, the olives are picked early when they are green and rose in color and just ripe.   In Liguria, they are picked late when ripe and sweet.  This obviously affects the taste of the oil from different regions. Ligurian oil is known for its sweet, mellow flavor.

     Olives are a rather small fruit.  That makes the harvesting of olives difficult.  Furthermore, when they are picked, the fruit cannot be bruised or cut.  That will cause oxidation and fermentation, and in turn high acidity, which is ruinous to the taste of the oil.  Hence, great care must be taken in the harvesting of olives. 

     The finest farms hand pick the olives.  Other farms put nets or tarps on the ground around each tree, and hit the branches or shake the tree to cause the olives to fall.  Some use utensils with claws or rakes to remove the olives.  In every case, the harvesting is laborious and time consuming. 

     Moreover, the olives must be processed immediately.   Ideally the very day the olives are harvested, they are crushed and the oil made.   This is because olives easily oxidize and ferment, which ruins the taste of oil.   The olives are washed, deleafed, and then crushed. Crushing is done the old way in a mill with huge granite stone wheels or by hammermill.  The result is an olive paste or mash. 

     There are four basic ways the oil is extracted from the paste.

(1) A discontinuous hydraulic press is used.  The paste is spread on round nylon or hemp mats which fit on steel disks. The disks of paste are stacked one on top of the other and  then subjected to a hydraulic press.  Olive liquid drips out of the edges of the disks and is collected.  The olive liquid is put into a centrifuge which separates the water from the oil.  This is called "discontinuous" because the pressing is done in batches.

(2) A continuous centrifuge press is used.  The olive paste or mash is put in a primary centrifuge which separates the olive liquid from the olive solids.   The liquid is then put into another centrifuge which separates the water from the oil.  This is called "continuous" because the extraction is done in one continuous process.

(3) A sinolea "press" is used.  It is a machine with steel blades which cut into the olives.  The oil clings to the blades and is then removed and collected.  The machine is not really a press since the olives are not subjected to pressure.  This is the process used for Trevi oil.

(4) The olive paste is put into a drum which slowly turns.  The olive liquid is drawn off by the pull of gravity.  This is called the lagrima ("tears") method and is used for Nunez de Prado oil.  The liquid extracted without pressure is called Flor del Aceite ("flower of the oil").

     The oil obtained by each of these methods is known as first pressings and cold pressed.  Before it can be labeled "extra-virgin" oil, however, it must first pass a couple of tests, one for acidity and one for taste.   The acid level must be below 1% and it must be judged to have perfect taste by a panel of experts certified by the IOOC (International Olive Oil Council).  The IOOC is headquartered in Madrid and regulates 98% of olive oil production.

     The olive mash can then be further processed using heat and water to remove more of the oil.  Pure olive oil is a mixture of extra-virgin oil and refined virgin oil with an acidity level less than 1.5%.  Pomace oil is oil extracted using solvents.

     Italy permits oil purchased from other countries to be labeled a product of Italy so long as it is bottled in Italy.  As a result, Italians buy large amounts of oil from Mediterranean countries.  To be sure an oil is actually from Italian trees, you need to know the background of the oil.  All of our Italian oils are from Italian regional farms and thus Italian grown olives.

     Many Mediterranean olive producers use organic methods of agriculture.  One reason for this is that the cultivation of the trees at the farms goes back several hundred years, long before chemicals were used.  The old methods of agriculture have been used right up to the present day.  This is the case with Gaeta, Nunes de Prado, Mas Portell, and Lerida oils.

     The case is slightly different with Kalamata Gold.  The olives for Kalamata Gold are grown on the Mani Peninsula in the Peloponese region of Greece.  Most of the olive oil in Greece comes from Mani.  Fritz Bauel, an Austrian, discovered the glories of Kalamata oil just over twenty years ago.  He formed a co-op to promote the organic cultivation of the olives, in this case the Koroneiki variety.  Now an area of Kalamata is devoted to the organic process.  Our Kalamata Gold is from that co-op.

United States Olive Oil Production

     Olive trees were probably first brought to North America by Franciscan priests.  The site of the first groves was most likely San Diego. Throughout the 19th century, olive groves spread in California and so did oil production.   However, oil production died off as other less expensive oils became popular with the American public.  However, the Sciabica family in Modesto has been producing extra-virgin oils since 1936.  Olive nurture spread when Lila Jaeger discovered trees on her Rutherford Hill Winery.  In 1990, Ridgely Evers and Nan McEvoy brought in trees from Tuscany and now produce fine oils. Ridgely Evers' DaVero olive oil was the first California oil to win the extra-virgin label from the International Olive Oil Council.  That was in 1997.  In the same year the Californian Olive Oil Council was formed and presided over by Ken Stutz.  It has awarded its seal to 17 California oils.

     The International Olive Oil Council, headquartered in Madrid, requires extra virgin olive oils pass a taste test by trained experts to receive its seal and designation "extra virgin."  Up until this year, that has not been a requirement of the California Olive Oil Council, which was established in 1992.   However, in January 1999, a panel of 24 expert tasters was installed.  The leaders of the panel are (1) Paul Vossen, the University of California at Davis Cooperative Extension farm adviser in Sonoma and Marin counties, (2) Roberto Zecca, an owner of Frantoio Risorante and Olive Mill in Mill Valley, California, and (3) the tasting panel leader for the International Olive Oil Council.  The tasters are and will be trained by a master taster from the International Olive Oil Council.  Thus, in the future, oils from California will have to pass a taste test to receive the California Council's seal.

     In addition, the president of the California Olive Oil Council, Ken Stutz, is working to link California olive oil with California wine by having joint festivals, a practice in Europe.  This was done for the first time in the United States the weekend, April 17 and 18, 1999, at the 17th Annual San Diego National Wine Competition.  There was an olive oil competition at the festival.  This is very encouraging, for fine olive oils are very much like wines in their unique flavors.   More and more Americans are coming to realize that and enjoy superb oils.

     Extra virgin olive oil is really good for you.   Some physicians tell us to rid our kitchens of margarine and any oil but olive oil.   That is a bit too extreme for me.  However, the health benefits of olive oil are well documented.  Olive oil fights chronic disease and promotes adult life expectancy.  It is very high in monounsaturated fats, rich in cancer fighting antioxidants, and promotes HDL, "good" cholesterol.  We all need the right fats to be healthy, to have a strong immune system and blood stream clear of bad cholesterol, and olive oil has those good fats (lipids).  In addition, extra virgin olive oil is best because it is completely natural, cold extracted, a process which preserves all the beneficial nutrients and chemical properties, with no additives whatsoever.  Moreover, many are made from olives grown with age old organic agricultural methods.

     In our home we use olive oil almost exclusively now.  We do all of our frying with it, including fried eggs.  And we enjoy it at most dinners.

     When we have dinner, we consume the extra virgin olive oil in two main ways, both simple but delicious: with bread and with salad.  Each of us has a saucer at our dinner place into which we pour some oil.  We grind a little black pepper over it; our children do the same but also add a little freshly ground parmesan cheese and/or garlic salt.  We say "little," because otherwise the flavor of the oil is masked.  We take a wedge of oven warmed flat bread, which is about the thickness of focaccia or pan pizza crust, dip it into the oil and eat it as a side dish to the main meal. We enjoy savoring the taste of different oils each dinner.  It is one of the simple but glorious pleasures of life.

     As for the salad, we cut up leaf or Romaine lettuce and put a portion on individual salad plates.  We then add coarsely chopped avocado, some chopped sweet green, yellow, and/or red pepper, the latter being nice for color, and maybe a little chopped celery.  We then spoon over the crest of each salad some crumbled feta cheese and sprinkle on some pine nuts.  The olive oil is added next, four teaspoons dribbled over the top, and then two teaspoons of condimento balsamic vinegar.   We actually pour the oil and vinegar into a spoon and dribble it from the spoon so we do not get too much.  Too much overpowers the flavors of the salad ingredients.   A little sea salt and pepper is then ground over each portion.  Don't forget the bit of sea salt; it lifts all the flavors.  We then put a few Greek olives on the edge of each salad plate for visual and gustatory pleasure.  Now, of course, we vary the salad ingredients as the season allows.  When our herb garden is growing, we add a little fresh parsley, chives, French sorrel, and always just a bit of mint (again, too much will overpower the salad).  When Vidalia onions are available, we add a few rings of sweet onion.  When the garden produces tomatoes, we will add a few cherry tomatoes.  The salad base is great for lots of variations including the kind of cheese used, although we really like feta.

     So using extra virgin olive oil is really easy. We dribble it on sliced garden tomatoes, fresh asparagus from the garden, toasted bread rubbed with a garlic clove, and so forth.  We will be adding the text, Olive Oil: From Tree to Table by Peggy Knickerbocker, to the web site.  It has lots of information and recipes with gorgeous color illustrations.  She recommends many of the oils we carry.  She suggests that when selecting an oil for a dish, use the oil from the region that originated the dish: French Provencal for dishes of that region, Ligurian for dishes of that region, Tuscany for dishes of that region, and so forth.

Glory and Joy of Olive Oil