BY ABBIE SCIANAMBLO AND GIBSON THOMAS

Indigenous to Mediterranean climes, the olive tree is now cultivated in almost every part of the world where climate conditions make it possible, and profitable. The origin of the first olive trees planted in California are as murky as olio nuovo, the type of olive oil which is bottled soon after processing instead of allowing the particulate matter from newly pressed oil to settle out before bottling. It is widely accepted, however, that by the early 1800s the Franciscan fathers living on missions scattered across California were cultivating olives and pressing them for oil. As secular farmers began to recognize the “gold” to be mined from olives and their oil, they began to plant cuttings from these original “Mission trees” and import new varietals, as well. Owing to the fickleness of American palates (many preferring the deodorized cottonseed oil of David Wesson, or oil made from corn), and the established market for olive oils imported from Italy and Spain, the economic viability of California’s olive oil industry has never been a certainty. Perhaps until today.

The blossoming of California’s olive oil industry has dovetailed the wine industry, according to Kris Jaeger of Jaeger Family Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Jaeger is today carrying on the vision of her mother in law, Lila Jaeger, which began in 1989 when Lila found some very old olive trees at the back of Rutherford Hill Winery in Napa, which the Jaeger’s then owned. Wanting to nurture the trees back into “production shape,” Lila sought the help of several local and regional experts, including George Martin, Professor of Pomology at the University of California at Davis, and Paul Vossen, farm advisor for Sonoma County. Under their tutelage, in 1991, Lila became one of the first people in California to produce extra virgin olive oil.

It was not long before other people in the area began to show interest in growing their own olives for the production of olive oil, and in July of 1991, Lila, along with Vossen, Martin, Ridgley Evers of Healdsburg’s DaVero Olive Oil, Greg Reisinger of Glen Ellen’s BR Cohn Olive Oil Company, and Nick Sciabica of Sciabica’s California Extra Virgin Olive Oil (producers of olive oil in the Modesto region since 1936) convened around a picnic table at Jaeger’s Rutherford Hill to form what would become the precursor to today’s California Olive Oil Council (the “COOC”). Others who were involved at the beginning of this burgeoning industry were Ed Stolman, co-owner today with Deborah Rogers of The Olive Press (with locations in Napa and Sonoma), Ken Stutz of Stutz Olive Oil Company of Piedmont, and Neil Blomquist, who was later to become the President and CEO of Spectrum Organic Products, Inc., the Petaluma-based leading producer of natural and organic culinary and nutraceutical oils, condiments and essential fatty acid supplement oils in North America. According to Evers, the group thought forming the olive oil council would enable them to establish the standards for the production of extra virgin olive oil in the U.S. so that consumers would have a way to recognize high quality oil, as opposed to the unregulated oil coming into the country from abroad.

Today, the COOC is a non-profit trade and marketing association with over 300 members, representing over 90 percent of all olive oil production in California. Its stated mission is “to promote the growing of olives and the production of olive oil in California.” The COOC also “supports certified olive oil standards and provides grower, producer and consumer education.” To earn a coveted COOC seal for its label, an oil must contain less than 0.5 percent free oleic acid (commonly referred to as the “acidity level”), demonstrate a low level of primary oxidation and contain “positive taste elements and no taste defects,” as determined in a blind tasting conducted by at least 8 members of an expert panel. (It should be noted that the 0.5 percent maximum is lower than the 0.8 percent currently allowed under the International Olive Oil Council standards.) In 2008, 172 olive oils earned this seal.

In an effort to further education and research about the olive and olive oil industry, the University of California at Davis opened the Olive Center in January of 2008, as part of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. In addition to serving as a community and consumer educational resource, the Olive Center promotes collaboration between UC Davis, olive producers, and the community.

Researchers there study new olive cultivars, harvesting methods, olive fruit fly control, olive oil processing, and the sensory evaluation of olive oil. Find out more about this Center and its programs at www.olivecenter.ucdavis.edu. Why all of this “fuss,” you may ask? Well, California olives and olive oils are now big business. As of December 2008, there were 21,000 acres of olive trees planted in California for the production of extra virgin olive oil. It is estimated that 10,000 new acres will be planted each year in California, through 2020, to supply the growing demands of consumers for extra virgin olive oil. As a state, we produce roughly 2 percent of the world’s olive production.

In Marin, Napa, and Sonoma counties, we have the opportunity to experience the olive harvest first hand each year which can range from October through early February, depending on the exact location of the trees. Thankfully, we get to enjoy the fruits of this harvest all year long.

Two of California’s olive oil industry leaders have given us very special places to do this—Frantoio Ristorante & Olive Oil Co. in Mill Valley and DaVero Olive Oil in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley.

Frantoio, which is owned by Roberto Zecca, a former president of the COOC, is the only restaurant in the U.S. with an in-house, state of the art, certified organic olive oil production facility. Year-round, you can view their press and learn about how olive oil is made while enjoying an authentic Italian meal. For more information or to purchase Zecca’s “Proprietor’s Blend” online, visit www.frantoio.com.

In an upset reminiscent of the 1976 “Judgment of Paris” in the wine world, DaVero’s 1998 Dry Creek Estate extra virgin olive oil won a blind tasting conducted in New York that year by a delegation from Italy’s Gambero Rosso. The panel thought they were tasting all Tuscan extra virgin olive oils—they were, but it was all Tuscan olive varietals, not just those actually grown and harvested in Tuscany! Today, Ridgley Evers and his wife, Colleen McGlynn, owners of DaVero Olive Oil, can be found most Thursdays and Saturdays selling their award-winning Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Meyer Lemon Extra Virgin Olive Oil at the Marin Civic Center Farmers’ Market. They also sell their oils at the Healdsburg and Santa Rosa Farmers’ markets. Tours, classes and tastings are offered on their 22 acre Dry Creek property at certain times of the year. For more information, visit www.davero.com or call 707.431.8000.

This article is a collaboration between Abbie Scianamblo, co-founder with her family of Sorelle Paradiso Organic Olives and Extra Virgin Olive Oil (www.sorelleparadiso.com), and Gibson Thomas, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief.

RECIPE

TORTA DI ARANCIA