Visiting California Olive Ranch

Mention olive trees and someone will bring up allergies. Mention olive oil and another person will start raving about health. 

It’s the perfect example of why I am so drawn to farming and the effort behind what gives us food. Some parts of the sourcing may not be pretty (think of all that pollen during the blooming season for most trees), but the results always are, usually in the form of nutrition and health.

Food rarely comes about without hard work, whether it’s that of one person or a team of employees. Even if you never have the opportunity to do the work yourself, appreciation can be gained by witnessing the process. 

One reason that I’ve fallen for California and never looked back is agriculture. It doesn’t matter if you grow every bit of the food you eat yourself, this place influences you in some way. I’ve always had an interest in ag, it’s the root of my background in nutritional sciences, but it was elevated to a new level when we moved here. 

With new levels come new experiences. Visiting an olive farm was never even on my radar. Then about a year ago, as part of my day job, I was given the great opportunity to work with California Olive Ranch as part of their content marketing team. 

I was buying their olive oil long before then, so it was a perfect fit. And it’s always a bonus when you learn that the people behind the brands you enjoy are as equally top quality as the product.

That partnership has continued. Last fall I was invited up to tour the farm in Artois, California and their pressing and bottling facility. 

I had to remember that I’m a professional adult and this was work so that I wouldn’t squeal or say, “AWESOME!” every time I saw something cool.

I was that excited. 

That excitement was difficult to contain as we pulled up to the rolling hills lined with olive trees. If you learn one thing from this post, it should be this:  oil olives are different than table olives. You wouldn’t eat the olives we saw on the tour. You would press them for their precious oil, which is exactly what COR does so well. 

What’s so interesting about large farms is that they are also outdoor research labs. Tests and experiments are constantly happening to influence yield, maintain or improve product quality and reduce water usage, just to name a few.

Growing food is rooted in traditions, but also ever-changing. 

Most of the trees surrounding us were arbequina which also happens to be one of my favorite oils from COR.

We learned that olive harvest is a quick process. You have to harvest at the peek of ripeness, but before the first frost. The ripeness of the olives determines the flavors you taste in the oils. Green, and you get a more intense grassy flavor. Purple, like some of these pictured below, and you are leaning more towards a mild, buttery oil. 

COR uses innovative machine harvesting methods that allows them to pick high-quality fruit quickly, with minimal damage. This contraption here vibrates to gently pull the olives from the trees. 

As part of the tour, we got to ride on the olive harvester! Talk about a good view. 

It also gave us an outstanding vantage point for watching the harvest. The olives collected here will quickly be transported to a processing facility. We’re talking within a few minutes to a few hours. Heat affects the olive’s quality so they don’t sit around in the truck waiting to be pressed. 

COR has done a great job of outlining the process of making the oil in the How It’s Made section of the website. The olives are crushed, solids are separated from the liquids and then water is separated from the oil. 

There is plenty of brilliant science behind the blending of oils from the pressings of different batches of olives to reach consistent flavors among the different varieties. You know how there are the super cool jobs of bourbon, beer and wine tasters. Well, olive oil tasting is a highly skilled job, too.

Check out the page on Grades of Olive Oil to learn a bit more about the types of olive oils available out there. 

So, I managed to make it through the tour without audible squeals of excitement, but it was close. I walked away with more knowledge that fuels my desire to keep buying California Olive Ranch’s oils and to enjoy the work I get to do with them. 

I have a super simple grilled red onion recipe coming up soon that highlights one of my favorite oils, so stay on the lookout for that. It’s perfect for the outdoor cooking season that is sure to follow the winter weather. 

Disclosure:  I was hosted on this tour by California Olive Ranch as part of the freelance work I do with their team. Posting about the tour is not a form of blog sponsorship here at Fake Food Free. I was not required to write about the tour and received no compensation for doing so. I just though you might like to share in my excitement of seeing an olive harvest! 

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