Archive for the 'News' Category

03 Jul

Tunisia olive oil exports up 15 pct in Q1

Tunisia, the world’s fourth-largest olive oil producer, increased sales abroad by 15 percent to 89,300 tonnes over the first three months of the year, government data showed on Tuesday.
Olive oil represents half the country’s farm exports which account for more than 10 percent of total exports.
Tunisia sells 90 percent of its olive output abroad, [...]

03 Jul

California closer to standards for olive oil

Would make state definitions conform to world standards
Current California law does not define olive oil grades

A bill to update California’s definitions of olive oil grades to conform to international standards is headed to a vote by the California Assembly.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee voted Wednesday to approve Senate Bill 634, authored by Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D [...]

25 Jun

J.L. Morison launches Carbonell in India

J.L. Morison (India) Ltd, part of the $ 250 Million Rasoi Group has forayed into the health food segment with the launch of Carbonell, the world’s leading olive oil Brand in India.
The Brand Ambassador for Carbonell in India, the eminent Master Chef, Sanjeev Kapoor, unveiled two world class zero cholesterol products under the Carbonell [...]

24 Jun

1500 years Old Olive Tree

This olive tree is over 1,500 years old and stands on the Ionian island of Ithaka, the home of the hero, Odysseus who returned there after the Trojan Wars.
Astronomers have now confirmed that Homer’s description of the solar eclipse when Odysseus got home and reclaimed his wife, Penelope from her suitors, points conclusively to 16th [...]

23 Jun

the only olive harvester in the market that actually puts the olives in a bin

By Chloe Warburton,
Harvest time usually conjures up images of workers picking olives over the space of a long day, but technology has created a new and quick way to bring the crops in.
Max Boyle, owner and manager of Oil Hydraulics in Shepparton, has hit the jackpot with his OCCA Olive Harvester, a machine that attaches [...]

23 Jun

Palestinian olive oil could soon be the 1st oil to receive Fairtrade status.

Last month, representatives of the Fairtrade Foundation and international Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) held a workshop in Ramallah on the process of certification, Fairtrade price setting and producer support for Palestinian olive farmers.
Central to the workshop was Zaytoun, a UK-based co-operative community interest company (CIC). All of its suppliers attended and local co-ordination for the [...]

23 Jun

Olive oil prices in India to remain stable; not to rise

The Indian Olive Association (IOA) said Monday the product’s prices would remain stable and, contrary to expectations, would not fall as a result of the government’s reduction of import duties to 7.5 percent from April 1.
In April, the IOA had stated that olive oil prices were expected to fall by 10-15 percent on fresh imports [...]

23 Jun

Harmony of Turkish cuisine with olive oil

Max Thomae, a famous chef at the Mövenpick Hotel, says a good olive oil enriches the flavor of food. Before creating the concept of “blond flavors,” he conducted long and detailed research on oils and their proper pairing with food. He describes olive oil as a culture and uses it in every food and in [...]

22 Jun

Sippin’ and slurpin’ olive oil

By Stephanie Oswald,

Ollo Extra Virgin olive oil, at just $11 per bottle, is a fabulous hostess gift, and something to keep on hand in your own cupboard.
I must admit, when I was invited to “slurp” olive oil out of a special glass while lunching at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Atlanta, I was a bit skeptical.
This [...]

20 Jun

CA: Proposed measures look at olive oil labeling, quality

By Elizabeth Larson,
State Sen. Wiggins introduces bill to modernize definitions.
California olive oil makers are raising the bar when it comes to the quality and quantity of olive oil produced in the United States, and an industry association is supporting more stringent olive oil grade standards.
State Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, has introduced Senate Bill 634 [...]

19 Jun

largest olive mill in North America set to open in fall

Oroville-based California Olive Ranch Inc. continues to make progress on building the largest olive mill in North America.
The mill, being built near Artois, is expected to process 76,000 gallons of olive oil a day.
The company has invested more than $30 million in its Glenn County operations, which includes a 1.500 olive orchard.
Glenn County olive growers [...]

19 Jun

Piantatella - Extravirgin Olive Oil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOYuQCs696g

19 Jun

NZ: Mukilteo couple’s olive oil is a Northwest rarity

By Debra Smith,
Charles and Gayle Pancerzewski didn’t know much about olive oil when they bought a 25-acre olive grove in New Zealand.
They learned fast, after the man tending their land went bankrupt and they discovered he had planted a variety of olives that won’t produce at their balmy northern New Zealand grove.
That’s how Charles Pancerzewski, [...]

17 Jun

Documentary: Il Buco’s Olive Oil Harvested by Seniors

Il Buco owner Donna Lennard will debut her olive-oil documentary, La Raccolta, at the Food Film Festival tomorrow night. The film captures the waning traditions of Umbria’s olive-oil harvest, and a tasting of what Lennard calls the region’s “full-flavored, herbaceous, and spicy oil” will follow. Lennard attended NYU’s graduate film program, but this is [...]

17 Jun

Organic Olive Growing: Biol Prize at the Ifoam Congress

Which is the best 2008 organic olive oil in the world, where does it come from, who produced the best blended and which extra virgin olive oil presented the best label and packaging?
The most important rewards in the world for organic olive growing - Biol Prize, Biolblended and BiolPack - will will be handed out [...]

11 Jun

Tradition lives on in olives

It’s been 11 years since Skarmoutsos decided to embrace his family heritage and become an olive farmer.
Mr Skarmoutsos owns Ambrosia Olive Farm, Eltons Road, Silverdale.
He bought it in 1997 as a bare 40 acre property.
Within two years he had covered it with 4000 olive trees.
Mr Skarmoutsos said his family had been growing olives in the [...]

09 Jun

Kalamata Queen reigns over olives

By Kyra Gottesman,
Jennifer Davis is The Kalamata Queen, her kingdom is a small orchard with the Sutter Buttes to the south, Lassen Peak to the north, the Thermalito Afterbay to the west and Oroville Dam to the east.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” asks Davis, surveying her silver-leafed olive trees and the magnificent 360-degree view. “I love my [...]

09 Jun

Olive Oil 101

By Natalie Tadic,

Shirley Bougourd knows olive oil. She tells me she’s still learning, that the past three years of running The Olive Pit, haven of oil and good taste in general, has been quite the experience; that she’s still taking in new information each day. But to the average lay person, Shirley knows her stuff. [...]

06 Jun

Fair exports discussed at olive industry meeting

By Melinda,
The international olive industry is one step closer to implementing regulations that will support fair exports and consumers interest.
The step follows a hot topic session coordinated by the Australian Olive Association (AOA) at the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) annual meeting held in Seattle, USA, on 20 May.
Paul Miller, president of the AOA, was [...]

04 Jun

SOS eyes ‘many’ olive oil companies; admits interest in Unilever’s Bertolli

SOS Cuetara SA is studying the acquisition of ‘many’ olive oil companies and has admitted its interest in international food manufacturer Unilever Plc.’s Italian olive oil brand Bertolli, according to SOS chairman Jesus Salazar.
Speaking to Thomson Financial News on the sidelines of a small-midcaps forum, Salazar said that it is studying ‘many companies’, and that [...]

04 Jun

Mexican Olive Oil: Ensenada to Fairway

By Florence Fabricant,
This extra virgin olive oil, Fairway’s house brand Mexican Mission, made entirely from Mission olives on a small estate near Ensenada in Baja California, is about as subtle as a mariachi band. It is sunny, fairly viscous and green, with substantial olive and sage flavors.
Olive oil figures only minimally in traditional Mexican cookery, [...]

03 Jun

Head Of IOOC Suggests Olive Cultivation In Southeast Turkey

The head of an international olive council recommended on Friday that Turkey should cultivate olive in the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) region.
GAP is a multi-sector and integrated regional development effort approached in the context of sustainable development covering nine provinces including Adiyaman, Batman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Kilis, Mardin, Siirt, Sanliurfa and Sirnak in the basins of [...]

02 Jun

USDA Looks at Revising Olive Oil Grades

The USDA is seeking comments on proposals to change olive oil grading in the United States to bring it in line with international standards.
Lloyd C. Day, administrator of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, said, “The California Olive Oil Council, a trade association of olive oil producers, petitioned USDA to revise the current standards to conform to [...]

02 Jun

Would anyone like a slice of olive oil?

Spanish food scientists experiment with new textures and colours of olive oil.
A team of researchers at CTAEX (Centro Tecnológico Agroalimentario de Extremadura) have given olive oil a whole new look and feel in the hope that this will diversify and extend the use of what many people in Spain call liquid gold.
Spain is one of [...]

01 Jun

Australian Olives bear fruit in Victoria

Consumers may pay less for Australian olive oil after a bumper Victorian olive harvest. There was no harvest in many Victorian olive groves last year because of the drought.
Olive grower Richard Baum says a third of his trees will provide enough product to supply his markets.
“Probably the good news for consumers is that, given the [...]