Olives101.com

by C. Jerome Crow, While prices are good, the outlook for this year’s olive crop is less than ideal, according to the Olive Growers Council of California. While this year’s olive prices may be reasonably good, that doesn’t mean it will be a good year if there isn’t enough fruit to cover the cost, said [...]

Salads can make great eating most of the year, but they have a special place on summertime menus. It’s easy enough to throw into a salad whatever’s at hand, but it’s also fun to try specific combinations of ingredients for a change of pace. Olives in various forms give salads a flavor lift, antipasto-style. Here [...]

by Kathy Coatney, Olive set is light this year Bloom time weather is blamed The full impact of the February freeze on California’s 2006 olive crop wasn’t revealed until early June, after the bloom. Now olive growers realize that the damage was extensive-to both trees and bloom. “I think that we can reasonably say that [...]

California Olive Growers, former producers of Oberti Olives, have ceased operation and closed their Madera, CA facility. All equipment from the factory will be sold at a public auction starting on Tuesday, October 10th. The humble beginnings of Oberti Olives began in the 1930′s on a family-run farm, where Oberti began producing olive oil. The [...]

Santa Barbara growers face lean harvest By Franck Nelson, Santa Barbara News Press Olive growers in Santa Barbara County are bracing for what is expected to be their leanest harvest in 25 years. The culprit is the weather, but not the recent hot spell; the high temperatures that troubled many crops were easily handled by [...]

By Nicholas Boer, BRUSCHETTA IS TOAST, literally. But it’s also trendy — especially in summer, when chefs top it with tomatoes. To earn the name, however, all you need is good olive oil and coarse salt. Peter Chastain, chef of Prima in Walnut Creek, calls bruschetta “the quintessential food” of Tuscany and Umbria, surmising its [...]

By Kyle Phillips, Olive oil was Athena’s gift to the Ancients, and she gave much better than we knew, as I discovered at a conference organized by Chianti Classico’s olive oil producers: It turns out that extra virgin oil, that obtained by cold-pressing the olives and separating the oil from the paste via press or [...]

By Marie Vasari, Herald Staff Writer. Founder sells company to fellow fan of liquid gold Betty Pustarfi has made a living in the oil trade. The kind pressed from olives, not the other kind. For a dozen years, she’s been on a gastronomic mission to educate the world about olive oil, hosting seminars and tastings [...]

• Crop less than half of last year’s • Weather is blamed For Central Valley olive growers, who produce virtually all of the U.S. olive crop, 2006 is shaping up to be a disastrous year.

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company. By Beth Daley, Americans consume olive oil for their health, but in Morocco, the residue is fouling the water Morocco is launching an all-out effort to export more of the heart-healthy oil to meet Westerners’ growing demand. But to export agricultural products, it must meet international environmental standards, which [...]

By Christine Delsol, Sonoma’s more famous winter olive festival aside, late summer is prime time for tributes to the small, firm, briny fruit. Paso Robles (San Luis Obispo County) stages its third annual olive festival Aug. 26, with tastings, cooking demonstrations and the inevitable olive oil ice cream, courtesy of olive oil producer Olivas de [...]

By Blake Nicholson, Russian olives have been planted in the United States since homesteading days, but some states now view the trees with such disdain that they’ve banned them. Richard Fast doesn’t want that mindset to pass North Dakota’s borders. “We’re just happy to have a tree that survives,” the New Salem rancher said while [...]

Click here to watch the video By Vince Gerasol, (CBS) SKOKIE They’re small, but flavorful. There are more than 70 kinds of olives, and their oils are finding their way into more and more kitchens. CBS 2’s Vince Gerasole reports there are many ways to fit olive oil into your Table for 2. Whether in [...]

Summer is the time many of us turn to cooking and entertaining. One ingredient you’ll need to have on hand all year long is olive oil. Keep the following shopping tips in mind when in a store:A bottle labeled ”extra virgin” means the oil has been made from the first cold pressing of the olives [...]

Not quite. There are essentially three types of oil. While there aren’t dramatic differences among them, each is suited for specific cooking needs, according to the North American Olive Oil Association: – Extra-virgin olive oil has the most full-bodied taste and aroma of all olive oils. It is often used in salads and on vegetables, [...]