U.C. Davis Olive Oil Gets Rave Reviews
Thousands of campus olive trees were a hazard, pelting the bike paths with slippery fruit. Rather than spray them into sterility, one university decided to harvest, press and sell the oil — and stumbled into making some genuinely good stuff.
Ornamental olive trees are planted on campuses and city streets all over California for their silvery good looks — and every autumn they cause the same problem, dropping thousands of oily, staining, ankle-turning fruit onto the pavement below. The usual response is to spray the trees so they never fruit, at some cost and with a faint absurdity: killing the fruit of the olive to keep the paths clean. One university took the opposite view. If the trees insist on fruiting, why not pick the olives and press them?
From liability to asset
The economics turned out to be quietly compelling. Harvesting the fruit removed the slip hazard and the legal exposure that came with it; stopping the spraying saved money and chemicals; and the oil itself brought in modest revenue. A nuisance that used to cost money to suppress became a product that earned a little instead. It is a neat illustration of a principle that runs right through good olive growing: the fruit is only waste if you decide to waste it.
Why the oil was actually good
The surprise was not that they could make oil, but that it won praise. That came down to doing the unglamorous things right: harvesting at the correct moment rather than whenever was convenient, and building in real sensory analysis and data-gathering to guide the blend year on year. Tasters described one bottling in the language of a serious oil — notes of tobacco, leather and age — and the small runs sold out within months. Good oil, it turns out, is less about a magic grove than about timing and care.
What it says about the rest of us
The point is not that campus olives rival the great estates — the volumes are tiny and the ambition modest. The point is that even ‘waste’ fruit, harvested and pressed with attention, can make an oil worth drinking, while famous fruit handled carelessly makes a poor one. Care at harvest and press matters more than pedigree. It is the same lesson a shopper can carry to the shelf: judge oil by how fresh and how well made it is, not by how grand its origin sounds.
| Origin of the fruit | Ornamental campus olive trees, California |
|---|---|
| The problem | Fruit drop — a slip hazard and staining nuisance |
| The old fix | Spraying to prevent fruiting, at a cost |
| The new fix | Harvest, press and sell the oil |
| What made it good | Correct harvest timing; sensory analysis; careful blending |
| The lesson | Care beats pedigree; waste is a choice |
The takeaways
- Timing beats terroir — a well-timed harvest from modest trees can outshine careless handling of famous fruit.
- Waste is a decision, not a fact — fruit is only useless if you treat it as such.
- Sensory analysis is not fuss — tasting and measuring is how a blend gets consistently good.
- Judge oil by freshness and craft, not by the grandeur of the name.
Campus olive oil: common questions
Can you really make good oil from ornamental olive trees?
Yes — if the fruit is harvested at the right time and pressed with care. The variety matters less than the timing and handling.
Why do cities spray olive trees?
To stop them fruiting, because the dropped olives stain pavements and make them slippery. Harvesting the fruit instead solves the same problem while yielding oil.
What did the oil taste like?
Tasters described a blend in serious terms — notes of tobacco, leather and age — the language you would use for a well-made oil, not a novelty.
Why did small university runs sell out so fast?
Limited volume, local curiosity and genuinely good quality — a combination that clears shelves quickly.
What is the wider lesson?
That care at harvest and pressing matters more than a prestigious origin. ‘Waste’ fruit, well handled, beats famous fruit handled badly.
I love this story because it quietly demolishes the idea that great oil needs a famous grove. Campus trees that were being poisoned to stop them fruiting made an award-worthy oil for one simple reason : someone picked at the right moment and pressed with care. Turn that around when you shop — a fresh, well-made oil from an unglamorous source will beat a prestigious label handled carelessly, every time.
Based on the widely reported case of a California university pressing oil from its campus olive trees; general olive oil craft from standard sources.