Mission olives
California’s historic olive — brought by Spanish missionaries, still grown across the American West.
The Mission is the olive of California history. It descends from trees the Spanish Franciscan missionaries planted along the California missions from the eighteenth century, and it became the foundation of the American olive industry. Dual-purpose, it is best known as a black-ripe table olive but also presses into a fruity, mild oil. Hardy and cold-tolerant, it is grown across California and into the wider American West.
- Origin
- California · USA (via Spain)
- Type
- Table & oil
- Colour
- Green to black
- Flavour
- Mild, fruity
- History
- Spanish mission trees, 1700s
- Best for
- Black table olives, oil
An American classic
For a long time, “American olive” effectively meant Mission. The trees are vigorous, cold-hardy and adaptable, which let the industry spread through California’s Central Valley. As a table olive the Mission is most often cured black and mild; as an oil it is soft and fruity, a gentle introduction rather than a fierce statement.
It is a useful reminder that olives are not only a Mediterranean crop: they have grown in California for centuries, and today the American West — California especially, plus Texas, Arizona and Georgia — presses real, and sometimes excellent, extra virgin oil. The Mission is where that story began.