The California Olive
ABOUT US
A Heritage Of Cultivating & Sharing Gourmet Foods
13 Years of CURATING SoCal's finest Culinary Delights
We are a family, veteran owned small business located in Menifee, CA. We started in 2011 offering fresh pressed olive oil from our family's grove at farmers markets in the Orange County and San Diego areas.
Thirteen years later, we have partnered with local producers to offer olive and avocado oil grown in California and aged balsamic vinegars imported from Modena, Italy as well as honey, tea, spices, salts, soaps, jams and jellies from our San Diego farmers market friends.
We hope you enjoy a taste of what California has to offer!
Thank you for supporting our small business!
~ Dave & Alesia Foster ~
How OLIVE Oil is made
Tradition, Passion & Loving Care
1
Patient Growing
Dating back to ancient Greece, olive trees are one of the oldest cultivated trees in the world, prized not only for their flavorful fruit but also for their many ornamental attributes. With their silvery foliage, gnarled trunks, and clusters of fragrant white flowers in spring, olive trees grow best in a sunny Mediterranean climate, like that found along the California coast.
2
Hand Picked Harvest
Most olives are ready to harvest when the juice turns cloudy, at the “green ripe” stage in late September and darkening to the “naturally black ripe” stage by early December. Olives in this stage have a high oil content and are easily bruised. If harvested for eating they need to be handled with care; handpicking is essential as damaged fruit will usually not survive the curing process.
3
Curing for Taste & Texture
For edibility, olives are processed, or “cured,” to remove the oleuropein, which is found in the leaves and fruit of the tree. Oleuropein is non-toxic but extremely bitter. Curing neutralizes this compound in different ways, each resulting in particular tastes and textures. The process is a gratifying reconnection with a deep agricultural and culinary history.
