Frantoio Grove: California Olive Oil EVOOlution
Frantoio Grove Presses On to Locally Grow and Make Award-Winning Olive Oils
Olive oil has evolved a long way from something you merely drizzle over salad greens. In today’s kitchens, it’s a pantry staple and the cornerstone of a healthy diet. With its golden-green color, this liquid treasure has replaced butter in many people’s pans and doesn’t need to come all the way from Italy or Spain. Delicious small-batch artisanal olive oil is grown right here in our local region. Gilroy-based Frantoio Grove is where heart-friendly olive oil is transformed from grove to bottle.
Frantoio Grove’s olive trees crowd the landscape on Monterey Highway. Their long, bending branches are laden with silvery green leaves and marble-sized lime-green olives flecked with pale green. The 30-acre grove is comprised of Tuscan olive trees, most of which are the Frantoio variety, known for its superior oil qualities with distinctive fruity and aromatic characteristics.
In contrast to most of the olive trees grown in California, this small grove is not harvested using automated equipment but is picked by hand and carefully cultivated year round by owner Jeff Martin. During harvest time, which happens when the geese begin their southerly autumn migration, Jeff works long hours, ushering his olives through each step of the olive oil making process, including running his own on-site olive mill. Because of this hands-on approach, Jeff is able to obtain a very high quality, unique product.
“All olives start out as little green gems, and as they mature they start taking on color, turning purple,” says Jeff. Since Frantoio Grove’s olive mill runs for three to four weeks during harvest time, the fruit that gets processed earlier is on the greener side of ripe. “Being greener translates to a stronger, pungent, more herbaceous, grassy flavor.” Jeff then balances the peppery flavors of the younger olives with older, mature fruit that adds buttery, mellow character tones.
The olive oil’s distinctive taste has garnered many awards. Most notably Frantoio Grove’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil won gold medals from the California Olive Oil Council, Olive Oil Japan, New York International EVOO Competition and the Los Angeles International EVOO Competition for the 2018 harvest.
Delicious and nutritious, this locally grown olive oil has endless possibilities in recipes—so savor the flavors and explore them in your kitchen!
Frantoio Grove can be purchased on their website and at Draeger’s Market and Bi-Rite Markets.
