Press Room

Not all oil spills are a disaster.

A blooming interest among Texas foodies and health advocates for premium, fresh and flavorful olive oils, both domestic and foreign, is bearing fruit for husband and wife Shannon and Santina Forrest.

Seven months ago, the couple uncorked Olivada Olive Oil Tasting Room & Gourmet Boutique in Old Town Keller. Embracing the "try before you buy" concept, Olivada offers consumers tasting sessions of its high-quality extra virgin and flavor-infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars, many of them cultivated from small, artisan orchards.Read more

The USA is the world's third-largest consumer of olive oil, but a paltry 1% of the silky liquid so beloved by Rachael Ray and a host of chefs is produced here. An entrepreneurial band of olive ranchers wants to change that - using what some in the industry term an "outlandish" growing method borrowed from Spain.

The planting technique, called super-high-density planting, or SHD, means that this year, the United States is set to surpass France in the production of extra virgin olive oil, says Patricia Darragh of the California Olive Oil Council in Berkeley, Calif. Read more

The UC Davis Olive Oil Chemistry Laboratory collaborated with the Australian Oils Research Laboratory to evaluate the quality of extra virgin olive oils sold on retail shelves in California. The two laboratories evaluated the oils based on standards and testing methods established by the International Olive Council (IOC) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as several newer standards and testing methods adopted in Germany and Australia. These latter tests were adopted to help detect the adulteration of extra virgin olive oils with refined olive oils.Read more

The USDA defines olive oil as the oil obtained solely from the fruit of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.), to the exclusion of oils obtained using solvents or re-esterification processes and of any mixture with oils of other kinds.

The USDA's regulations include the following grades:

U.S. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is virgin olive oil which has excellent flavor and odor (median of defects equal to zero and median of fruitiness greater than zero) and a free fatty acid content, expressed as oleic acid, of not more than 0.8 grams per 100 grams, and meets additional requirements as outlined.Read more

Extra virgin, light, with lemon, unfiltered, cold-pressed: the variety of olive oil on most supermarket shelves is dazzling. But what does it all mean?

These terms might be common currency among foodies and the farmer's market crowd, but they have never been enforceable, or legally defined in the United States - until now.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in April adopted scientifically verifiable standards for nomenclature such as "virgin" or "extra virgin." They will start enforcing them in October, just in time for the harvest of trees that are now in full flower.Read more

The machine looks like an alien's udder. Six blue spring-loaded teats from the stainless and flex-tubed contraption fill and staunch the olive oil flow into bottles. Each glass bottle disengages and moves to a table for corking and labeling. The bottling machine and its companion oil press are state-of-the-art equipment, the first ones in Texas.

The assistants move with the rhythm of the machine, but rather than working mechanically, they are joking, smiling, and carefully finishing their production line work. The activity is celebratory and historic in this Olympic pool-sized frantoia - the mill. This work at Texas Olive Ranch marks the largest commercial crop ever harvested in the state. Above a nearby door is a sign that reads: "In Olives We Trust." Read more

A film about people of vision... true Texas pioneers in a land of sun, drought, solitude and broken dreams; just across the borderline...

This is a story of an endless source of wonder, the fountain of wealth and power and one of the world's great commodities: Olive Oil.Read more

The U. S. Department of Agriculture is revising the U.S. grade standards for olive oil.

The California Olive Oil Council, a trade association of olive oil producers, petitioned USDA to revise the current U.S. grade standards to conform to current industry standards commonly accepted in the United States and abroad. These revised standards will provide a common language for trade and provide consumers more assurance of the quality of olive oil that they purchase.Read more

So this new manager (we'll call him, "POW!") comes in one Monday with a bottle of olive oil tucked under his arm, and he sets it on his desk. Invariably, we ask him about it. Once enough interest is generated, and not unlike a snake-oil salesman, he cracks the top and introduces us to mesquite-smoked olive oil, made right here in Texas. He bought it at the McKinney Farmer's Market over the past weekend (they hold it every weekend at Chestnut Square on Highway 5 & Anthony).Read more

Interview with Jim Henry, founding director of the Texas Olive Oil Council, Air Date April 16, 2010.

Segment 3: Texas has always been about producing oil, but theres a new oil in Texas that comes from the ground - olive oil. California has a successful olive industry and now some are hoping the business can take root in Texas. Jim Henry is the president of the Texas Olive Oil Council. Link includes the audio interview.Read more

Supermarket shelves are lined with olive oils from Spain, Italy, Greece, California and now Australia. Texas olive oil producers are working hard to get you to look for theirs as well.

"People are always dismayed, because they didn't realize there was an industry in Texas, but they're excited about it," says Sandy Winokur, founder, owner and operator of Sandy Oaks Olive Orchard, near Elmendorf.Read more

... the earliest recorded experimental planting of olive trees in Texas was during the 1930s in the Carrizo Springs area - also called the Winter Garden Region - by Ernest Mortensen of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. The trial's results proved that olive trees would indeed bear fruit in Texas, but it would take an additional 60 years for commercial olive growing to bloom.Read more

One of the oldest olive orchards in Texas, Farrell's Olive Orchard, is now propagating olive trees to meet the demand for starter trees for new orchards cropping up all over Texas. "We are taking orders now for standard Arbequina starters," says Jerry Farrell, proprietor. Farrell's Artesia Wells orchard has been a key site for Texas growers' information about what varieties of olive trees grow best in Texas, having started with 13 different types and using a variety of organic cultivation techniques. He now believes that the Arbequina is the best cultivar for the state. "Arbequina is cold resistant and heat tolerant," he says, "and I believe it produces the best crop yield."

Arbequina starters may be purchased either as the patented I-18 cultivar through NursTech distributors in Texas or as the standard cultivar. Farrell, also a partner in Texas Olive Ranch between Carrizo Springs and Asherton, is propagating the standard Arbequina. To learn more about Farrell's Olive Orchard, call Jerry at 832-250-4764.

To prevent mislabeling and fraud, the North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA) recently started asking states to adopt the international standard for olive oil.

States began working closely with food safety and consumer advocacy officials to develop state-enforced standards for olive oil production and labeling. In November 2008, Connecticut became the first state in the nation to adopt the international standard for olive oil. California, Oregon and New York soon passed state standards for olive oil. Read more

GARLAND - The Four Seasons Market at Firewheel Town Center is adding more than a dozen new vendors to its lineup for Saturday's event, bringing the total number to more than 45 local food and craft producers.

Newly added products include wine by the glass and by the bottle from Calais Winery; ancho chili pork, chicken tomatillo, black bean and corn tamales from the Tamale Company; and chocolate-dipped frozen bananas and other fruit from Nana's Bananas. Read more

If you see a grove of short, densely planted olive trees in California, chances are they're part of an olive oil boomlet.

While the table olive industry has struggled, the acreage of the fruit grown for oil has increased dramatically in the past five years. A majority of the state's roughly 20,000 acres of oil-producing trees have gone in during that period, said Bill Krueger, a University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Orland. Read more

It's no secret olive oil, the delicious staple responsible for the rich flavors and heart-healthy benefits of the Mediterranean diet, is fast becoming dear to the American palate. As demand for this premium product grows, the North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA) and its members want to ensure consumers get what they pay for when buying olive oil.Read more

Oleocanthal, a naturally-occurring compound found in extra-virgin olive oil, alters the structure of neurotoxic proteins believed to contribute to the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease. This structural change impedes the proteins' ability to damage brain nerve cells.Read more

An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation has discovered that some distributors may have misled consumers with assertions that their product was extra virgin olive oil. As such, three companies have agreed to carry out more testing to ensure they do not fall foul of the Trade Practices Act.Read more

Jim Henry is another Texan who exemplifies the motto - do what you love and the money will follow. In another life, Henry traveled the world with Pier One Imports and fell in love with the olive oil industry ten years ago. And, so he brought it home here to Texas and started Texas Olive Ranch.Read more

Despite criticism from skeptics, Curtis Mickan and his grandson Josh Swafford believe olives can be grown in certain parts of Texas. They have staked a lot of time and money in that belief by starting the Central Texas Olive Ranch outside of Walburg.Read more

As California's olive oil industry expands and refines, designations of various grades of oil are becoming more distinct and more identifiable.

Consumers will face challenges as they learn to differentiate between extra virgin (high-quality) and oil pressed from the pomace of cull olives.Read more

More than a decade after planting his first trees, Jim Henry finally harvested a crop from his 60-acre olive orchard and manufactured the first and only Texas-made olive oil, all of which was sold before it was ever bottled.

"Our oil is in great demand," said Henry, owner of Texas Olive Ranch. "It's really kind of cool because in most farming operations, the hardest thing you have is to sell your product. In our case, I could sell 50 times more than I actually have. We're very lucky."Read more

Farming was always something that interested Jim Henry.

When he was younger, he thought Texas would be the perfect place to grow grapes, but the experts told him it was impossible, given the terrain.

More recently, he decided the Lone Star State would be perfect for olives. Again, people called it folly. This time, he refused to listen.

Henry planted olive orchards in Marble Falls, but the naysayers were right: The trees froze to death. Undeterred, he moved south to Carrizo Springs, where he's planted 40,000 olive trees and introduced Texas Olive Ranch olive oil to the marketplace. Read more

All olive oils, from Spain's golden nutty olive oils to Italy's dark green grassy-flavoured olive oils, will be labelled with their country of origin from July 1, 2009, the European Commission said today. Read more

A study from the Harokopio University of Athens (Greece) determines that adherence to a dietary pattern close to the Mediterranean diet, with high consumption of fish and olive oil and low red meat intake, has a significant impact in women skeletal health. Read more

When it comes to heart-protecting good fat, olive oil is about as good as it gets. Now, new research is finding that the better the olive oil, the better it is for your heart. Read more

Fans of gourmet boutique Flavors From Afar who live north of town now have a second location where they can find their favorite specialty foods and gifts: at Ginny's Interiors in McKinney. Products featured at Ginny's were selected based on feedback from customers and include the following: Read more

As of January 1, California became the second state in the union to enact laws enforcing standardization of the olive oil industry. (Connecticut became the first late last year.) Texas olive grower Jim Henry hopes that Texas will become the third. Read more

On September 30, 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 634 to provide stronger support to domestic olive oil producers nationwide by giving further clarification and quality control over olive oil sold in the United States. In sum, the bill tightens current law regarding the definition of olive oil, including flavored oils, and creates five olive oil grades for labeling and marketing that conform with international standards. Read more

On December 8, we received a load of more than five tons of manzanillo olives from our friend Gary Woods in Gila Bend Arizona. We were delighted that they survived the trip in fine condition, big and firm, and loaded with leaves. We knew they were going to make a beautiful olive oil. Jim and Jerry fired up the press and while Tony and Rene started loading the hopper. All systems go, the olives tumbled out of the washer into the crusher and churned for about an hour filling the press house with a wonderfully intense fresh olive aroma. A little later, the first oil poured out of the separator, very green and fruity with a nice peppery back. It's really special and we hope we get to make more next year!

Among the many labels of imported olive oil on Texas grocery store shelves, shoppers can now find a surprising newcomer -- Texas Olive Ranch 100% Texan Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Texas grown and bottled, it is the first of its kind to hit grocery store shelves. Read more

A giant, boxy, blue beast on wheels lumbers through Southwest Texas farmland, belching smoke and harvesting row after row of silvery-leafed trees laden with marble-sized fruit, some the color of a cactus pad and others a fine merlot. Read more