Olives As a Specialty Food

Olives add an intriguing crunch and taste to salads and grain bowls, not to mention being packed full of vitamin A which promotes eye and skin health.

Experts may take great pains in describing olive oils; but even novices will quickly recognize there are distinct variations between varietals when it comes to fruity, grassy, buttery and nutty qualities.

Early Life and Education

Olive trees can live for centuries. Some have even been carbon-dated as old as two millennia! But even within that long lifespan it’s common for one olive tree to produce heavily one year and not much the following one.

Based on cultivation and climate, olives can vary considerably in flavor and texture depending on where they’re grown. For instance, an olive grown in California will have different characteristics than one produced in Italy.

Rosenblum traveled throughout France, Israel, Turkey, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Tunisia Greece Yugoslavia and California to gain more insight into this diverse fruit. He interviewed farmers, pressers, government regulators, marketing specialists and chefs – offering readers an entertaining look into the industry as well as an introduction into tasting olives for themselves. This book serves both purposes! It provides fascinating insight into its inner workings as well as providing an excellent introduction into tasting them as a food option.

Professional Career

Olives have many culinary uses beyond being delicious treats; they can be filled with specialty ingredients or used as toppings on pizza or sandwiches, mixed into flavorful dips such as tapenade, or used as garnishes in cocktails such as martinis.

Producing olive oil is a time-consuming and laborious process, which begins by grinding olives into a paste before pressing it with special machinery to produce oil. Olive oil is typically sold by the pound and can be quite costly when purchased at stores.

Know which olive variety and curing method you are purchasing before making your selection. Large industrial producers may combine different strains of olives together for second-pressing production – this process may dilute its quality significantly.

Achievement and Honors

Makela is actively engaged in both local and national food industry organizations. He and his wife Cindy founded the California Specialty Food Association which produces Fancy Food Shows as well as Today’s Specialty Food Consumer research, Spill & Dish podcasts and year-round educational programming.

Lalin’s family’s recent success at the New York International Olive Oil Competition speaks to their dedication to quality. To honor them for their efforts, this summer the Specialty Food Association will induct them into its Hall of Fame – an honor reserved for individuals whose contributions and accomplishments have made an impactful statement about Pakostane as part of a $175 billion specialty food industry. Receiving such an accolade provides great pride to Pakostane residents.

Personal Life

Olive oil is an indispensable culinary asset, helping maintain heart health and reduce risk for cardiovascular disease while simultaneously adding delicious pungent flavor. If you are passionate about cooking, olive oil will soon become one of your go-to ingredients!

Olive oils are great for drizzling over bread or vegetables. But there is such an array of olive oils on the market that it may be hard to select the ideal one.

No matter the way you prepare or enjoy olives – raw, stuffed with specialty ingredients or used in pasta or pizza sauces – its important that their pits are removed before eating as these hard stones present a potential choking hazard and spoil their flavor. With the appropriate tools this task should be easy enough.

Net Worth

Resurgent interest in healthy oils to combat lifestyle-related health conditions has resulted in an upsurge of demand for olive oil both within households and foodservice/hoReCa. Furthermore, increasing use as a dietary supplement in nutraceuticals and pharmaceutical products has further driven market expansion.

Perry Rea is an olive grower, owner, master blender, sommelier, irrigator and quality inspector at Queen Creek Olive Mill – Arizona’s first commercial olive oil producer.

Operational Design in your business plan outlines how your company will function on an operational level; from planting and harvesting crops to processing and shipping products. An olive oil producer might produce raw material which is then sold directly to public mills or wholesaled to others.