About Olive Oils

Where It All Started...

Spanish settlers planted olives at the 21 missions across California in the late 18th Century. And so the California Olive Oil industry was born. Olive oil was used for many things beyond just food, it was used for fuel, medicine, and cosmetic, as well as other things.

The industry performed well for many years. However the olive oil industry was devastated by Italy and Spain's increase in exports. California began to export cottonseed oil and then reimporting it as Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil. American began to prefer the tasteless cottonseed oil over truly hand crafted Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Now a new generation of Americans have rediscovered the great taste and health benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Olive orchards are growing in numbers throughout California and other surrounding states. The wide variety of flavors of California Extra Virgin Olive Oil provides an oil for each and every person for all types of foods.

There are over 200 producers across California now and We Olive has brought them all together for you to try. Olive oil unlike wine is best consumed immediately after it is harvested. Once the oil is produced it begins to degrade. Olive oil has a shelve life of 18 to 24 months after it is harvested. Tasting an olive oil is the only way to ensure that it is still of high quality. Thats why at We Olive we will guide you through a tasting of all of our oils to make sure you get the one that appeals to you the most.

What is Extra Virgin?

In order to ensure that you are getting quality olive oil you should only buy Extra virgin Olive oil. Unfortunately the United States has no regulation about the labeling of products as extra virgin olive oil. Most of what is found in the typical grocery store would not qualify as extra virgin olive oil. One way to ensure you are getting a quality product is to look for the California Olive Oil Council (COOC) seal. Visit the COOC web site for more information.

In order to ensure the customers of We Olive that they are getting only the best olive oil, We Olive will only carry oils that have the COOC seal. The seal ensures that the oil meets certain standards. These standards are used to ensure a fresh, quality olive oil. All sealed oil meet the following requirements:

• Olives mechanically extracted without chemicals or excessive heat.
• Less than .5% free oleic acid
• Positive taste elements and no taste defects, as determined during a blind tasting.

Visit our FAQ page for more questions and answers.

Olive Oil Wheel

                     

("The Sensory Wheel: A Proposal for Standard Reference of Virgin Olive Oil Sensory Evaluation" 1993)