We've all heard about the health benefits of olive oil, which contains monounsaturated fat that can lower your risk for heart disease. I cook with olive oil almost every day, but not because its good for me, rather for the smooth grassy flavor it adds to my meal. Yet, I've never given much thought to how the lowly olive goes from the tree to the bottle, ultimately landing in my saute pan. That was until today, when I visited the Queen Creek Olive Mill.
Located at the base of the San Tan Mountains in the Southeast Valley, the Queen Creek Olive Mill is Arizona's only working olive farm, producing a unique assortment of hand-crafted oils and gourmet olive products. My cousin Jenni and good friend Lisa and I made the nearly 60-mile trek for its Festival of New Oil (Olio Nuovo), which occurs between January and February each year and celebrates the arrival of the "new oil" that was pressed last fall.
While to some, that may seem like a long way to go for olive oil, which you can buy at any neighborhood grocery store, the festival provides an opportunity to enjoy music, taste wine and other gourmet products, along with the mill's daily tours, well-stocked marketplace and Tuscan inspired del Piero cafe.
Our tour guide was an enthusiastic young man, who explained the entire olive making process, from tree to bottle. The Mill still harvests their olives the old-fashioned way, using a rake to remove them from the tree. What falls to the ground is gathered, cleaned of leaves and twigs, washed, then cold-pressed into a fine stream of liquid gold. A very find stream, I might add. A ton of olives may only yield 35 to 50 gal. of extra virgin olive oil.
The Mill's store features the fruits of all this labor. It's shelves are stocked with bottles of pure extra virgin olive oil, along with a host of fancy flavors, including Blood Orange, Chili and even Chocolate olive oil. However, my tastebuds prefer the more traditional flavors -- Roasted Garlic and Meyer Lemon, enjoyed simply with hot crusty bread and a robust glass of Chianti. Salute!
