California’s Olive Queen Olive Oil
You might just feel like a queen when you taste the Olive Queen’s extra virgin olive oils.
California produces 3.5 million gallons of extra virgin olive oil annually from more than 400 growers/producers, according to the California Olive Oil Council.
Rob Akins and Mark Berry of Olive Queen Olive Oil in Forestville are among the smaller growers. But they make up for that in quality. The oils they produce are exceptional, as I found out when they sent me some samples to try.
Akins and Berry moved from Southern California to Sonoma County to buy an old, forlorn apple orchard, which they replanted with olive trees.
The olives are grown organically, and pressed within 24 hours of harvest. They currently sell three varieties of extra virgin olive oil: French Blend, Spanish Blend, and Italian Blend. All of them come in distinctive squat dark bottles (the opaque glass help minimize the effect of light on the oil inside.).
You can really taste the difference between the varieties. They are all incredibly lush tasting, the kind of oil that will make anything from a simple green salad to a slab of grilled bread into something special.
The French Blend, made primarily of Picholine olives, is the softest tasting, with a round fruitiness. The Spanish Blend, made of Arbequina olives, is very buttery tasting, with a tomato leaf aroma, and a lilt of pepper on the finish. The Italian Blend, featuring predominantly Frantoio and Maurino olives, is the most robust of the three, with a full body and plenty of pepperiness throughout.
The olive oils are available on the Olive Queen’s site, and at Cheese Plus in San Francisco, and Lime Stone in Healdsburg.
They are priced at: $18 for 250 ml, $25 for 500 ml, and $32 for 750 ml.
Always nice to see more small producers in NorCal making great oils!
I love a good olive oil. I have to check these out.
Thanks Carolyn! We are so excited to have our olive oil on Foodgal.com! We look forward to many many more harvests in the future!
Rob Akins & Mark Berry
Olive Queen Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Wow, nothing like a good quality of olive oil…I like the idea of the blends…thanks for sharing it! We need to support California growers…ooops…I am bit bias!
Have a wonderful week Carolyn 🙂
California olive oil is really good stuff! it’s fresh, for one thing, and the quality often is superb. Don’t know that label — need to seek it out. Thanks!
My husband was given some of this olive oil as a gift from her neighbor. He absolutely loves it!
Kim: What a nice neighbor! It is such good stuff. 😉