(Olive) Oil Strikes In Aptos by Josie Cowden
" Life's too short to drink cheap wine." The same applies to olive oil.
Chris Banthien's property sits on the crest of a hill in Aptos. The view of rolling hills and hundreds of olive trees is stunning. She and business partner Bruce Golino have a combined total of 1,500 trees and have been reaping the benefits of their orchards since 1994. At Olio del le Colline de Santa Cruz, they locally grow and produce extra virgin oil from selected Tuscan and Ligurian varietals. The olives used in their product are Maurino, Leccino, Frantoio, Pendolino and Ascolano, which produce a fruity, delicate flavored oil, the kind you just want to soak up with a piece of good bread.
Sitting at her cozy kitchen table with hot tea and home-baked apple cake, Chris and I talk about the path that led her to produce olive oil. She and Golino are the first to grow olives for oil production in the Bay area since the 1940s, and it's certainly nowhere near as easy as growing most other crops. It takes four or five years before a tree starts producing fruit, and up to 10 years to get a really good crop. But starting with a hundred trees imported from Italy, her orchard has expanded to the six acres she has now. With a background as a commercial flower grower, specializing in Mediterranean plants such as flowering oregano, lavender and hydrangeas, Chris longed for something else exciting to spring out of the ground. When Golino walked up the path one day with 10 olive trees and asked if she had a use for them, she knew her destiny right then.
"I love making olive oil," she says. "I love the whole process, the trees, and the people involved." She even loves the pruning process and does it all herself.
When the olives are ready, they have to be picked over a couple of labor-intensive days from sunrise to sunset as they don't keep well. In order not to waste any time, the olives are then driven at night to a mill on the McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma where they are pressed immediately. Chris would love to have her own mill, but a good one from Italy costs about $500,000.
After pressing, the California Olive Oil Council certifies that the oil is extra virgin and free of defects. This is important.
"Everybody thinks that Italian oil is the best, but we don't always get the best," she says. "They add maybe 10-15 percent of extra virgin olive oil, and that classifies it to be sold as extra virgin."
She is referring to the lack of standards in the United States for imported olive oil. Labels stating "Imported from Italy" do not necessarily meet full disclosure laws. The oil could be blended and have originated in Tunisia, Turkey or Spain. It's important to pay attention to purity to get the full health benefits. Le Colline olive oil has the date it was pressed on every label, abd Chris is proud of the fact that her oil is totally pure, and a superior product.
My 13 years spent in Greece made me a lover of olive oil and all its complexities. The majority of Greek food is cooked in this golden nectar, and I still do french fries the Greek way - in olive oil. Greeks are passionate about their oil. At harvest time, it's not unusual for an Athenian to go back to his village or island to receive from a family member or friend the first pressing of the olives, and to return to the city triumphant with bottles of the precious liquid.
A friend of mine always says, "Life's too short to drink cheap wine." The same applies to olive oil.
Le Colline won gold medals at the Olive Oils of the World Competition at the Los Angeles County Fair. Now, that says it all.
Chris Banthien's Olio del Le Colline de Santa Cruz is sold at Gayle's Bakery & Rosticceria in Capitola, Shopper's Corner, and Bonny Doon Winery. Info: 831-662-2345, E-mail: cbanthien@hotmail.com, Web site: www.santacruzolive.com.