DID YOU KNOW? It takes about 50 pounds of olives to make a single gallon of olive oil. There are approximately 114 olives in a single pound, so that transfers to about 5,700 olives being crushed into a gallon of oil.
On Thursday night, we stayed at Dell's Favorite, an olive tree farm in Elgin, Texas. Owned by Hyatt Hotels former Executive Chef Frank and his wife Renee Majowicz, the farm is home to approximately 1,200 olive trees. It was a very intriguing and educational experience staying at the farm and taking a personal tour with Frank, who turned out to be a wonderful storyteller. He went to great lengths to teach us about the growing, harvesting, and milling process to turn olives into extra virgin olive oil. He also introduced us to his numerous pets, including three horses, five big dogs, and a number of cats/kittens.
After the tour, we picked up a couple of the farm's Extra Virgin Olive Oil bottles, along with several jars of olives grown and stuffed by a couple of homeschool teens in California. Personally, I love black olives and black olives only, so I haven't been partaking of these stuffed olives, but the rest of the crew loves them!
One really interesting fact we learned from Frank is that all 1,200 olive trees are completely handpicked each year by volunteers from around the country in a mere 48 hours. Frank organizes the volunteers into teams of two and assigns them to a certain number of trees. At lunch, a horn is blown and everyone sits down together to a meal prepared for them by Chef Frank himself. Volunteers planning to help both days fill the grassy areas around the house with tents and campers. Each volunteer leaves with either a bottle of olive oil or a baby olive tree. Once picking begins, the olives have to make it to the mill within 48 hours, making harvest a fun but intense experience. If you'd like to try Dell's Extra Virgin Olive Oil or stuffed olives, you can order from the online shop at https://www.dellsfavorite.com/
We are grateful to Harvest Hosts for giving us the opportunity to explore interesting places such as this olive tree farm. If you are planning to travel, and are looking for a unique and cost-effective option, we would highly recommend you check out Harvest Hosts. Most locations are available to stay for free or a very nominal price.
Until next time, God bless!
Hey! That's really neat. I just learned today that olive trees are evergreens. And I had no idea.