Stephan - Olive oil and vinegar for life: delicious recipes for healthy Caliterranean living

This book features Multiple

Award-Winning Extra Virgin Olive Oils & Vinegars from Global Gardens, Los Olivos,
California, Santa Barbara County

For HELEN;
YOU KNOW WHY!

THE INGREDIENTS

THE LIFESTYLE

CELEBRITY CHEF FEATURES

THE RECIPES

In ancient Greek mythology the goddess Athena planted an olive tree as a gift on the rocky hill now known as the Acropolisand tour guides claim that the tree standing there today comes from the very same roots. Most historians agree that the island of Crete was the location of the first cultivation of the fruit, with the earliest olive oil amphorae (ceramic containers) dating to around 3500 BC, although archaeologists have dated ancient olive oil presses to 5000 BC. The first actual recording of olive oil extraction is found in the Hebrew Biblethe hand-squeezing of the fruit dating to the thirteenth century BC during the Exodus from Egypt. Gladiators rubbed their bodies with it, and the winner's body was then scrapedthe resulting sweat and olive oil packed into tiny amulets and then sold, supposedly bringing the bearer strength and longevity. Homer was the first writer to refer to the cherished oil of many uses as liquid gold.

California olive oil production is relatively new when compared to these origins. Spanish missionaries began carrying olive trees (along with grapevines for wine) to the new world in the 1500s, but commercial olive oil production in the state wasn't recorded until around 1870. Growing interest in olive oil's health benefits and the ability to grow olives in certain regions of the state encouraged contemporary production in northern California during the 70s. Similar to wine production, the trend drifted to southern California some twenty years later.

My first experience with olive oil came at the ripe age of eight, watching my favorite Aunt Lou fry eggplant to layer in her famous moussaka. I asked her why her eggplant tasted so good and my mom's (sorry, Mom!) didn't. She reached up and pulled a Wonder Bread hamburger bun out of a bagit was 1968, the height of processed food popularity! She poured some olive oil from a large tin with Greek letters on it into a little cup, handed me the bun, and said, Here, dip the bread in this. My mouth immediately welcomed the buttery, fresh, flowery fruitiness that is Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil. She then poured some Crisco oil into another bowl and said, Now taste this! I made a terrible face. She laughed and said, That's what your mom uses!

The genesis of my own journey into the art of growing, harvesting, pressing, and bottling olive oil began in total ignorance. I was walking down a side street in Santa Barbara, California, in the mid 90s, feeling smug about a graphic design contract I had recently acquired in Hollywood. Above me was a brilliant blue California sky. Beside me was a majestic, spindly olive tree. Strong, well-groomed branches reached into the warm, dry air, reaching their fruit-laden arms to the sky. It was autumn and I noticed some ripe black olives had fallen to the ground. Like a kid stealing candy, I took a quick gander aroundno one was looking. I snatched up the most perfect olive, wiped it off on my jeans, and popped it into my mouth. Oh, the impossible viscosity, bitterness, and downright poisonous flavor that permeated my palate! Needless to say, I made a spectacle out of myself spitting it out onto the sidewalk. I am happy I didn't know anybody in Santa Barbara at the time it's a fairly small town!

Then I got inquisitivewhat made olive oil taste so good if the fruit that created it tasted so badly? Until that very moment, I hadn't given it a second thought. I bet my Aunt Lou would have known!

At that time I had just invested in a small ranch where I could work from home, commuting to Los Angeles and back to Ohio when needed (my graphic design firm Real Art Design Group was based in Dayton, Ohio). A 50-acre fixer-upper ranch in Los Alamos, Californiain the northwestern part of Santa Barbara wine countryhad needed a buyer and I had needed a home. This became the original planting for Global Gardens (the first in Santa Barbara County and all of Southern California, specifically for certified organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil).

While I loved graphic design, after my first entrepreneurial endeavor (selling American Seeds door to door as a six-year-old) I longed to create my own edible garden, taking advantage of the microclimates and vast temperature changes of the Santa Ynez valley, while perfecting the chemistry of dirt and water. On a snowy winter day back in Dayton, Ohio, the eureka moment camewhy not start my own brand, grow and sell olive oil from that handsome property and, quite possibly, daringly change my life forever? No more Four Seasons Beverly Hills. No more maniacal driving to the Burbank Airport to receive 6 AM flights incoming with that day's presentation on board. No more 1 AM press proofs? Sounded great to me. My love for graphic design, fine arts gardening, food, entertaining, and yes, even science could be combined into one new business. I had been creating and selling brand concepts for years why not create one for myself?

I quickly took an Olive Propagation course at UC Davis where I learned a plethora of olive knowledge that my ancestors would have been proud ofincluding growing techniques, budgeting, and how to professionally assess olive oil flavor nuances. Everything seems to have happened at about the same time, including the opportunity to adopt two beautiful girls (biological sisters) from Nepal. This made the career switch even more meaningfulto create an environment of nurturing and an agricultural yield of meaningful abundance. Anita and Sunita took part in our first harvest of 2001, and continue to celebrate the tradition now. That same year, my acquired partners from Real Art sent me my last payment, purchasing the firm in full. I was freeor was I?