"Richard M. Kennedy" wrote in message
...

Are there any California ripe eating olives that you would compare in
quality to imported olives, particularly those from, say, Greece,
which are my favorites. Here in the Washington, DC area I have not
seen any, just some small, inexpensive canned ones that seemed pretty
bland to me. But then I have not hunted around very hard for them,
and maybe the better California olives just don't get marketed this
far east.

I have heard it said the large California producers grow them for the
processed food industry (frozen pizzas and the like) but are having a
hard time competing against imported olives even though the imports
are said to be of a type more suitable for making olive oil than
eating, and that they want some protection against imports. Also,
that the large producers can't compete against small "boutique"
producers in California when it comes to high quality eating olives.

While I am at it, can anyone recommend a good California extra virgin
oil that might get sold in the east. I have seen a couple brands here
in the East at Trader Joe's, but I have to confess to not having tried
any, having been satisfied with Greek or Italian imports available
here. Of course, it is getting harder and harder to be sure that you
are buying Italian oil, especially if you are relying on the fact that
the brand you buy has an Italian name, an Italian flag, or the flag's
colors on. More and more, many of such label say "may contain oil
from Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, etc.." I guess what I am seeing
is the brands of U.S. companies who import the oil in bulk from where
ever and bottle it here.

Richard Kennedy

I highly recommend McEvoy oil from California. It is in the style of the
best Tuscan oils and is better than many of them. Expensive, though. But you
should not make the mistake of judging an oil by where it comes from.
There's a lot of poor oil from Italy and excellent oil from Spain, Greece,
etc.


--
Peter Aitken

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