All In for Olives

by RogerApril 17, 2022

Olive lovers unite! On today’s episode we go deep, and I mean really deep, into the bitter fruit that has been revered for millenia. I’m joined by fellow olive lovers Seth Heasley and Don Landis of Don’s Olives in Sebastopol California. Don delivers a master class on the olive, including what to look for in olive oil, how commercial olives are manufactured, and other processes for curing and brining olives that gets much closer to the kind of table olives you’ll find all across the Mediterranean region.

Mentioned in this Episode

Don Landis, a.k.a “The Olive Guy” is an expert on growing and processing olives. He regularly presents at workshops in northern California and teaches a course olives at the local community college. The first place to find Don is at his website, Don’s Olives. Covid-19 through Don’s schedule and workshops for a loop, but keep an eye on his website and the Olive Odyssey page for news when events get back up and running.

Meet Don:

Don taught us the fundamentals of the olive fruit including a little about its long and storied history.

Don’s processes for debittering olives is different than what you find in commercial olive manufacturing which typically uses lye. He sent us some samples, and I must say they were delicious, and they are definitely not the olives we are used to eating from the olive bar or the supermarket jar. If you are in northern California then finding olives like these is probably easier, but you can either contact Don for some insight, or perhaps even get your own fresh olives and process them yourself!

Tray of olives — The olives that Don sent us, clockwise from top: Brined, dried, water-debittered, and a sample of his secret recipe tapenade.

If you are looking for recipes that use ripe olives, check out the California Olive Committee website as a good starting place. Epicurious also has a great roundup of recipes using quite a variety of olives.

Don mentioned that olive oil from California is premium quality, particularly because it is tested and backed by the Olive Oil Commission of California. You should be able to find California olive oil in your grocery store, but if not, Amazon has some selection.

Seth Heasley has been on the show before for Chili-cast, and I’ve been on Hugo’s There to talk about Fahrenheit 451 (the Ray Bradbury novel, not the oven temperature). I’ve also made an appearance on Take Me to Your Reader, and spin off “Take Me to Your Eater.”