4 ms·

I'm surprised they didn't mention making your own olive oil as a way to be sure it's authentic. I assume if you have access to fresh olives it shouldn't be too

I'm surprised they didn't mention making your own olive oil as a way to be sure it's authentic. I assume if you have access to fresh olives it shouldn't be too hard?

Retric 10y ago
It takes a press and ~10-15 lb of olives to make a liter of olive oil. If your buying them retail that could easily run 100$. I don't know if you consider that reasonable, but unless you have olive trees I would just pay a premium and buy local from somewhere you trust. However, if your going to do this kind of thing making grape juice is a similar process and much easier. It also produces something that's almost completely different than what you buy in the store.
- jdavis703 10y ago
  This kind of answer is why I love the HN community. Do you have any idea how much 100% pure olive oil would cost? If it costs say $80, then making it on your own and being assured of the quality really isn't that much more.
  - Retric 10y ago
    Your already paying the market cost of 100% pure olive oil at ~10$, the problem is fraud not manufacturing costs. Basically, this is what happens when the FDA is not actually doing their job.
dsr_ 10y ago
Here's a blog entry on doing that: http://ohhshop.com/blog/greenies/our-own-olive-oil-and-the-cost-breakdown/ http://ohhshop.com/blog/greenies/our-own-olive-oil-and-the-c... As far as I can tell, they valued their labor at zero, and they don't get a break-even point until they produce at least 50 quarts from free olives.
- honkhonkpants 10y ago
  Even commercial producers barely break even so this is hardly a surprise. According to UC Davis whitepapers olive oil production is the surest way to lose money as a grower in California.
  - jjeaff 10y ago
    That might not be the case if it weren't for all the fakes dragging prices down.
    - chongli 10y ago
      That just means there is an untapped marketing opportunity here. An artisanal brand of high quality olive oil could do very well in the Bay Area.
      - kpil 10y ago
        Or just make a nice label, buy some cheap oil and add green and yellow colour and some flavor packs, and you can make the same amount of money without all the hard work. Oh wait, was that idea already taken :-)
Jugurtha 10y ago
It is hard. We have an olive grove so we have access to authentic olive oil, but it's hard. So hard that if you hire people to do it, they won't accept money as payment but will take part of your olive oil. Even the press people will not take money but olive oil. The reason is simple: "olive oil" is way more valuable than what it's priced at, and it's priced the way it is because fraud caused its inflation. People in the know are aware that the price of a liter won't buy you a liter of authentic olive oil, so they'd much rather get the real stuff. (That's like those who prefer getting paid in cocaine at the source where they know it's pure, because they know that even with money, you can't buy really pure cocaine elsewhere or it'll be way too expensive).
elorant 10y ago
In Greece many people do it this way. Usually the story goes like this, someone has inherited a field with olive trees from his parents and once every two years, between September to November depending on the variety, they spend 3-4 days harvesting it. Harvesting is quite a demanding job and it requires a lot of hands if you do it the traditional way where they try to shake the branches with wooden sticks and it’s the only way if you have a small production because using machines is too expensive. Then you take the olives to an oil mill and they poor it into big 17 liter tins. Oil production per tree varies from 3 up to 10 liters. The good thing about olive trees especially the wild varieties is that they don’t need a lot of care. If you start from scratch planting new trees it could take at least seven years till you get the first harvest.

I'm surprised they didn't mention making your own olive oil as a way to be sure it's authentic. I assume if you have access to fresh olives it shouldn't be too hard?

Retric 10y ago

It takes a press and ~10-15 lb of olives to make a liter of olive oil. If your buying them retail that could easily run 100$. I don't know if you consider that reasonable, but unless you have olive trees I would just pay a premium and buy local from somewhere you trust. However, if your going to do this kind of thing making grape juice is a similar process and much easier. It also produces something that's almost completely different than what you buy in the store.

jdavis703 10y ago
This kind of answer is why I love the HN community. Do you have any idea how much 100% pure olive oil would cost? If it costs say $80, then making it on your own and being assured of the quality really isn't that much more.
- Retric 10y ago
  Your already paying the market cost of 100% pure olive oil at ~10$, the problem is fraud not manufacturing costs. Basically, this is what happens when the FDA is not actually doing their job.

dsr_ 10y ago

Here's a blog entry on doing that: http://ohhshop.com/blog/greenies/our-own-olive-oil-and-the-cost-breakdown/ http://ohhshop.com/blog/greenies/our-own-olive-oil-and-the-c... As far as I can tell, they valued their labor at zero, and they don't get a break-even point until they produce at least 50 quarts from free olives.

honkhonkpants 10y ago
Even commercial producers barely break even so this is hardly a surprise. According to UC Davis whitepapers olive oil production is the surest way to lose money as a grower in California.
- jjeaff 10y ago
  That might not be the case if it weren't for all the fakes dragging prices down.
  - chongli 10y ago
    That just means there is an untapped marketing opportunity here. An artisanal brand of high quality olive oil could do very well in the Bay Area.
    - kpil 10y ago
      Or just make a nice label, buy some cheap oil and add green and yellow colour and some flavor packs, and you can make the same amount of money without all the hard work. Oh wait, was that idea already taken :-)

Jugurtha 10y ago

It is hard. We have an olive grove so we have access to authentic olive oil, but it's hard. So hard that if you hire people to do it, they won't accept money as payment but will take part of your olive oil. Even the press people will not take money but olive oil. The reason is simple: "olive oil" is way more valuable than what it's priced at, and it's priced the way it is because fraud caused its inflation. People in the know are aware that the price of a liter won't buy you a liter of authentic olive oil, so they'd much rather get the real stuff. (That's like those who prefer getting paid in cocaine at the source where they know it's pure, because they know that even with money, you can't buy really pure cocaine elsewhere or it'll be way too expensive).

elorant 10y ago

In Greece many people do it this way. Usually the story goes like this, someone has inherited a field with olive trees from his parents and once every two years, between September to November depending on the variety, they spend 3-4 days harvesting it. Harvesting is quite a demanding job and it requires a lot of hands if you do it the traditional way where they try to shake the branches with wooden sticks and it’s the only way if you have a small production because using machines is too expensive. Then you take the olives to an oil mill and they poor it into big 17 liter tins. Oil production per tree varies from 3 up to 10 liters. The good thing about olive trees especially the wild varieties is that they don’t need a lot of care. If you start from scratch planting new trees it could take at least seven years till you get the first harvest.