Mission and Manzanilla olive trees create high-quality mix
Olive oil is easy to come by, but one local woman decided to
take it back to its roots with her business Sharobed Grove. Deborah
Breslauer makes high-quality olive oil from olives she grows on her
Southside Road property in San Benito County.
Mission and Manzanilla olive trees create high-quality mix
Olive oil is easy to come by, but one local woman decided to take it back to its roots with her business Sharobed Grove. Deborah Breslauer makes high-quality olive oil from olives she grows on her Southside Road property in San Benito County.
Olive oil primarily is labeled as an add-in ingredient on breads or salads, but it shouldn’t be taken as lightly as its connotation, Breslauer said. The process in which olive oil is made is intricate and requires a lot of time and patience, but it pays off in health benefits.
Breslauer’s family originally owned a walnut orchard in San Benito County, and she has been a Hollister resident since 1988. After the death of her first husband, she decided to plant a different orchard.
“I wanted to make money easily, so I went to Tres Pinos Tank Shop to meet with local farmers,” Breslauer said. “They said that an olive orchard was the best choice.”
Breslauer researched different types of olives and eventually settled on Mission and Manzanilla varieties.
Breslauer has made olive oil for 21 years, and now has 121 olive trees on one and a half acres. She is working on her third harvest. During her first harvest she sold all of her bottles of olive oil, while after her second she produced 50 gallons of oil and still has 350 bottles left.
“Every harvest lasts about seven years, and after the oil is created it takes four months for it to settle,” Breslauer said. “There are years you’re going to get more [than other years].”
She went on: “After a harvest there are about two and a half tons of olives ready to be turned into oil.”
This year’s harvest will be one week after Thanksgiving.
“Some of the trees are planted with olives already on them – they’re not planted with seeds.”
A one-pint bottle is $18, and there’s a story behind the label.
“My brother created the label Sharobed Grove and the illustrations,” Breslauer said. “Sharobed is my name spelled backwards.”
She explained that her oil doesn’t have settlement.
“Settlement isn’t good because you don’t know what it is,” Breslauer said. “I’m not certified organic but I meet all of the requirements of an organic orchard.”
Breslauer plans to sell her product out of her orchard and possibly with other businesses in the county.
“My orchard is family operated, and my husband and I both enjoy the learning process,” Breslauer said. “I [enjoy that I] do it my way, and that I sell my product myself. These [trees] are my babies.”
“Once I’ve sold [the oil] to a customer, they come back,” Breslauer said.
For more information, call Deborah Breslauer at 801-1925 or fax at 637-8833.
