The T-shirt says it all: “Olives do grow in Texas.” Throughout the past decade, spreading that message has been part of the mission of Texas olive oil producers. After all, if you look at the selection of olive oils, there are plenty from Spain, Italy, Greece, and California, with maybe some new arrivals from Australia.
But Texas? “People are always dismayed, because they didn’t realize there was an industry in Texas, but they’re excited about it,” says Sandy Winokur, founder, owner and operator of Sandy Oaks Olive Orchard, near Elmendorf, Texas. “We don’t have to wear (the shirts) as often.” Her orchard is the site of a festival devoted to olive products, Olives Ole, which takes place Saturday under the auspices of the culinary organization Les Dames d’Escoffier.
A decade ago, the idea of a Texas olive oil industry was still very much in its infancy, but by 2007, producers in the state harvested more than 100 tons of olives. With each ton producing 50 gallons of oil, that harvest produced 5,000 gallons.
To be sure, that’s barely a blip in the U.S. annual production of 350,000 gallons, but it’s a start. Each year, Americans consume 50 million gallons of olive oil each year, so the market for domestic olive oil has some calling this the beginning of a new Texas oil rush.
“There’s a lot of land availability, plus the water, and that makes for a lot of opportunity,” says Jim Henry, one of the state’s olive oil industry pioneers and the founding director of the Texas Olive Oil Council. “I predict some giant international companies will try to grow olive trees in Texas.” Until that day — if or when it ever comes — Texas olive oil is mostly available at small gourmet stores, and occasionally at high-end supermarkets. Given that it costs $10-$20 for a 16-ounce bottle, that puts places it in the upper end of the oils from California and Italy.
In Texas, the producers are more than proud of the origin of their oils and are trying to produce as much of it as they can.
According to figures from the state Department of Agriculture, Texas has nearly 888,000 olive trees on about 3,659 acres.
Not bad for an industry barely in its second decade.
Although the first experimental olive trees were planted in Carrizo Springs, Texas, back in the 1930s, it wasn’t until the early 1990s that Texas entrepreneurs began planting trees as a cash crop. The first Texas olive oil was pressed in 2001.
Most of the olive industry is focused on South and Central Texas, areas with climates similar to those in Mediterranean regions. Because olive growing in Texas is such a new industry, it’s still very much a risk. But isn’t wildcatting in oil risky, anyway? “I start with the caveats and the risks,” says Henry, who owns Texas Olive Ranch in Carrizo Springs. “It’s a new industry, but I’m the last person to talk people out of it. We hope, and would be very pleased, if it became a major industry.” As it turns out, the flavors from various growing regions don’t vary that much.
One of Henry’s business partners, Karen Lee, talks about terroir and the influence of the land and likes to spin a Texas tale about the flavor.
“I like to tell people that it has a little bit of rattlesnake and coyote in it,” she says.
But it’s more a matter of the type of the olive than anything else, the olive growers concede.
“I always thought soil would have more to do with the flavor, but it doesn’t,” Winokur says. “The climate may have something to do with the taste, but it’s more the variety (of olive).”
