Food & Drink

Branching out to olives

In Texas, growers are pressing forward with a crop that's anything but drab

By By Julie Bonnin
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

On the historic day of Bill and Bev Kemp's first commercial olive harvest, Jack Russell terriers romp in the furrows beneath the trees, and two woolly llamas from next door watch the activity from the gravel road that runs past the grove. The olive grove owner, a transplanted Midwesterner, plucks the small fruit off the silvery-leaved trees, alongside Spanish-speaking pickers from South Texas.

Bill Kemp, who is semi-retired, says his sons have suggested he ditch the olive trees: "The Old Man's out with the olive trees again; he should be playing golf." But the owner of Southern Style Spices, an import company, yearned to be growing something on the land he bought his wife, Bev, as a birthday gift several years ago. Both of them grew up in Missouri on farms, but he's the one with the green thumb and has consistently supplied his wife with fruits and vegetables to can or prepare in other ways.

When Bill Kemp's venture began, he wasn't particularly passionate about olives, but about finding something he could grow organically that might eventually turn into a moneymaking crop. Grapes were a failure in the black gumbo soil that abounds in this area near Webberville, and pecans suffered from two dry years and a plague of grasshoppers.

In 2001, Bill Kemp decided to try olives, a crop that's just beginning to catch on in Texas, and at a stage "just like the wine industry was 20 or 30 years ago," says Saundra Winokur of Sandy Oaks Olive Orchard, south of San Antonio.

He planted 24 trees the first year, 200 the next, and currently has about 800 trees. All are arbequina, a small, Spanish variety and purchased from Winokur, who came to help harvest the Kemps' fruit last month. She bought the orchard's 125 pounds of olives to supplement the olives she grows in her 10,000-tree orchard. They will be sorted and used to make food and skin care products she sells at her ranch and online.

In Central Texas, John Dougherty of Bella Vista Ranch in Wimberley has more than 1,000 olive trees, in addition to a winery. He also sells seasonal fruits and vegetables and raises cattle. But September and early October are when many visitors come to the ranch to walk through his olive groves and eventually sample fresh-pressed extra virgin oil processed in the ranch's frantoio, the Italian word for press.

Dougherty's First Texas Olive Oil Co. has produced a Texas-California olive oil blend that earned kudos from Saveur magazine. A seasoned grower, he is a fan of Mission olive trees. "They're the only variety I would recommend," he says. But Dougherty is testing other varieties, including arbequina.

Though olives are most associated with Mediterranean countries, they have grown for centuries in all parts of the world, including Australia, North Africa and South America, Winokur says. Arbequina is known in Spain as "the Arab tree," she says, and it's believed that it probably first grew in Egypt or Syria before being introduced in Spain.

The arbequina "is considered a very adaptable tree," she says, noting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is growing it in trials all over the state.

With consumption of olive oil jumping by as much as 25 percent a year, many growers are interested in its commercial potential. But hobbyists who yearn for an olive grove often are motivated by more romantic reasons.

"They've spent some time in Italy or Greece, or one of the other countries where olive trees are grown, and they've just been captured by the idea," Winokur says.

University of Texas System Chancellor Mark Yudof, who has visited olive groves in the Mediterranean region, has said he daydreams about owning and operating his own grove, drawn by the trees' ancient roots and noble bearing.

An emblem of peace, the olive tree shows up again and again in history and lore — the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus is said to have prayed and met with disciples, was in an olive grove. Plato founded his academy in an olive grove. Many Greek myths have some kind of connection to the olive grove.

So far, Bill Kemp has only facetiously speculated about launching gondolas on his catfish pond. But his Sicilian mother, who visits from Missouri about once a year, says the Central Texas countryside reminds her of the "old country" and a family olive grove of long ago.

Olive trees, which are subtropical and evergreen, are catching on as drought-tolerant, edible landscape additions. With full sun and soil that drains well, they bloom with small white flowers before fruiting in late summer or early fall, and provide a graceful gray-green profile year-round.

Still, foodies shouldn't mark olives, or olive oil, off their grocery list just yet, even if they've planted a couple of trees.

Some varieties require numerous trees for pollination to take place. Others must grow several years before producing fruit. And even varieties such as arbequina, which usually bear fruit after just a few years, may not produce fruit in abundance right away. Another caveat: It takes about 10 pounds of olives to produce a quart of oil, Winokur says. A professional press costs about as much as a new car, while a hobbyist press sells for about $2,000, making the cost of your boutique oil expensive indeed.

The Kemps sell paintings (Bev's) and ceramics (Bill's) when they're not tending olive trees on the 15 acres they call Caracara Farm. But investments in the grove have been worth it, they say. About 40 to 50 more arbequinas wait in pots to be planted this year.

"The plan is to turn this into a viable olive growing operation," says Bill Kemp, whose organic practices include the application of manure from the llama clan next door. His 800 trees have survived a destructive browsing by hungry, drought-stressed deer (the trees grew back), an infestation of grasshoppers, the nibblings from feral hogs and light freezes.

"You can't hardly kill 'em," he says.

Dougherty, the more experienced grower, has his doubts about whether arbequinas and some other varieties can weather the drastic temperature changes that are typical for Central Texas. But Winokur's trees, farther south, have withstood the shock of temperatures dropping from 70 to 17 degrees in one day, she says.

"The majority of the trees are still standing. They were set back, but they're fine."

Bill Kemp's more immediate concern is keeping the drought-starved deer out of the trees. In the mornings, he takes a shotgun with him as he goes to collect the morning paper. No harm intended, he shoots over their heads to send them rushing back to the cover of nearby woods. Ceramic masks that he's created and hung at various spots on the ranch dot the landscape. He jokes that the faces bear resemblance to Bruce Willis and Tina Turner. Like the olive trees, they're a little unorthodox, but they make perfect sense here, striking additions to the landscape.

Winokur has seen olive trees growing all over the world, and she was impressed by the Kemps' first harvest.

"Bill obviously loves what he's doing," she says. "And the trees show it."

Olive recipes

Arbequina olives antipasto
1 green bell pepper
2 carrots
36 oz. cured arbequina olives (pitted)
1 medium onion
4 oz. pimentos
1 small cauliflower
6 oz. olive oil (extra virgin)
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 (24 oz.) bottle ketchup
1 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 cup red wine
1 (5 1/2 oz.) can tomato paste
1 Tbsp. cut/sifted oregano
1 (14 oz.) can artichokes
1 (10 oz.) can mushroom pieces
1 small can anchovies, chopped (optional)

Chop green pepper; cut carrots into julienne strips. Chop olives, onions and pimento, and set aside.

Break cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. Put 2 oz. of olive oil into frying pan and add 2 cloves garlic, add cauliflower and saute. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large pot add remaining 4 oz. of olive oil and saute the remaining 2 cloves of garlic, add ketchup, wine, tomato paste, oregano and cayenne if using.

Add chopped vegetables, olives, artichokes, pimento, cauliflower and mushrooms. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add anchovies to mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent sticking.

Serves about 20, warm or refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.
- Family recipe from Anna Mae Pusateri (Bill Kemp's mother)

Caracara Farm pickled arbequina olives

Start with 2 quarts of arbequinas. Remove all stems, leaves and blemished olives. Save the seeds of these rejects to plant and grow more trees. Wash several times, then drain in a colander.

Place the clean olives in sterile pint jars, leaving half an inch of head room. Measure into each jar 1 tsp. dried garlic flakes, 1 tsp. dried onion flakes and one bay leaf. (If you're adventurous, sprinkle a few flakes of dried red pepper into each jar).

Place olive-filled jars in a large kettle with two inches of water in the bottom. In another covered kettle make the brine by dissolving 1/2 cup canning salt into 6 cups water and 2 cups vinegar.

In a third smaller pan, place new jar flats in enough water to cover them. Now, turn on the heat and bring all three pots to boiling temperature at the same time.

Carefully fill each jar of olives with enough boiling brine to cover them. Then quickly wipe off the jar rims, place a hot flat on each jar, tighten the ring, turn the jar upside down in the boiling water, put the lid back on the kettle and let stand until cool.

This recipe makes approximately 5 or 6 pints.
- Bev Kemp

Olive oil from Wimberley

First Texas Olive Oil Co. cold presses olives grown on the Bella Vista Ranch in Wimberley. Pressing is going on now but the extra virgin oil will not be sold until November so it can age. Pressing tours and tastings are scheduled this Friday and Saturday at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. For more information and directions to the ranch on County Road 182, go to bvranch.com/events.htm or call (512) 847-6514.