San Benito County has a rich tradition of olive orchards, dating back to the arrival of the Spanish. Olive oil was a major source of income for the San Juan Bautista missionaries and the earliest farms and vineyards. Cienega Valley and old ranches throughout the county had extensive olive tree plantings.
Oils of Paicines, owned by Barbara Rever and Jerry Ginsburg, continues that tradition with 13,000 olive trees in Paicines Valley.
“Before we went into business 20 years ago, we were going to fine restaurants and were served dipping oils,” Rever said. “Then we realized that we had 81 mature olive trees on our property and thought, ‘let’s get some dipping oil out of them.’’’
They picked all the olives and took them to a local press and awaited the results.
“They called and told us to bring some bottles for the oil,” Rever said. “I asked how many and they said 700 bottles. I thought to myself, ‘I don’t have 700 friends to give them to,’ so we started selling them. At that time, hardly anyone in this state was making olive oil and our business grew rapidly.”
The orchards are made up of the same kind of olives this region had been known for two centuries ago.
“We use Mission olives for our oil,” Rever said. “A lot of places use Arbequina olives because they mature in five years and you can use a mechanical grape harvester to gather the olives. Our oil is more expensive because we handpick all of our olives to keep them from injury. If you injure an olive, it starts oxidizing and then you lose the good qualities of the oil. Some companies also mix olive oil with grapeseed oil to be able to sell it cheaper. But our olive oil is pure and organic oil.”
The distinct flavor of the Mission olives is enhanced by picking the fruit at just the right time.
“Our olive oils have a distinct buttery flavor because they are late harvest,” Rever said. “We like to pick when the olives are turning from purple to black. We don’t want to wait until they turn black because they start losing some of the medicinal qualities.”
The oils have been certified organic since 2005, a process that took years to complete.
“There were a lot of hoops to go through,” Rever said. “We have to be re-certified every year by the California Certified Organic Farmers out of Santa Cruz. They come to check out the whole process and the trees and all of our records. It is a major production.”
Oils of Paicines also imports two fine balsamic vinegars directly from Modena, Italy. They are made from three different kinds of grapes and aged for years in wooden barrels to allow the vinegar to reduce and thicken. Rever and Ginsburg traveled to Italy, touring the attics of family farms, searching for the finest vinegar to import.
“There are a lot of vinegars you can buy in stores that are called ‘balsamic vinegar,’” Rever said. “But unless it comes from Modena, it is not considered true balsamic vinegar. There is a consortium there and everyone brings their vinegars to them to be tested for acidity and other properties. And it is certified by age and flavor profile. This is important because you cannot sell it as ‘balsamic vinegar from Modena’ until they have certified the quality of it.”
The vinegar was purchased from the Caselli family and had originally been started when their son was born.
“It is a tradition that when a child is born in Modena, they put down some vinegar for it,” Rever said. “The idea is when they are old enough to marry, it will pay for their wedding. In this case, the young man had just gotten married and paid for it with part of this vinegar, which had already been winning awards for its quality.”
Oils of Paicines also offers a line of mustards that feature their extra virgin olive oil.
“I was a New Yorker, originally,” Rever said, “and I grew up loving to go to the delis. We met some people back east in the German Baptist community who make these amazing mustards. They came out to visit us one year and we shared our oils with them.”
The result was three distinctive mustards produced by the German Baptists in Pennsylvania for Oils of Paicines that are not available anywhere else in the country.
But olive oil remains the heart of the business.
“It is a wonderful long-term business,” Rever said. “The old saying is ‘you plant grapes for your children and olive trees for your grandchildren.’ We hope to continue growing and producing these fine oils for years to come.”
The olive oil, balsamic vinegars, and mustards can be purchased directly from their website, or their store location at 22100 Airline Highway in Paicines, and at some local stores including Bene Gift Shop at 615 San Benito Street in Hollister.
The products of Oils of Paicines
Silver Medal Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (8.5 oz, $25; 12.7 oz, $34; 64 oz, $75) This oil tastes almost like olive oil mixed with melted butter. The taste of the olives comes through a broad, light flavor that drifts away cleanly rather than with any heavy oiliness. Owing to the harvest time, there is very little of the burning feeling in the back of your throat from the olive oil, and the clean taste makes it perfect to use in dressings, marinades or dips. The oil is a particular favorite of local high-end restaurants, which buy it in bulk. “I use this for everything,” Rever said. “I cook with it, I bake with it. It just works well with anything you want to do with it.”
Acetaia Caselli Tradizioni Balsamiche Condimento Reserva (8.5 oz, $58.95) This thick, syrupy balsamic vinegar is an amazing experience to taste. There is an overall sweetness to the vinegar, a barrel-aged red wine flavor mixed with dark caramel notes and hints of dried cherries and prunes. Overall, the flavor is bright and appealing, nicely balanced with very low acids. It’s a powerful taste that might overwhelm if used too liberally. At this price and quality, it’s more suited as a finishing sauce, drizzled over tomatoes and fresh mozzarella or grilled flank steak, and works nicely served over sliced pears or strawberries.
Premium Balsamic Vinegar Modena (8.5 oz- 28.95) Also imported from Modena, this is a completely different tasting experience. The fruitiness is more upfront and the red wine flavor is more in the background. It’s darker and not as sweet as the traditional and the acids and caramel flavor are more apparent. This is more of a workhorse vinegar than the traditional and can be used more liberally as an ingredient rather than on its own. It works well in marinades and salad dressings, drizzled on fish, or even poured over ice cream.
Bavarian Mustard (12 oz, $12) “I call this a glorified ballpark mustard,” Rever said. This is a whole-seed mustard with a bright acidic taste. The beer flavor is subtle, coming in at the start and then giving way to the fuller mustard flavor complimented by a pleasant crunch from the seeds. This is hamburger or hot dog mustard, perfect for picnics or lunches. Rever suggests serving it with sausage—again, perfect—or mixed into potato salad. This is the mustard to use when you want to add a bold flavor to your cooking.
Cider Mountain Mustard (12 oz, $12) This mustard uses apple cider vinegar for a bit of sweetness and tartness. The texture is nice, with just a bit of graininess from the crushed mustard seeds. There is no real heat or sharpness to the mustard, but it does have a smooth, bountiful flavor, making it perfect for turkey sandwiches and salad dressings. It’s designed to be a compliment, not the main attraction.
Dijon Mustard (12 oz, $12) This Dijon has much less heat than a true French Dijon and less acid, which gives you more real flavor without the mustard becoming overpowering. It does have a little bite to it, but there is some sweetness as well and a subtle fruit taste coming from the white wine used in production. For me, the heat of standard Dijon mustards make them one-note flavors but the restraint in this one lets the flavor profile spread out much more. It has a creamy texture and is more of an all-purpose mustard than the other three. And among the three, this is my favorite.
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