An
Oil Consuming Passion
Despite rising costs and a notorious pest, a local olive grower and miller keeps a Fallbrook tradition alive by Sandra Shrader
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t’s a fierce affection that Guerino Sabatini holds for his olive trees. For the 81-year-old owner of Sabatini Olive Oil Co., the oil from the fruit of the Olea europaea trees in his Fallbrook grove makes for a healthy and versatile cuisine, whether it’s spread on a fresh piece of flatbread, drizzled over salmon or blended to make lemon olive oil ice cream. But nearer and dearer to Sabatini’s heart is both his reverence for the olive oil producing tradition that has existed for several thousand years as well as his admiring respect for the longevity of olive trees themselves. “I bought this 5-acre property in Fallbrook in 2002 because I saw all the beautiful old olive trees on it. Many of them have been here since the 1880s,” said the Italian-born Sabatini, who goes by “Jerry” because, as he said, it is easier for his neighbors and customers to remember than his given name. “There had been plans to develop the land, but I thought keeping the grove was more important than destroying it to build houses. I started planting more trees right away, and there are about 1,000 olive trees of different varieties here now,” he said. Sabatini Olive Oil Co., which produces a unique blend of 100% GMO-free extra virgin olive oil – created within four hours from the time the olives are hand harvested – is located at 1008 Big Oak Ranch Road. The business is a family-run operation, beginning with picking the olives to onsite processing of making the oil to bottling. Their 80
olive oil is available online and a storefront is located in nearby Vista where Sabatini and his family have lived since 1977. Plans are being made, according to the olive grower’s daughter Linda Sabatini, to begin tours of the grove, including a stop at a 450-year-old oak tree, considered to be the oldest oak tree in Fallbrook, and holding olive oil tasting events at the processing facility. Sabatini is following in a long history of olive tree growers in Fallbrook although most of the thousand acres of old groves originally established the early 1900s are long gone. The first olive tree in the region was reported to have been planted in 1876 in Live Oak Canyon, and, as farmers subsequently discovered in Fallbrook’s
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Sabatini Olive Oil Co.,... produces a unique blend of 100% GMO-free extra virgin olive oil – created within four hours from the time the olives are hand harvested.
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first major cash crop industry, olive trees thrived in the moderate Mediterraneanlike climate here in addition to living with minimal irrigation. “I generally just have to water this grove once a year, usually in July. That’s about it. Olive trees can handle drought situa-
tions—they can even be neglected for decades, and still be just fine,” Sabatini said. The olive tree’s drought tolerance and long-lived resilience is due to its sturdy and extensive root system, and if a tree is damaged or topped, the roots act as its alert and recovery warriors, according to Sabatini. “The olive tree knows when someone is trying to kill her. The roots of the tree sense it, and they always come back,” he said, pointing out a circular “crownlike” formation of trees around the much larger shorn trunk of a mother tree. “You can see on my property where some of the trees which were very old have been cut down, but those olive trees’ roots survived and then grew up all around them.” Sabatini, who only grows and harvests olives to make and sell oil, has several different varietals of olive trees in his grove. They include the most recognized Mission olives , which were named for the first olive trees established in California circa 1795 by Franciscan missionaries at the Spanish Mission San Diego de Alcalá, as well as several Italian varietals from Italy including Frantoio, Leccino, Pendolino and Coratina. The grove also includes a 3,000-year old varietal from Greece and North Africa called Koroneiki which produces a small olive whose oil has a pleasant peppery flavor. The olive also has a very high level of polyphenols which are the chemical substances found in plants that may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. And yield-wise the diminutive Koroneiki olive packs a big punch. www.my-sourcebook.com
