Growing Olives in Queen Creek, Arizona
Posted in Family Fun, Food, Shopping, Southwest | By Shelley Gillespie | Tags: Food, Recipe, Southwest, Tours
In our effort to bring real travel experiences to you, we highlight a unique business with a good eco-ethic:
If you are in the Phoenix, Arizona area, a fun diversion and a good place to grab a meal is at the Queen Creek Olive Mill. For locavores – those who want their foods grown near where they are eating them – the Queen Creek Olive Mill fits the bill.
Ten years ago, Perry Rea planted 1,500 olive trees as a hobby. Now, the hobby has grown to a full-time business, which attracts visitors from all of the U.S. and Canada.
Perry Rea with one of his many olive trees
What the tourists are coming to see is a working olive mill, which produces some of the finest olive oil in the world. They don’t try to compete with the others, but sell their “boutique” olive oils and products online and in their store.
Making olive oil
Taking a tour of the olive mill, (tour price – $5), visitors are shown the process by which the Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is produced. Rea or one of the tour guides explains the distinctions between the six types of olive oil grades.
Meeting strict standards, the finest grade, EVOO, does not use solvents or heat to extract the oil from the olives. Only a mechanical process is used, involving a centrifuge and several steps that result in one ounce every ten seconds flowing from a stainless steel pipe. The oil is processed 18 hours a day, six days a week over a three-month period. Bottling, using traditional, square Italian bottles, is done rapidly so the EVOO is the freshest possible.
Rea demonstrates how oil is extracted from olives
As master blender, Rea decides on the mix of olive types used in the production and flavorings used in oils and special olives. Rea’s wife and daughter have also developed a line of bath and beauty products incorporating their olive oil. All of these items are available on the premises at the store, as well as other locally made products. Gift packaging and shipping are available.
Many varieties of olives are available
On the tour, I learned that canned black olives, which I’ve loved since childhood, are made with lye! I will not be eating that variety again. Rea explains that the lye is a shortcut used by the commercial olive canners to cure the olives. Rea at Queen Creek Olive Mill cures his olives naturally, which takes 60 days.
Eating well with olives
Also part of the venture is the Del Piero restaurant that serves locally grown and produced foods. Their “Del Piero” olive assortment has five different varieties served with each sandwich, panini, soup or salad. Breakfast is also available.
Meant to evoke a Tuscan eatery, the concrete floor and plastic basket service belies the quality of the food, which is flavorful, fresh and local. Rea’s mantra is “local, local, local.” For instance, pistachio nuts are grown by St. Anthony’s Monastery in Florence, Arizona (less than 50 miles away), bread is baked daily in Phoenix, and goat cheese comes from Strawberry, Arizona. Even gelato, available in an array of flavors, is made locally.
And as a good steward of the environment, the restaurant uses plastic glasses made from corn that are biodegradable! They recycle in every way possible and have recycle bins in their restaurant.
A panini sandwich, the “Pendolino,” was crunchy and luscious with mushrooms, caramelized onions, squash and other fresh ingredients on rosemary focaccia bread. One of the soups of the day was a tomato basil soup, hearty on flavor, garnished with fresh basil. A “Kalamata” sandwich heaped with two salamis and pork, again locally grown, was rich, melt-in-your-mouth savory on ciabatta bread. Sandwich, soup, antipasto and bruschetta prices range from $4.29 to $8.99.
On another visit, I tried their potato cream cheese soup – as decadent and delicious as it sounds! The paninis are consistently great with homemade “crema” dressings.
See recipe below for one of their family favorites.
Has Rea been successful? Definitely! He’s planting an additional 1,000 olive trees.
To visit Queen Creek Olive Mill –
Hours (which include breakfasts) Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Saturday, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. See their Web site at www.queencreekolivemill.com for directions or to order products for shipping. Phone (480) 888-9290.
Recipe
From the Rea’s family favorites:
Chicken with Olives and White Wine Sauce
This is a very quick and easy dish.
Yield: 4 servings
* 4 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless
* 4 tbsp QCOM Chili Olive Oil
* 1/3 cup capers, chopped
* 5 garlic cloves, minced
* 1/2 cup QCOM Jalapeno Mexican Lime Stuffed Olives, chopped
* 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
* 1 1/2 cups white wine
* 1 cup chicken broth
* 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
Heat oil in the pot. Add the chicken. Brown for 10-12 minutes, making sure it doesn’t stick to the pot or burn. Turn as needed. Add chopped capers, garlic and olives. Add the white wine and chicken broth to the pot. Stir and simmer 3-5 minutes. Cover the pot and allow chicken to fully cook in the sauce. Add parsley and serve on a bed of pasta, polenta, rice or with a salad.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:30 am
[...] Growing Olives in Queen Creek, ArizonaIf you are in the Phoenix, Arizona area, a fun diversion and a good place to grab a meal is at the Queen Creek Olive Mill. For locavores – those who want their foods grown near where they are eating them – the Queen Creek Olive Mill …Read More [...]