Olive Oil Farm

On Thursday I took a trip to an olive oil producer, Basilippo. The farm was about 30 minutes from Sevilla and I shared an Uber with Aiden, Finn, and Sean who organized the trip. Upon arriving at the farm we were greeted by our tour guide who showed us around while we waited for the rest of the tour group. Once the group arrived we were brought on a tour through the farm itself, seeing the hundreds of olive trees that are grown on their property. I never really thought about the difference between green and black olives, but I learned that the black olives are just fully matured olives. To make the best olive oil they use the younger green olives, which produce a better flavor and quality of oil, but less quantity. We toured the processing facility to see where the olives are turned into oil and how they package it, then moved on to the tasting room. We smelled three different oils: one of Basilippo's best oils, a common grocery store olive oil, and Basilippo's orange olive oil. It was amazing to smell the difference between a high quality extra virgin olive oil and a regular one, especially after learning what these terms really mean! We then tasted the olive oils, which I would have rather done with a piece of bread!!! Lastly we tried chocolate ice cream with the orange olive oil on top. It sounds strange, but it was really delicious! Before leaving I picked up a couple of bottles of oil from the gift shop. I am excited to use them back in the US! Overall it was an amazing tour and I learned a lot about olives, olive trees, and oil production.