{"id":22069,"date":"2015-07-11T12:51:06","date_gmt":"2015-07-11T19:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cooking-outdoors.com\/?p=22069"},"modified":"2015-07-11T12:51:06","modified_gmt":"2015-07-11T19:51:06","slug":"il-fiorello-olive-oil-company-traveling4food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cooking-outdoors.com\/il-fiorello-olive-oil-company-traveling4food\/","title":{"rendered":"Il Fiorello Olive Oil Company – Traveling4Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

Il Fiorello Olive Oil Company – Traveling4Food<\/h2>\n

When venturing through Fairfield, California you might think of the Jelly Belly Candy Factory or perhaps Travis Air Base; I am sure you never would have added Olive groves, Olive oil Tasting, or Gourmet Cooking Classes to the list, but you should!<\/p>\n

The city of Fairfield, is located halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento, California in the north eastern top half of the San Francisco Bay area, with a population of about 110,000 people. It's a dry, windy section of the state\u00a0 surrounded by beautiful rolling hills, full of wildlife, grape orchards and farms, with surprising out of the way points of curiosity. Unique antique stores, restaurants, fruit stands, wine tasting and for the past several years, Olive groves!<\/p>\n

\"Il<\/p>\n

Turns out that the Fairfield region has the perfect growing conditions for exceptional olive tree growing.<\/p>\n

\"IlIf you remember, previously I shared a review of Il Fiorello Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar and Blended Olive Oils<\/a> – superb flavor, taste and quality a few weeks ago. Now I enjoyed the pleasure of visiting the Il Fiorello Olive Oil Company facilities, which included a personal tour of their Olive Grove and an informative Olive Oil tasting session with owner Mark Sievers. Mark and and his wife Ann are the owners of Il Fiorello Olive Oil Company and the most gracious hosts I have ever encountered.<\/p>\n

“Il Fiorello is owned by Ann Fiorello Sievers and Mark Sievers. Ann is a third generation descendant of \u201cThe Chief,\u201d Dominic Fiorello, who immigrated to America in the 1860\u2032s. The Chief\u2019s family traces its roots from Sicily and Sant\u2019 Angelo D\u2019alife, a village north of Naples.” http:\/\/ilfiorello.com\/about\/<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They have spent the last several years establishing their 15 acre Olive Oil grove, including a processing facility, a restored farm house complete with a gourmet kitchen, store, banquet room and Olive Oil tasting room, an organic garden including a citrus test orchard. All showing the pride and dedication to their love of Olive Oil in the beautiful rolling hillside of Solano County.<\/p>\n

“The name Il Fiorello means \u201clittle flower\u201d in Italian, so named after Ann\u2019s grandfather, Dominic Fiorello. She chose the symbolic name for the tiny, white flowers on the olive trees, each of which will become a delicious olive for milling into our ultra premium oil.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Gourmet<\/p>\n

Our day included a gourmet grilling and craft beer pairing class<\/a> with Executive Chef Mavin Martin, owner Ann Sievers and Sensory Scientist Sue Langstaff – but that is another story!<\/p>\n

\"Il<\/p>\n

Upon arrival and after being warmly greeted by Ann Sievers, she introduced us to her husband Mark and he quickly loaded us into their tour vehicle (golf cart) and proceeded to tell us about the history of their operation and the type of Olive trees they have in their grove as we drove around.<\/p>\n

Olive Grove Tour<\/h2>\n

\"Il<\/p>\n

With 15 acres in stages of production, they currently have approximately 2000 trees imported from Spain, France, Italy and N. Africa. They take great pride in their grove, which is soon to be certified organic and they use water saving drip lines to nourish their trees.<\/p>\n

\"Il<\/p>\n

We learned some interesting facts about Olive Trees:<\/p>\n