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The South African olive industry is a new one by world standards, where olives have been grown, and oil made, since biblical times. The Greek olive industry, for example, is at least 5000 years old. Although olives have been grown at the Cape since the days of Jan van Riebeeck, it was only in 1903 when Ferdinando Costa purchased a farm in Paarl that the real start of olive growing as a commercial enterprise in South Africa was made. Having said that, commercial large scale production only really starting in the last 20 years or so. The South African industry is also characterized by creativity, with producers using the olives to make much more than just oil.

Tapenade Olive Shop is known for its extensive range of boutique/estate style South African olive oils, similar to a wine boutique with focus on place of origin. Gift hampers with the olive products are packaged for special occasions, such as Christmas presents or corporate gifts.

OLIVE OILS
The mainstay of the products in the shop is the large variety of extra virgin olive oils from all the main olive growing regions in the country. Amongst the town and regions that are represented are:

• Beaufort-West (Karoo Olives)
• Breede Rivier Valley (Olyfberg, Maradadi, Rio Largo and Willow Creek in the Nuy Valley)
• Durbanville (Hillcrest)
• Hermanus (Hamilton Russell Vineyards)
• Laingsburg (David's Olive Farm)
• Outshoorn (Olea Olives)
• Paarl (Lanquedoc, Buffet Olives, Vesuvio, Rhebokskraal, Fairview, Costas and Drakenstein)
• Riebeeck-Kasteel (Kloovenburg, Riebeeck Kasteel Olive Boutique and Goedgedacht)
• Somerset-Wes and Stellenbosch area (Chaloner, Saxenburg, Slaley, The Olive Shed @ Tokara, Eikendal, Oudeberg, Franschhoek Olive Oil Co and Morgenster)
• Tulbach (Bianco Olives, Groote Valley and Buck’s Ridge)
• Vaalharts (Olives South Africa)
• Vanwyksdorp (Blue Sky Organics)
• Wellington (Hildenbrand, Foxenburg)

Each of these oils are as unique as the farms and regions they come from, and one of the ways in which the oils makers’ personalities come out in the product is in the way the oil is packaged. The bottle desgns range from UV filtering dark bottles that are corked to unique ceramic decanters and antique green class bottles.

Another interesting feature of the oils are the different types of oil offered by the estates over and above the ‘normal’ extra virgin olive oils. On the shelves you will find Lime/Lemon Infused, White Truffle Olive Oil, Pepper-, Basil-, Rosemary- and Garlic Infused Olive Oils. Make sure you do not miss the Kloovenburg dipping oils.

Just as winemakers blend different varietals to make unique wine blends, so olive oil makers also blend different varietals depending on their secret recipy. An individual bottled oil in South Africa may contain as many as five different cultivars, but many of the estates have single cultivar oils on offer.

OLIVES
Olives are available as fresh, dried, stuffed and marinated. Some of the more popular styles in the shop are:

• Olives in Blueberry dressing, lime dressing and rosemary &
  garlic
• Dried Olives — "Throubes"
• Different Tapenades and olive pastes, including a vegetarian, organic and almond flavoured Tapenade
• Olive Jam and Olive Marmelades
• Olives stuffed with wonderful things such as garlic, pigmentos, feta cheese and many more

BEAUTY PRODUCTS
One of the more surprising uses of olives to be found in the shop is the wide variety of excellent beauty and skin products which use olive oil as a base. There are soaps, shampoos, body and hand creams, lip balms and massage oils, and these are perfect for spoiling yourself or a loved one.

LITERATURE
The olive tree is synonymous with Tuscan, French Provencal and Greek culture, and with this rich traditional association come the stories, the food, the romance and the travels. A shop which specialises in all things olive will not be complete without a good selection of books about the finer things in life. Look out for travel books, journals, recipe books and much more on the shelves, and be sure to check out the monthly review of a book elsewhere on the site. Some of the more famous ones that might pique your interest are:

• Olives & Oils in South Africa, by Wendy Flanagan & Reni Hildenbrand
• Extra Virgin: Cooking with Olive Oil, by Clare Furguson
• The Olive & the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking, by Susanna Hoffman
• Three sequels about an olive farm in the South of France by Carol Drinkwater
• Three books about olive growing in Italy by Annie Hawes

OTHER PRODUCTS
There is a whole range of interesting goodies that fall between the cracks of the ones mentioned above – hors d’oeuvre dishes, pitters, steel and porcelain decanters. Hand made pottery and hand-painted linen, all of it continuing with the olive theme throughout. Did you know that there are such things as after dinner olive chocolates and olive mineral water?

SUPPLIERS