This article first appeared in June 2017 on my original blog. The tour portion of this is currently closed to the public.
On
St. Patrick's Day, 2017, we experienced some new places. One of those places was
Graber Olives in Ontario, CA. Given that I was dealing with the travesty that is Project FI customer service, I still managed to have a wonderful time and I learned far more about olives than I ever thought imaginable.
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| Graber Olives |
In an unassuming plot of land in the middle of residential Ontario, you'll find the Graber Olive House. Now, the actual Olive Groves are located in the San Joaquin Valley, but they are cured, canned, and sold right here. The tours are free as are the tastings and the multiple shops on sight offer a wide variety of their products as well as some of the kitschy crap your grandma has in her house. The real draw here is the tour.
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| Graber Olives |
The tours are lead by one of the very knowledgeable staff and they truly seem to enjoy the work.
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| Graber Olives |
Our guide showed us how all the machines worked and answered any questions we had.
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| Graber Olives |
After the extensive tour, we were guided into the gift shop for complimentary tastings and, of course, we purchased a wide variety of their delicious products.
There is something to be said for local, small businesses. The olives definitely tasted better than store bought. You do pay a higher price for the product and they are not pitted, but boy are they delicious!
If you get the chance, go check them out! They've been around since the 1800's and they do
weddings and events there, which, you know, is right up my alley!
