--- Picking the right olive ---…read more
As you travel up and down I-5 between the Bay Area and Oregon, you'll undoubtedly see the signs for the Olive Pit 3 hrs north of San Francisco. While the Olive Pit has plenty of touristy products and a snack bar, it'd be a loss to miss its lesser known cousin, the Olive Hut.
For almost a decade, Corning (which houses both the Olive Pit and the Olive Hut) has been our stopping point on travels through Northern California. We had always passed by the Olive Hut (it's visible just barely from I-5 - see photos) but never stopped in. This last time, on a jog, I got a better look at it and looked it up online.
Turns out the Olive Hut is owned by a family farm, La Conda Ranch. The story around the farm is a good one which I'll leave to the reader: http://www.catechnologies.com/LaConda/aboutus.html. We also found the Olive Hut blog (http://www.olivehut.blogspot.com/) where the owner of La Conda Ranch and the Olive Hut has been blogging and posting recipes since 2007. Suffice to say, we knew we had to stop in.
Although the Olive Hut is less than 30 seconds from the freeway, it is outside of downtown Corning and off the beaten path. If you take the South Rd exit in Corning (McDonalds, TA, and Jack in the Box), head east to Corning Rd (first light) and take a right. A block or two down, it'll be on the right-hand side at the corner of Viola and Corning Rd. (NOTE: If you're using Google Maps, their formal address (3487 Highway 99W) does not yield the right location. Instead enter in "Old Corning Road and Viola Ave, Corning, CA")
Unlike the Olive Pit, most of the goods sold at the Olive Hut are from their own ranch. Olives and olive oil are the main attractions and are almost all from their ranch. (The one exception is a small sampling of olive oils from the Corning Olive Oil company who are friends that help them press their olives.) Their olive oils have won awards which they proudly display on the top shelf of their olive oils. They also sell honey (from Santa Rosa oddly enough), dried fruit, snacks, and have a little deli to boot.
They have a sampling bar with honey, olives, and olive oil. It's clean and well put-together without any frills.
The girl behind the counter was friendly and helpful without being sales-y. We chatted with her. She explained the different kinds of olives, when they're harvested, how they're processed. They process them right there at the hut! She's not from the Patton family but she does help out when they process the olives. We'd love to come back when they're processing olives some time!
The selection is healthy but not overwhelming. We ended up walking out with two jars of olives, three olive oils, and a little wooden gift box with four more olive oils we selected.
On a side note, taking a run up Viola, Woodson, or any of the little roads off of Corning Rd is awesome. No cars, lots of groves of olive trees, and cute houses.
My Yelp reviews are typically done in bullets but couldn't help raving a little about this place. On to the bullets...
+ The goods are mostly from their farm. They aren't kidding when they say "Farmer to you." This is so increasingly rare these days.
+ Doesn't feel like a tourist trap. The store feels like they cleaned out a processing barn for the off-season and setup tables and shelves.
+ Prices are surprisingly affordable. Which means you can afford to buy a ton while helping the family farm movement.
+ Helpful and friendly people.
- Being off the beaten path, there aren't a lot of stores, shops nearby to browse if you're in to that sort of thing. (I'd highly recommend a walk along the olive groves along Viola or one of the side streets near the Olive Hut).
- It's not huge if you're looking for a destination. It'll be at best a half hour stop.
- Not a ton of ready-to-eat food options. They have an more extensive kitchen but for some reason, it wasn't operational when we visited.
