Sciabica marks 80 years of pressing olive oil in Modesto

BY JOHN HOLLAND

AUGUST 26, 2016

A big crowd pressed into Nick Sciabica & Sons on Friday to get some of the olive oil it has pressed for 80 years now.

The Modesto company honored its 1936 launch with 36 percent discounts on some of the bottles. It also invited several of the area’s other food producers to sell their fare in the parking lot.

“It’s nice olive oil,” said Dorothy Parker of Modesto as she waited to pay for versions flavored with lemon and garlic. “It’s a family-owned business, too, and that’s important.”

The company employs 22 people at the Yosemite Boulevard plant, which turns out about 100,000 gallons of oil a year. The basic product has long had a place in Mediterranean cuisines. Its health benefits have had a lot of attention, too.

“I attribute it to the buzz about California olive oil,” said Nick Sciabica, president of the company and grandson of the founder of the same name. The volume eventually could rise to 500,000 gallons a year, but it would still be one of the smaller players, he said.

Sciabica – pronounced “sha-BEE-ka” – has many flavors of oil, as well as variations that come from harvesting in fall, winter or spring.

The state has ideal conditions for growing olives, but the oil business has long been dominated by imports. California producers have worked to maintain quality standards. “Extra virgin,” for example, means oil from the first press, with no additives.

For decades, Sciabica’s product was a blend known as Marsala Olive Oil, named for the founder’s hometown. Today, that name is on oil sold in bag-in-a-box form, complete with spout.

Duward Lawson of Ceres was among the fans who turned out.

“This is the best oil I’ve ever found,” he said. “I’m shipping some back to Massachusetts for family.”

The “farm-to-fork” event in the parking lot featured cheese, baked goods, kettle corn, wine, beer and other goods made in the area, along with dishes from a few restaurants.

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/news/business/agriculture/article98248237.html#storylink=cpy