A national olive oil brand sprouts from Valley soil

by Jodi Raley

 

From Madera County orchards to store shelves in New York, Vincent Ricchiuti has delivered the product of Italian heritage and California soil to consumers nationwide.

With 98 percent of olive oil consumed in the United States imported from other nations, Ricchiuti recognized an opportunity and created Enzo Olive Oil — named after his great grandfather, Vincenzo. The locally grown, organic, extra virgin olive oil is available in every Williams-Sonoma store in the U.S., regionally in Whole Foods and other retailers, and at Enzo’s Table, the family’s farm market in Clovis.

As a board member on the Olive Oil Commission of California and the California Olive Oil Council, Ricchiuti has been at the forefront of establishing standards and regulations for extra virgin olive oil certification.

“It’s one of the biggest problems with imported oils,” Ricchiuti says. “They will say they are extra virgin when, in truth, the oil is blended rancid or not to the quality it’s advertising to be.”

California olive oil producers have mandated that any extra virgin product must go through a series of chemical and sensory evaluations to certify the quality. Ricchiuti says the next step will be to pursue these standards nationwide.

Ricchiuti Family Farms started more than 100 years ago when Vincenzo Ricchiuti planted the seeds for a family business that has spanned four generations in the Central Valley. Vincenzo’s first harvested crop included grapes and figs before decades later expanding to stone fruit, almonds and eventually olives.

The family has a long tradition of supporting Fresno State. Vincent’s parents, Patrick V. (class of 1970) and Vinci Ricchiuti (1981), earned the Arthur Safstrom Service Award in 1992 for outstanding service to the University. In 2001, Patrick V. earned the Outstanding Alumni Award from the Fresno State Alumni Association. And in 2005, the on-campus Ricchiuti Academic Center opened with 6,000 square feet of study tables, computer labs and offices to support student-athletes.

Vincent’s role in the family business expanded after he graduated from Fresno State in 2005, after years of working the night shift at the almond hulling facility.

The Ricchiuti family transitioned out of the stone fruit business in 2008 to pursue almond growing. At the same time, Vincent planted high density olive trees with inspiration from his father, Pat Ricchiuti, who was involved in studies conducted on high-density trees at Fresno State.

To date, Enzo Olive Oil has won 39 awards, including Best in Class at the New York International Olive Oil competition. Enzo Olive Oil and Ricchiuti Family Farms were also featured in prestigious food writer Florence Fabricant’s article “Dock to Dish, a Cookbook That Celebrates the Greenmarket and More,” published in The New York Times in 2014.

 

— Jodi Raley is a student news assistant in University Communications at Fresno State.