Rox's EVOO(Olive Oil) for sale on Amazon!

   / Rox's EVOO(Olive Oil) for sale on Amazon! #1  

dmccarty

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12 years ago,:shocked: a woman named Rox joined TBN to talk about tractors and farming. What made Rox a bit unusual is that she is one of the few TBN woman and her "farm" is an olive orchard in Provence France. Rox is an American, and if I remember correctly, her husband Nico is/was a professional French chief. The "retired" by buying the olive orchard, cleaning up the trees and farm, and then started making award winning olive oil. :shocked:

She had many posts about the tractor that came with the property, pruning the neglected trees, and the hard work of making and market olive oil. The oil was and is winning awards for it's quality and we bought some EVOO years ago. One of the problems that Rox was having was getting the EVOO for sale in the US. They were on one large commercial website for a while but they had problems getting paid and had to move on to another website to sell their product. We bought a couple of bottles of Rox's EVOO a few years ago but then could not find it for sale again.

However, we got an email from Rox today and they have managed to get their oil for sale on Amazon! :thumbsup: Rox said it was an ordeal to get their product on Amazon, which given how much work they have had to do to press olives into oil, find bottles, labels, not too mention growing the olives, is an interesting statement....

Now that the EVOO is on Amazon we bought some today! :licking::licking::licking: She has some very good EVOO that was unlike anything we could buy here in our area.

Rox's website is here, Mas Des Bories – Salon de Provence France – Premium- Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Moulin and they are on Facebook, Mas des Bories | Facebook.

Rox's and Nico's oil is on Amazon at, Amazon.com: Mas Des Bories Olive Oil

I looked at Rox's profile and she has not posted on TBN for about five years. Hard to believe it was so many years ago... :shocked:

Later,
Dan
 
   / Rox's EVOO(Olive Oil) for sale on Amazon! #2  
For those that didn't know.... EVOO=Extra Virgin Olive Oil
 
   / Rox's EVOO(Olive Oil) for sale on Amazon!
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Truly good EVOO is a treat.

Yep, and Rox makes some good EVOO. Her posts, can't believe they were so long ago, about how they make EVOO and what they were having to do was pretty interesting. Her posts about how much time it took to just do simple things in France compared to the US, working, or not, with the local olive press operations, getting their own press, etc was very informative. Not something we see on TBN.

Their oil is really good too. :laughing: We have wondered what has been happening with Rox and it is good to see they are still growing olives and making EVOO. :D Though it does not seem like retirement to me. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan
 
   / Rox's EVOO(Olive Oil) for sale on Amazon! #6  
Oh my gosh Dan, you are SO KIND! I remember when we first bought the olive farm in 2004, so long ago, and I used to get basically all of my information on how to do things from everyone here. Remember my husband was a chef and I was in IT, we didn't know anything about tractors or farming. We learned, and the reason I stopped posting was exactly that reason, we learned. We are so proud of what we accomplished in 12 years, believe it or not we have won 20 Gold or Silver Medals for our olive oil in competitions in France, Europe and the USA. We just won another one this year. We have such a critical mass of medals that frankly I cut back and stopped entering competitions. When we got here we didn't have a single customer, the owner/husband had died 3 weeks before closing and the widow took the customer list and claimed that there was none, she still had oil to sell from her last harvest so she just lied through her teeth. We spent over a million USD for this property, the husband was going to teach us everything, and transition everything, and it ended up that we got nothing, other than the farm and we had no idea how to do anything. 12 years later we have built a nice business, by no means will we ever get rich off of this, it is only 12 US acres, but it does provide a very modest living, it pays the bills and we take a nice vacation once a year, and then rinse and repeat. Making the decision to invest in a mill (olive press) and then selecting the right equipment supplier and building out the mill space was challenging but at the same time rewarding. It has taken us 5 years to develop that mill business, pressing olives for other people but last year we broke through and got like a 5 fold to 10 fold increase in people bringing us their olives.

It works like this, we get a new customer at the mill he says he is a dentist and his patient just went on and on how they loved our mill, so he brings his olives. It is all word of mouth, one happy customer tells 5-7 different people and then we get a new customer that way. There is one very important service we provide that other mills do not, we press small batches. We could have bought a bigger capacity agitator, but instead we bought two smaller ones at 100 kilos a batch that totaled the same quantity of one 200 kilo agitator. The other mills their agitators are much bigger than ours and they won't do a small batch, they take the olives from 3 to 4 different people and your olives are mixed with other people's olives whom you don't even know and then you get your portion of that batch. That is not actually what people want, they passionately want "their" own olive oil, they want their own oil and not mixed with anybody else's oil. I saw this as a niche market and bought the equipment *so that we could provide that service.* If you have 5 olive trees that are fruity or even 7 that are not so fruity you are gonna have 100kilo of olives at least. There are many many many people in our area who are passionate about their olive trees, we are set up to serve them and last harvest which was November of 2015, we reached the tipping point where we were really launched as an independent craft mill, we had a critical mass of customers. The other thing people like is that they get their olive oil right away. Most mills will not even permit a mixed batch or 3 to 4 people bringing in 100 kilos each, if you are not 500 kilos your oil goes in the communal vat and you don't get your share of that oil until January and even February. We give them their oil the next day because we never ever combine olives from different customers, we have a minimum/exact 100 kilo and then we don't do like 125 kilo or 130 kilo, it is 100 kilo batches, I am not going to turn that second agitator for 25 kilo of olives. We trained our customers they bring us exactly 100 kilo of olives each time, we simply tell them 5 very full cases or 6 not so full cases, the cases are pretty standard, there is some variation but that is close enough. I bet this year we double our mill business over last year. We had so many customers last year we had to stop our pickers from picking our olives for 2 days so that we didn't get swamped. But no matter what my olives get pressed first, they are pressed within 24 hours. Mine go first, the mill is first and foremost for our farm. My husband and I together run the mill, just us. We work about 9/10 hours a day so if the mill business grows we have capacity to expand by working more hours.

We went from knowing nothing about farming of anything much less olives, to zero customers, to succeeding and even expanding our small business with the addition of the mill. I thought installing a mill was the best expansion option as you only work about 6 weeks during the harvest, planting more trees you have to care for those trees all year long. Here is the determining factor if you are a success or not, do you sell everything you grow? If you can answer yes to that question, in the olive oil business you are a success. The very very worst for a farmer is to start out the year with last years oil that you didn't get sold. It takes up room in your tanks and where are you supposed to store the new oil for this year. Selling ALL your oil every year makes you a success. Of course it is a little more than that, you need to get a good price, contain expenses etc. etc. but if you develop demand for your oil, people want "your" oil and you sell it all out, that is a happy farmer.

Dan thank you so much for posting. On our blog I can see where the visitors come from and it showed that there was a visitor who came through a link at TractorByNet so I came over here to look. I would encourage everyone to read our blog, I spent a LOT of time on it, providing a lot of information, it is the kind of stuff I think readers at TBN would enjoy reading. You guys like looking at equipment and seeing how things are done, it is why you come on TBN. You'll enjoy the blog.
Mas Des Bories – Salon de Provence France – Premium- Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Moulin
 
   / Rox's EVOO(Olive Oil) for sale on Amazon! #7  
I remember when you sent Olive Oil to a TBN get together and the rave reviews!

Worked and lived in Austria for a time and have met a few American expats...

How is your command of the French language?

France is the only country in my travels where language was a barrier for me only speaking English and German...

Apple pressing is a big deal with my friends in Austria... almost a tradition and the results are very tasty.

I confess to not know much about olives... Amazon lists 5 flavors and various container sizes... not being a cook... what are the differences in flavor and which flavor would make a good gift choice?

A few years ago the old Mission San Jose not too far away was approached by someone wanting to press their olives and make wine from grapes that had been neglected for decades... I love it when what is old becomes new.

Wishing you continued success!
 
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   / Rox's EVOO(Olive Oil) for sale on Amazon! #8  
I remember when you sent Olive Oil to a TBN get together and the rave reviews!

Worked and lived in Austria for a time and have met a few American expats...

How is your command of the French language?

France is the only country in my travels where language was a barrier for me only speaking English and German...

Apple pressing is a big deal with my friends in Austria... almost a tradition and the results are very tasty.

I confess to not know much about olives... Amazon lists 5 flavors and various container sizes... not being a cook... what are the differences in flavor and which flavor would make a good gift choice?

A few years ago the old Mission San Jose not too far away was approached by someone wanting to press their olives and make wine from grapes that had been neglected for decades... I love it when what is old becomes new.

Wishing you continued success!

on Amazon read the product descriptions, i describe the different oils. I guess if I had to pick just one to a new person I would recommend the AOC de Provence. All 3 oils we have on Amazon will take the heat, meaning they will hold their flovor when heated and cooked with. Say you boil up some pasta, cool it down under cold running water to stop the cooking, drain the pasta then put it aside. In a big frying pan, heat up the olive oil, add onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes (squueze out the inside of the tomato or it will be to watery) and cook them until just done, don't over cook, then add in your drained pasta and reheat it with your veggies. Sprinkle on a little parmesan cheese and you have a delicious meal. Olive oils that are to mild loose their flavor once cooked with.

however the Aglandau olive oil is excellent for bar-b-q chicken, it's the BEST. Marinade your chicken in Aglandau Olive oil that has some cut up garlic in it. Marinade it for about an hour, then grill it. No bar-b-q sauce, just the marinated chicken, it is superb, you are going to taste the Aglandau olive oil on the chicken and it is going to be delicious. You can use any of our oils as a marinade before bar-b-quing but I think the Aglandau holds it's flavor the best when grilling. For a fresh garden tomatoe & mozzarella salad, I think the AOC or Bouteillan compliments it a bit better. And no vinegar! Just pour on the Mas Des Bories Olive Oil over your fresh tomatoes, it's going to be so delicious you won't believe it.
 
   / Rox's EVOO(Olive Oil) for sale on Amazon! #9  
Thank you for the detail reply...

You can tell I don't know my way around the kitchen!

Is it hard not being a native born French speaker?

The reason I ask is I'm fluent in conversational German and 99% of the time time the Austrian, German, Swiss I meet speak near perfect or perfect English.
 
   / Rox's EVOO(Olive Oil) for sale on Amazon!
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Our order of Aglandau EVOO arrived from Amazon yesterday. This oil has a peppery, spicy flavor that hits well after it has been swallowed. Very odd how that happens but very good! :licking::licking::licking:

First thing I did with the oil was grab a spoon and eat a couple spoonfuls! :laughing::laughing::laughing::licking::licking::licking: YUMMY! You can really taste the flavor this way.

We had some left over lobster ravioli that I reheated and drizzled some of the Aglandau over the pasta. :licking::licking::licking:

All of the oils we have had, and I think we have tried them all over the years, have been very good. We hemmed and hawed over getting the Aglandau or AOC but I really like the Aglandau so that is what we ordered. Next time we will get the AOC. :D:D:D

Later,
Dan
 
 
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