Travel Journal October 2007

While recently in Arizona, we took our second trip to the Queen Creek Olive Mill located in Queen Creek, Arizona (45 minutes Southeast of Phoenix). We were lucky to get a tour from the owner himself, Perry Rea, seems the regular tour guide lost her voice! I can see why, the in-depth one hour talk & tour was insightful, and full of good information, I know a heck of a lot more about Olive Oil than I ever did! You can taste just about every product they make in the tasting room.The infused olive oils are delicious and when owner Perry makes up a new flavor, it makes it to the tasting room very quickly.
They have also recently added a Mediterranean style cafe, Del Piero, serving breakfast, fresh salads and Panini sandwiches. Most of the menu choices include an Olive Mill made ingredient. The offerings are cleverly named after different types of olives. The cafe was PACKED while we there on a Saturday afternoon. Del Piero also has Gelato for dessert. Very tempting in the hot Arizona weather!
I stock up on their Tuscan style olive oil and the White Truffle infused olive oil whenever I'm there.Our daughter-in-law, Joy, has deemed visiting the Olive Mill a family tradition, and we are completely on board.We usually purchase the fresh crusty baguettes, brought in daily from a local bakery. Then we always get our favorite tapenades, Sundried Tomato and Basil, and Artichoke Roasted Garlic, then we rush home to make Bruschetta...it's a great tradition!

The Olive Mill happened to be hosting a Fudge tasting that afternoon. Heritage Fudge Company had us stopped in our tracks to taste some very yummy concoctions.The favorite was a sweet & salty roasted peanut fudge, naturally it was so good, it was sold out! Handmade in small batches, it is a family enterprise that seems to uphold an old fashioned tradition of fudge making. The young man hosting the tasting was the owner, and relies on his grandmother's fudge recipes for inspiration. The ingredients are all natural, and the amount of sugar is much less than traditional fudge, so the real flavor of the ingredients, really shines through!