We were used to buying California Olive Ranch oil, until the last bottle we bought. When we started buying the brand years ago, we bought it because we thought it was olive oil made from California crops. Now, that we know the truth we will not be buying this brand anymore. It is sad but we just did a review of the "Worlds Finest Olive Oils," and the California brand was not in the top five oils. So with this said, I believe there brand will eventually take a hit as more people seek out quality olive oils which are not blended from oils from different countries. Btw, didn't the company start out years ago by bragging that their oil was made in California?
I was aware of the change in products origin but decided to buy one bottle to test it out. Here are my conclusions : taste is very bitter, smell is ok, but I don't detect the grassy smell as I am used to CA grown olive oil. While it may be ok for occasional use, I will refrain from buying it and look at other CA grown olive oils.
Very Misleading advertising on Amazon for the Olive oil, completely agree with this "Totally misleading. Prominent words are California, Ranch and Destination when the oils are coming from South America and Europe"
Bought our first bottle by accident and now paying the price with inflammation in our bodies---that is the 3 members of my family who rely on pure sourced foods. Like the original COR used to be. SO PISSED!! What a sleazy bait and switch with the barely recognizable bottle design change, to their vague wording on the site. It seems the larger chef sized bottles are still available, and we will be buying those out at our local stores until they are gone. And then we will be finding a replacement olive oil from ONE grower in ONE location. COR has totally gone against their original slogan of Made Right Here! Greed got the best of them and I sure hope more people realize this and they are forced to provide a 100% Every day olive oil, even if they charge a bit more. In fact, I think they totally underestimated the amount of customers who buy COR BECAUSE it was made and grown in CA. Bad move COR, bad move....
Just last week I purchased a bottle of their "new oil" without giving a thought to it's origin- until I got home and curiously decided to read the labels. Really surprised when I saw it was not grown from 100% California olives and I agree that COR's packaging is less than full and fair disclosure, especially in light of all the past olive oil scandals. This bottle is being returned to Walmart and they have lost my confidence in their product.
As a producer of California olive oil and as a founding member of the COOC Taste Panel, whose goal has been to certify that locally produced olive oils meet international and California standards for quality and authenticity, I am offended that our state’s largest producer and marketer would dare to put such a misleading label into US markets. American consumers are still confused about what is to be trusted on an olive oil label and COR, who has gained the trust of many consumers by having an affordable, local product, is about to confuse them more. No, this is not transparency. And I hope the Industry leaders (COOC and Olive Oil Commission of California ) take a forceful stand against this marketing maneuver. The California wine industry believes strongly enough in the importance of its brands that it sues to protect its reputation. Will we do the same?
Shame on Harvard as largest shareholder of California Olive Ranch promoting this misleading practice that not only will affect American consumers that trusted this brand built on provenance but also will destroy Californian olive farmers as their oil prices will be capped by the cheap imports of lower quality South American and European oil "crafted" in California. The greed of one company is threatening the investment of hundreds of American farming families.
You are dead on with that! What most amazes me is that anyone could think this sort of trickery is going to go unnoticed. At a time when transparency and origin are such important topics in the food world, why would anyone opt for going backwards to the bad old days of misleading origins? It is interesting to note that the name of the company's other imported product "LUCINI ITALIA" was morphed to simply "LUCINI" when the oil started to come from Argentina. Someone was sensitive enough to that disconnect to suggest that the "ITALIA" needed to go. So where was that awareness when it was proposed that the CALIFORNIA Olive Ranch brand didn't have to come from California anymore? You're right--someone in Cambridge needs to wake up to the scandalous implications of this.
What are they thinking? All of the discussion over the years about misleading labels and they come up with THIS? You have to have a very low opinion of your consumers to pull something like this. No one has used the f-word yet (not that f-word, although I can see where it is appropriate in this situation, I mean the other f-word, defined by Webster as 1a : DECEIT, TRICKERY, specifically : intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right) but I cannot see how this qualifies as transparent, informative or honest labeling. If you declare CALIFORNIA on the label, you bloody well ought to have California-produced olive oil in the bottle (and I don't mean a few grams dribbled in for cover). As Lorenzo points out, this is like an Italian company with the name ITALY on the front. It is misleading and deceptive, and grossly unfair to the producers of California who are actually selling oil from California grown olives in this difficult year. For shame.
Crafted in California means blended and bottled in California. This is exactly what "bottled in Italy" means. Why they don't say 'imported' on the label as everyone else do and bottle in california? And the companys name with the big CALIFORNIA is like an italian company with the name ITALY on the front - I can see why this is misleads consumers who will only see california so i agree with author
While it may be ok for occasional use, I will refrain from buying it and look at other CA grown olive oils.
completely agree with this
"Totally misleading. Prominent words are California, Ranch and Destination when the oils are coming from South America and Europe"