Sciabica’s California Olive Oil has nearly 80 years of success to back the claim that the company’s olive oil is unmatched both in quality and flavor.

The history of the olive oil company spans back to 1936 when Nicola Sciabica decided to begin cold pressing olive oil in Modesto by taking full advantage of the knowledge he had accumulated over years of producing olive oil in his birthplace of Marsala, Sicily.

Four generations later, Sciabica’s great grandson Jonathan Sciabica reflects on how the success of his family’s olive oil company has allowed Sciabica’s California Olive Oil to flourish from a small family operation that sold primarily at local markets to a company that serves olive oil fanatics across the nation.

“I am always trying to figure out what is the magic that makes our customers love our olive oil that much,” said Sciabica, “but it really comes down to how passionate we are for the product.

“Our olive oil is different than what you’ll find on the shelves,” added Sciabica.

Sciabica reported that his company uses a modern centrifuge to produce its olive oil by spinning, which is a change from its previously utilized technique of using presses to squeeze the oil out of the olive.

“The modern centrifuge is much cleaner and produces a higher quality olive oil than what we’ve started with,” said Sciabica.

According to Sciabica, all of his family’s olive oils are 100 percent extra virgin made from 100 percent California-grown olives. Each bottle of olive oil is unrefined and contains no imported olive oil, chemicals, artificial colorings or preservatives.

Sciabica’s California Olive Oil offers varietal olive oils with distinct flavor profiles, such as the Sevillano Variety Fall Harvest, and flavored olive oils, such as basil extra virgin olive oil and lemon extra virgin olive oil.

“A lot of people think that flavoring olive oils is placing stuff in a bottle, but we put the fruits and herbs with the olives in the mill and gently cold press them,” said Sciabica. “Our flavored olive oil is a night and day difference from olive oil made from an infusion process.”

Sciabica’s California Olive Oil is located at 2150 Yosemite Boulevard in Modesto. The gift shop is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday and the company can be found at the Modesto Downtown Farmers Market from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, visit

or call 1-800-551-9612.