A Business Built On The Versatility Of Olives

When Roleen Basson started Darling Olives about 10 years ago, she didn’t even eat olives. However, today her business produces about 30 product lines, and the Darling Olives footprint will soon extend to supermarkets beyond the Western Cape. Jay Ferreira reports.

- Jay Ferreira

“I have always been fascinated by olives,” says Darling Olives owner, Roleen Basson. “You can’t eat the fruit raw, but when cured they are delicious and so healthy. I knew nothing about olives when I started; I didn’t even eat olives, but was intrigued by the trees.”

When Roleen married Darling Creamery owner, Nicolaas Basson, in 1998, she moved onto the family farm, Alexanderfontein, just outside Darling in the Western Cape.

“There were olive trees already on the farm,” she explains, “in the areas where the soil was not suitable for vineyards.”

This was the beginning of Darling Olives, which, today, is supplied by olives produced on 70ha on Alexanderfontein.

STARTING SMALL

“I started with 50kg of olives from the trees on the farm,” explains Roleen. “There was no information available on the Internet on how to cure olives back in 2006, so it was trial and error. Nowadays there are consultants to answer your questions.” Roleen divided the 50kg of olives into different batches to try different recipes. The next year she processed 100kg and cured black and Kalamata olives, which she sold at the local Spar and farm stalls.

“We started out in the old dairy building on the farm, which is now the tasting room,” she explains. By 2008, business had improved and Roleen appointed her first staff member. She now employs 13 staff members.

“I like to do new things and work on new products,” she says, “so I surround myself with maintainers who look after the production processes.”

DEVELOPING PRODUCTS

The tonnage harvested from dryland olives is usually lower compared with irrigated olives, but olives produced under dryland conditions tend to have a more intense flavour.