This is an archived edition of our Field Report email newsletter. You can sign up at the bottom of the page!

Greetings from Fat Gold!

In this Field Report: our 2023 harvest report, including a preview of the oils we’ll send to annual subscribers this year.

But first: the Fat Gold Gift Set is ready to go!

Just in time for the holidays, we’re offering our Fat Gold Gift Set: one tin of Fat Gold Standard (bold and peppery), one tin of Fat Gold Blue (fragrant and fruity), and a 24-page zine that combines a recipe stockpile with an accessible introduction to extra virgin olive oil.

The 2023 gift set, with a tin of Fat Gold Standard, a tin of Fat Gold Blue, and a special zine

The zine is again printed by the Risograph wizards at Chute Studio in Oakland, with a few additions and amendments new for this year.

This is a fun, complete offering, whether we ship it directly to your recipient or you wrap it up yourself. Please keep us in mind as you plan your holiday gifts!

In late October, we made our first batch of olive oil on Fat Gold’s new mill. As of last week, the harvest is complete! We made more oil than ever before; we made better oil than ever before.

As you know, we offer annual subscriptions, four limited-edition olive oils, delivered over the course of the year. Previously, the olive varieties have remained secret until they arrived on subscribers’ doorsteps. This year, we are so delighted with the oils we’ve produced that we want to tell you upfront what varieties you’ll be receiving.

Here’s the 2023 lineup:

These olives are all from the San Joaquin Valley of California. If you mapped the farms we work with, they’d form a line right down the valley’s spine, north to south. Fat Gold is now firmly rooted: this is where our mill is located, and it’s where our fruit is grown.

To close, we thought we’d share a few snapshots from our last day of milling.

Here’s Kathryn, astride the final five macro bins (2.5 tons) of olives, all frantoio, destined for Fat Gold Standard:

Kathryn, sitting pretty on a macro bin, one of five lined up in a row, all full of olives, mostly green.

Here’s a glamour shot. Looking great, as always:

Olives, mostly green, looking plump and shiny.

And here’s the last batch coming out of the decanter. We’ll never get tired of this color:

A gush of olive oil descending from the decanter's spout, so yellow-green it appears nearly to be glowing.

That’s a wrap on the 2023 harvest!

We’ll send another quick Field Report in early December, just to be sure you know what’s available for the holidays, and to circulate some links to tasty treats made by friends of Fat Gold.

There’s no rest for the weary—not yet. But, the critical part is done. We have oil in the tank, ready to pack and share, for the whole year to come.

Thanks, as always, for following along.

From the field,

–Robin, Kathryn, and Bryan