Your cart is currently empty!
FAQ’s About Our Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
What are the Health Benefits of high-quality extra virgin olive oil?
Extra virgin olive oil has monounsaturated fats which have proven to be beneficial to good health when used in cooking or consumed directly. Olive oil contains polyphenols (oleocanthal) which are antioxidants and Showa Farm Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a very high polyphenol count. This can help reduce cancer and may be beneficial in Parkinsonโs disease.
High quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) has anti-inflammatory properties and has, in some studies, led to reduction in strokes, heart disease, and rheumatoid arthritis and improves the immune system, bone and brain health and reduced weight gain. Consuming EVOO has been shown to reduce blood pressure, reduces bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol.
Cooking with olive oil, even at high temperatures, increases the retention of good nutrients in many foods. Olive oil is a good source for vitamin E and contains vitamins A and K, calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium. It is a good source for amino acids and promotes good health generally.
See also: “Environmental and Health Benefits of Olive Orchards and Olive Oil.”
How can you use Showa Farm Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil?
We use it in place of any vegetable oils as a healthier and tastier alternative. We often use it in place of or with butter when cooking with a skillet. Of course, we use it on salads because of the superior taste and we also serve it with bread in place of butter due to the superior taste and health benefits. There are literally thousands of recipes that call for olive oil and many more where olive oil can be substituted for a less healthy and less tasty vegetable oil.
Why is Showa Farm Olive Oil better than the typical high volume, lower priced olive oils in my grocery store?
Most importantly you should give our olive oil the taste test. Compare it to store-bought bulk olive oils and other premium extra virgin olive oils produced in Italy, Spain, or elsewhere. Our olive oil has a delicate green fresh taste with a slightly peppery finish which is one of the hallmarks of a truly good olive oil.
Showa Farm Olive Oil is certified as organic. It is all produced from our trees on a biodiverse farm using pure well water for irrigation and without harmful chemicals or non-organic fertilizers. We are environmentally friendly using solar power throughout the farm, with farm animals who are fed organic feed. We donโt add anything to the olive oil so it is 100% pure extra virgin olive oil unlike some other oils that have been shown to contain grapeseed oil or other non-olive oils. This means that the positive health attributes of our high polyphenol count olive oil are plentiful.
Many high volume, bulk olive oils are of lower quality with less taste, lower polyphenol counts, and arenโt organic. Some are not even real olive oil. Because of Californiaโs strict labeling rules you can be assured that Showa Farm olive oil is 100% grown on our estate, is truly made from the Arbequina olive varietal, is organically grown and milled and bottled, and is truly โextra virgin.โ
Why buy from Showa Farm?
Showa Farm is a family farm with the owners and farmworkers all living on site. We take pride in the quality of our only product โ extra virgin, organic olive oil which has repeated been listed as one of the top 100 olive oils in the world (New York International Olive Oil Competition). We are strong supporters of our rural community and are active in local non-profit volunteerism.
Can I visit Showa Farm?
Yes. We invite you to make an appointment to visit us and tour the farm, perhaps while you are also visiting the nearly 100 wineries that are within 30 minutes of the farm. Come and see our beautiful olive trees, meet our โrescueโ or born on the farm animals (dogs, feral cats, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, horses), experience the local wildlife including more than 50 varieties of wild birds, and chat with the owners or farmworkers about our operation. While here you can picnic in the woods, kids can play in the โfortโ or geodesic dome or you can play a quick set of tennis. And, while you are visiting you can get a discount if you purchase oil directly from us because you wonโt incur shipping costs.
Where did the name โShowaโ come from?

Before we moved to California and built Showa Farm from raw undeveloped land that had laid fallow for centuries, we raised Japanese koi fish in Virginia. Our favorite varietal of koi was the Showa Koi because of its beautiful colors. When we were building the farm, we decided we wanted to combine olive farming with raising Japanese koi. We have plans to build a 30,000-gallon koi pond near the olive orchard for us and for visitors to enjoy. Thus, the name and our logo.
Video Description for Screen Readers
Short video segments show how our olive oil is produced, starting from the gathering of olives at Showa Farm through olive cold pressing to become delicious organic, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).
- Arbequina olives are grown organically on our olive ranch in Cloverdale, California.
- In Autumn, green olives are gathered by hand into buckets and then poured into large bins. In the segment shown here, the family German Shepherd watches the harvesters while goats graze nearby.
- Bins are loaded onto a trailer and driven to the processing warehouse.
- A specialized machine lifts each bin and dumps the olives inside into a large hopper.
- Olives flow out the hopper’s bottom and onto a conveyor belt.
- The conveyor belt feeds into equipment that washes the olives and separates them from stems and leaves.
- Olives travel next to a large cold-pressing machine that smashes the olives.
- Liquid from the olives flows through metal strainers and into huge vats.
- The resulting Arbequina oil is bottled and available for your salads and other tasty culinary purposes.