About Tastefully Olive

About our olive oil
So much more than just a condiment, olive oil is palatable and complimentary to about all cuisines.
Growing up in a traditional Italian home, food, and cooking was the heart of Melissa’s household. Delicious food—of course, made with exceptionally tasting olive oil—served as the heart for family get-togethers, holidays, bonding moments, and unforgettable laughs. At a very young age, Melissa discovered her passion for food and cooking via Julia Child and Frugal Gourmet, an American cooking show, and countless hours spent cooking in the kitchen with her mother and Nonna. When the Casone women would cook, measuring spoons and cookbooks were nonexistent—it was always a pinch of this and a pinch of that.
In addition to being a staple ingredient in a multitude of her family’s exceptional dishes, olive oil was used for just about everything in the Casone home.
Besides cooking with it and dipping their food into it, Melissa and her family applied it to their dry hair when it needed a dose of hydration and even used it as a skincare ailment. Melissa’s first memory of olives is sitting on the cold marble countertop in her fanciest dress chomping on ‘ollies’ a.k.a. olives. As a teenager, Melissa dreamed of attending culinary school, and although she didn’t, her love for food and cooking never expired. Today, she and her husband make food and cooking an immense part of their lives. Evenings at home are enjoyed recreating Melissa’s family recipes and dancing around and sipping wine while listening to the mesmerizing voice of Andrea Bocelli.
Always an enthusiast of the finest olive oils, Melissa, a serial entrepreneur, found it disheartening when she learned of the inadequacies in the industry. High-quality and healthy olive oils that taste as natural as possible, yet are robust, are hard to find, and she knew she had yet to uncover ‘the one’ that met her standards. After years of searching, Melissa and her husband discovered a special region in Greece that grows the most beautiful and tasty olives with an exceptionally high polyphenol (a heart-healthy antioxidant) level to boot. Harvested on protected land, Tastefully Olive’s outstanding olives are picked within two weeks of ripening and bottled within eight hours.
Freshness and how quickly an olive goes from the tree to bottling determines the quality of olive oil.
Tastefully Olive is happy to finally put the olive oil debate to rest. This extra virgin olive oil is truly the best of the best—you can genuinely feel and taste the difference. We are excited to share our passion with you and make your tastebuds as happy as ours.
From my family to yours,
Melissa Dillehay
Tastefully Olive, 661.227.7852