Olives on Your Table

Posted Mon, 02/01/2010 - 6:00am
Featured resource: 
Chunky Tomato Sauce with Green Olives
Pimento Olive and Cheese Spread
Olivada

—by Emma Onawa

There’s a whole lot more to olives than those ubiquitous green pimento-stuffed spheres found in every grocery store. People have eaten olives and olive oil for thousands of years. The oldest living olive tree, located in Crete, Greece, believed to be over 2000 years old1, still produces a crop.

Olive trees are indigenous to Turkey and Syria and were first cultivated in Greece. The trees spread through the Mediterranean, to Spain and Italy, and then were brought to the Americas by the Spanish. The olive tree, Olea europaea L (Latin for oil and the Mediterranean region of Europe), is a small, subtropical evergreen. This tree differs botanically from the Russian Olive tree.

Temperature variations are critical to olive development. Growth begins after mean temperatures warm to 70 degrees and continues until temperatures drop below this point later in the season. Olive trees will only set flower buds after being exposed to cool night and warm day temperatures. The alternating warm days and cool nights, known as vernalization, is essential for fruit bud development. This variation is typical of the hotter, dryer climates of the Mediterranean.

Most commercial olives today are grown in Greece, Spain, Morocco, Italy, and France. In the United States, olives are grown primarily in California, which produces only a tiny percentage of the world’s olive crop. Like vineyards, olive groves each have a specific combination of conditions, such as soil and terrain, that produces a variety of tastes. In fact, descriptive terms for olives mirror those for grapes—fruity, full-bodied, mellow.

Olives cannot be eaten directly off the tree, due to their bitter taste. They need to be cured or fermented to render them edible and tasty. Olives often are picked green; some varieties darken during the curing process.

Typically, curing entails soaking the olives in lye and/or a salty brine, sometimes alternating with a water bath. Fermentation or curing takes several months and relies on airborne yeasts. Depending upon the type of olive or desired final product, ingredients may then be added, such as iron, lactic acid, oxygen, or carbon dioxide, to complete the curing/fermentation process. Olives can then be marinated, finished with herbs and vinegar, or stuffed.

Olives also may be pasteurized. Some olives, such as kalamata, are cured for as long as a year. Dry-cured or oil cured olives are crushed to allow them to absorb moisture, then spread out and covered with salt for a month, immersed in hot, then cold water and finally coated in oil. Most olives become available for sale in the winter months (November through April).

Olives are a very good source of fiber and Vitamins A and E, and a good source of iron and copper. They have a very high fat content, 75% of which is oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat. And, of course, they have a high salt content. Pits can be removed from olives by pressing them with the flat side of a wide-blade knife, which breaks the flesh and makes removal of the pit easier.

How to choose high-quality olives:

Appearance: Look at the color, skin, and brine. They should be plump, not wrinkled (except for dry-cured olives) or bruised. The color should be vibrant, but not indicative of dyeing.

Freshness: Olives that are exposed to air degrade quickly. They should be completely submerged in brine or oil (except for dry cured olives).

Flavor: Ask to taste olives, if possible. Although olives are salty, other flavors should be present.

Origin: If it’s not apparent, ask where olives are from.

For easy and delicious olive recipes, click on the resources at the top of this article.

There are dozens of olive varieties available. Here’s a sample:2

VARIETY SOURCE DESCRIPTION
Kalamata Greece Almond shaped, deep purple, picked ripe, cured in red wine vinegar brine, smoky, wine-infused snap
Nicoise France Small, tender, shiny purple to black, full flavored and smoky – scarce
Gaeta Italy Small, purple, old variety, used since the 1400s, earthy and sharply smoky
Mantequillade Murcia Spain Green, its name translates as butter and it has the flavor of warm butter
Arbequina Spain Small, light green to brown, soft meat, nutty flavor
Beldi, Dry-Cured, Black Morocco Large, glossy, dry-cured, wrinkled, with fruity, dense taste
Mt. Pelion Greece Greenish tan, picked when turning color, grown near natural springs which gives a fresh, mineral flavor

Sources

Notes

1 Determined by tree ring analysis

2 Source is Food Match, Inc., www.foodmatch.com. Food Match is just one of many olive producers and importers.

[Emma Onawa is a veteran member and shopper of co-ops, worships felines, and loves gardening, nature, and eccentric people.]