How to cook olives

Information for olives in our free cooking ingredients collection.

Olives

Although considered more of a condiment, the olive is an oblong fruit, slightly pointed at one end, one-half to an inch in length. The edible skin is thin and smooth in unprocessed fruits but can be smooth or wrinkled in processed fruits and varies from the yellow-green of unripe olives to dull green, red, yellow, tan, rosy brown, and black, depending on variety, ripeness, and method of processing. The skin covers flesh of the same color, enclosing a hard pit. The flavor of fresh olives is always bitter, but the final flavor depends on both variety and method of processing.

Family - Oleaceae
Scientific name - Olea europaea
Common name - olive

A source of monounsaturated fat

Varieties

Olive varieties are usually divided by use into table olives and those that are pressed for oil. The oil varieties significantly out-number the table varieties.

Table olive varieties grown in Greece include the slender, oval, purple to black Kalamata, the dark-green, cracked naphlion, and the reddish Royal (Greek black and oil-cured olives are the result of alternative methods of processing). Italy grows the brownish black Gaeta, the tartly flavored Sicilian Green, the tan Calabrese, the firm black Lugano, and the piquant brown-black Liguria. France produces the tiny brown Nicoise. Table olives grown in the United States include the Manzanilla, Sevillano, and Mission.

Origin and botanical facts

The olive is one of the oldest known cultivated fruits; cultivation of what had been wild olive trees predates recorded history and probably began on the Greek peninsula of Attica. In the early 18th century, Spanish explorers brought olive cuttings to Peru, from where they were carried to Mexico by Franciscan monks, who later brought them to California.

The cultivated olive tree is a long-lived evergreen that requires a mild climate with warm summers and relatively cold winters. Its relative drought resistance has enabled it to thrive in the Mediterranean climate and in California. Olive trees bloom in May, producing delicate cream-colored flowers, and the fruit is harvested from early autumn to winter. The Mediterranean countries account for 95 percent of the world’s olive cultivation.

How to cook olives

Fresh olives contain tannins that render them inedible; hence, all olives are processed or cured. Table olives are processed by four methods. With the Spanish method, unripe olives are fermented in brine for up to 7 months. The brine-soaking method is used on Italian and Greek olives such as Kalamatas, often added to Greek salads. Brief soaking (1 to 2 weeks) produces crunchy olives, and prolonged soaking (a month or more) results in chewier, sweeter olives. A third method, typically used in Greece, involves packing and aging olives in salt or oil, which produces olives with shriveled skins and flesh. The fourth method, developed and practiced solely in the United States, is the rapid soaking of ripe olives in lye, followed by boiling in iron (for color preservation) and canning, to produce the familiar bland, soft black olive.

Unopened cans or jars of olives can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 years. Loose olives and opened cans should be loosely covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for no more than 2 weeks.

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