Mystery olives?

[Tim Z]

I am bit puzzled about pitted black olives in jars, The black olives that I know at home in Cyprus are soft, so I am suprised that they can be pitted and keep their shape and firmness. I suspect the black pitted ones in jars here might been green ones that have been coloured. Any comments?

[ladyyoung98]

my taste buds are nto a big fan of any green olives and if the black olives were colored i know my taste buds would know it...im a big fan of black olives..i would eat them seven days a week if i could....but i do know that my mother used to live in a house were olives trees grew in her yard and she used to can them and while i dont know the proper name for them i can tell you without a single doubt that they wer the kind of olive you will find in the stores being labeled as a black olive...there was little difference in the taste and no fdifference in appearance and having seen them growing on the trees i do know that if they are colored at all its done by mother nature and not by the hand of mankind

[andiesenji]

I am bit puzzled about pitted  black olives in jars, The black olives that I know at home in Cyprus are soft, so I am suprised that they can be pitted and keep their shape and firmness. I suspect the black pitted ones in jars here might been green ones that have been coloured. Any comments? 

←

If you are referring to the black olives seen in most American markets, they are ripe olives that are harvested by placing a net around the base of the tree and shaking the tree so the ripe ones fall into the net.

They are processed pitted and canned in their own juices without pickling, salting, fermenting or drying as is common in . There are also different varieties of olives and some have thicker flesh and smaller pits which allows them to hold their shape.

There are also the "green-ripe" olives, such as Graber Olives.

I believe that here in the US more green (pickled) olives are sold. These are often pitted and stuffed with all kinds of things - at one time the only ones seen were stuffed with pimento, however I recently saw a veritable wall of olives in one store that had olives stuffed with garlic, jalapeño pepper, habanero pepper, almonds, pepperoni, cheeses and a couple of other things I can't recall at the moment.

[Jim Dixon]

I think Tim is referring to canned black olives. They're picked green and processed with an iron compound that turns them black. A purely American invention, nothing like the soft, crinkly cured ripe olives from the Mediterranean.

Jim

[Smithy]

I think Tim is referring to canned black olives. They're picked green and processed with an iron compound that turns them black. A purely American invention, nothing like the soft, crinkly cured ripe olives from the Mediterranean.

Jim

←

Clarification: it's important to understand that, in the case of your run-of-the-mill California olives (Lindsay ripe olives, for instance) they are not picked 'green' in the sense of being picked early. They are picked when ripe. The curing process turns them black. Lindsay also markets "Green Ripe Olives". They're the same olive, same picking time according to the ranchers who grow them, slightly different curing method so they don't turn black. The taste is much the same either way...and I agree they're quite different from the Mediterranean cured olives.

[Jim Dixon]

Smithy,

Thanks for the clarification. Do you what cultivars they use? I'd guess Mission and/or Manzanillo, since those were the most common for a long time, but I'm not sure.

Jim

[Smithy]

Smithy,

Thanks for the clarification. Do you what cultivars they use? I'd guess Mission and/or Manzanillo, since those were the most common for a long time, but I'm not sure.

Jim

←

The olives picked and packed as ripe olives around where I grew up (in Tulare County - think Visalia, Lindsay, Porterville) are Mission olives. Maybe I should say 'were', since a lot of those groves are being pushed over and replanted with more lucrative crops.

I think the pickled "Spanish" olives still are usually Manzanillas, but I'm not sure how close to our area those were grown. I can find out, if you're interested.

[Smithy]

Smithy,

Thanks for the clarification. Do you what cultivars they use? I'd guess Mission and/or Manzanillo, since those were the most common for a long time, but I'm not sure.

Jim

←

The olives picked and packed as ripe olives around where I grew up (in Tulare County - think Visalia, Lindsay, Porterville) are Mission olives. Maybe I should say 'were', since a lot of those groves are being pushed over and replanted with more lucrative crops.

I think the pickled "Spanish" olives still are usually Manzanillas, but I'm not sure how close to our area those were grown. I can find out, if you're interested.

←

Ahem. I just got around to checking with one of my olive-rancher friends back home, and he gave me an incredulous look when I mentioned "Mission" olives as being a common cultivar around our area. He says no, the most common cultivar around our area for the ripe olives packed in our area - either green ripe or black ripe - is the Manzanilla, and has been for as long as he's been growing the crop.

Whoops.

Nancy Smith

Edited May 11, 2005 by Smithy (log)