Olives Are Inedible Straight From the Tree
An olive is the fruit of an evergreen Mediterranean tree. Raw olives are intensely bitter and must be cured before eating.
An olive is the small oily fruit of a Mediterranean evergreen tree. Picked from the branch it is almost inedible: raw olives contain oleuropein, a compound so bitter that it cannot be swallowed comfortably. Every olive sold has been cured, in brine, water, lye or dry salt, over weeks or months to leach it out. Green and black olives are usually the same fruit at different ripeness, not different varieties.
- A Mediterranean fruit. *Green olives.*
- Olive oil. *Extra virgin olive oil.*
- A yellowish-green colour. *Olive green.*
- Oleuropein — the bitter compound. *Oleuropein.*
- Olive branch — a peace offering. *Extend an olive branch.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | olive | One olive. |
| Plural | olives | Black olives. |
| Adjective | olive | Olive skin. |
| Compound | olive oil | Olive oil. |
| Latin | oliva | Olive. |
- The olives are cured in brine.Preparation.
- Green and black are ripeness, not variety.Fact.
- He extended an olive branch.Idiom.
How olives are cured
- Brine curing — weeks or months in salt water, fermenting slowly
- Lye curing — fast, using an alkaline solution, then rinsed
- Water curing — repeated soaking, the gentlest and slowest
- Dry salt curing — packed in salt, giving wrinkled black olives
- All of them exist to remove oleuropein
Latin *oliva*, from Greek *elaia*, the olive tree, through Old French.
Can you eat an olive off the tree?
Not comfortably. Raw olives contain oleuropein, which is intensely bitter, and must be cured before eating.
Are black and green olives different fruits?
Usually not. They are the same fruit picked at different stages of ripeness, though curing also affects colour.