THE PREPARATION OF EDIBLE OLIVES

If you try to eat olives direct from the tree, you will find that they have bad taste. This is because there are substances in the skin of the olive that make it bitter. There are different kinds of edible olives, round black ones (eg. Greek olives from Amfissa), elongated olives (e.g. Greek olives of Kalamata) and edible green olives which are in fact black olives collected before they mature.

Removing the bitterness to make olives edible requires a proceess that is carried out in several ways, depending on the region and type of olive.

In Messinia, the olives are usually put in a container with water containing 10% salt for 2-3 months. Then, after testing to see that the bitterness has faded away, olives are spliced with a blade, and then placed in water, vinegar and spices for 3 days. Then, in order to be maintained they are placed in olive oil.

In other areas, olives are stored using dry salt which removes the bitterness. The olives become shriveled (method used in Greece at Volos or Pilion). Another way is to steep them in water and then alternately rinse and steep over several months. After this procedure, salt is added and they are then stored in oil.

Sometimes thyme and dried orange leaves or other aromatic herbs are added to the previously bitter olives turning them into a great delicacy.