Summerland Olives

Table Olives as Food

Butter to Olive Oil Conversion Chart

The fruit and the oil from the olive has been enjoyed almost since the begining of time, certainly since the earliest recorded history. Papyrus and paintings date back to ancient Egyptian times. It is thought that the first olive tree was cultivated in Syria more than 6000 years ago and ancient Palestine was so famous for the delicate oil it produced, that their liquid gold was exported to the ancient Egyptians.

Although some naturally ripe black olives are edible, it is hard to imagine anyone winning to eat a bitter green olive. How man learnt  the practice of de-bittering an olive remains a secret. One could imagion that a chance find of olives washed into the sea and than washed ashore provided the clue to the salty brine de-bittering process, used even today by Summerland Olives.

It was the Romans who spread the olive, planting groves wherever they moved, from Libya to Spain, Algeria and Northern Africa. We know that written in the Book of Genesis the olive branch was brought back to Noah on his ark, to signify the receeding waters.

Almost every country that fringes the Mediterranean relishes the oil and the fruit from the olive tree.

Italians love to snack on olives, they also add them to many of their dishes, flinging a handfull into thier Focaccia bread dough before baking, scattering them onto a Frittata omelette or spreading them on the top of a pizza.

In the Western Mediterranean countries like Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Spain they also like to add handfulls of olive to their cooking. Scattering them into baked fish, over salads and with game, rabbit and many more of their meat dishes.

As for the Greeks, Turks and those from Levant, Egypt and Libya they are content the mave theit olives plain and simple and often. Serving them in bowls to accompany almost every meal. The nearest thing to a greek olive recipe is the classic Greek Salad, which would be lost without a liberal handfull of glossy black olives adding an essential flavour to the chunks of salty feta cheese and wedges of sweet ripe tomatoes.

Olives seem to have an affinity with the strong flavours of capers and anchovies, while the silky sweet taste of roasted capsicums add a lively contrast.

The classic Salad Nicoise would not be complete without black olives nestling amoungst chunks of tuna, crispy green beans and quarters of hard boiled eggs with a trellis of anchovy fillets.