10 Reasons Olive You

With olive season beginning in autumn, there is something in my body that starts craving these briny little jewels as that fall breeze flows through the air. On a trip to California this year, I was in awe to stand amongst their wispy branches in the olive grove as they swayed in the breeze row after row after row on the California hills near the Pacific Crest Trail. It was at an olive oil tasting at Temecula Olive Ranch where I learned that the taste of the olive is dependent upon when it is picked during the season. I love to pile my charcuterie tray high with them, pop them in a martini, or throw them in a pomodoro sauce. But in case you thought olives only came in two styles: green and black, you are mistaken. Just like wine and cheese, olives come in all tastes and sizes. Here are some fun facts:

1. Olives are pollinated by wind making California a great place to grow olive trees.
2. All olives are actually black, green olives are simply olives picked at the beginning of the season before they turn black.
3. Harvest season generally starts in September and goes into November. To assure absolute quality, harvesting is done by hand.
4. Green olives are usually picked at the start of the harvest season, in September and October. They have a firm texture and lovely, nutty flavor. Black olives are picked in November and December, sometimes as late as January, and they’re softer, richer, and meatier.
5. California produces over 95% of the olives in the United States.
6. Curing is essential to the process because olives straight off the tree are much too bitter to eat.
7. Olive trees are by nature an alternate bearing fruit. In other words, they produce a big crop one year and a smaller one the next. This means the harvest can vary from under 50,000 tons one year to over 160,000 the next.
8. A California housewife invented the processing method in the late 1800s that is still used today.
9. The antioxidant nutrients in black olives impede this oxidation of cholesterol, thereby helping to prevent heart disease. Olives do contain fat, but it’s the healthy monounsaturated kind, which has been found to shrink the risk of atherosclerosis and increase good cholesterol.
10. Hydroxytyrosol, an olive phytonutrient that has long been linked to cancer prevention, is now regarded as having the potential to help us prevent bone loss as well.