Choosing Gourmet Olives
Australian gourmet olives make great appetizers and ingredients for salads, dips and dishes whether you’re entertaining guests at home or simply enjoying a good meal. These fruits are appreciated for their colour, delicate taste and healthy nutrients and may be bought as whole, pitted and stuffed.
Fruit sources
Olives were grown mainly in Mediterranean countries like Spain, Greece and Italy where the ordinary man’s diet consisted of lots of grains, nuts, fresh vegetables and olive oil. Today, countries like Australia and the US also grow specific varieties for table olives and oil production.
Some European producers reportedly use lye or caustic soda (chemically known as sodium hydroxide which causes severe skin burns) to cure the fruits. Health professionals advise against consuming these and recommend those that are brined carefully.
Production techniques
Selection and harvest
Olives appear as round green fruits that thrive in regions with warm summers. The fruits are usually ripe for the picking sometime between the end of summer and the beginning of winter.. Australian producers choose only the fruits that are undamaged and mature for producing gourmet olives. A squeeze test which produces some fluid at the stem end indicates maturity, sometimes followed by a more difficult test, to check if twisting the fruit apart readily releases its stone.
Water treatment
The handpicked fruits are immediately washed and subjected to a water treatment to remove dirt, debris and some of the bitter principles. Depending on the producer, the fruits may undergo several water changes to remove the bitter principles before brining..
Brining solution
Olives are not edible immediately after picking and require a long process of brining to make them palatable. After water treatment, the clean fruits are then brined in a salt water solution.. Brining is monitored closely to ensure that low temperatures and the right acidity levels are maintained. The duration of the brining period and the frequency of the solution change can differ among producers..
Similar water treatment and brining procedures can be applied to various olive varieties including the following:
1. Brined green olives: which are brined immediately after washing but without undergoing extensive water treatment. The fruits are kept in the brining solution for weeks or months to make them palatable..
2. Cracked green olives: which are split and pitted green fruits that are often stuffed with spices like garlic and oregano for a truly gourmet experience.
3. Black olives: A black hue indicates that the fruit is ripe although the intensity of its colour is reduced after brining. Another variety, the Kalamata, is strictly speaking not a black olive because its colour is a deep purple black and its flesh is meatier. Vinegar is often added to the final brining process of kalamata to give these gourmets olives a slightly acidic taste.