O'live it Up !!

In this post, I am going to talk about the olive fruit, which is a very common ingredient in Italian and Mediterranean dishes such as pastas and pizzas.Olives do not grow in India. The ones you see under the Del Monte brand in supermarkets are imported from Spain, which is the world's largest producer of olives.

Olives are inherently bitter in taste.Hence they need to be cured so that they become more palatable.The Del Monte olives are cured in brine (which is nothing but salt water).Oil and lye can also be used for curing olives.

Olives are available in two colours, green and black.The green ones are picked when still unripe, whereas the black olives are fully ripe.The green olives will therefore be firmer to bite and more bitter and tangy compared to the black olives.The black olives are generally more smooth and bland in taste.However, as a general rule, the taste of olives does not depend on it's colour but on the extent of curing and the nature of curing it has undergone.

Both the black and green olives are sometimes sold in the pitted form.This means that they have been de-seeded.They can also be sliced into smaller pieces before being packaged.The Del Monte brand of olives also consists of green olives that are stuffed with pimiento which is a type of sweet red pepper.Since, I am not aware of many dishes that require whole olives, I generally go for the sliced olives.The stuffed olives also pack in a lot of flavour, but I have not used them yet in any of my dishes.For most other purposes, the green and black olives can be used interchangeably.

Olives are rich in Vitamin E. The Del Monte olives have a shelf life of 36 months.Apart from being used in pastas and pizzas, olives can also be used in salads, sandwiches and burgers.It is really a must-have ingredient for any avid cook :)