Harvesting, Pressing and Curing The riper the berry the more greasy and less pleasant the flavour of the oil. The best time for gathering olives, striking a balance between quality and quantity, is when the berries begin to turn dark. Pliny the Elder, Natural History

The entire Mediterranean seems to rise out of the sour, pungent taste of black olives between the teeth. A taste older than meat and wine, a taste as old as cold water. Only the sea itself seems as ancient a part of the region as the olives and its oil, that like no other products of nature, have shaped civilisations from remotest antiquity to the

Roasted Black Olives with Orange Zest Makes 2 cups 12 oz. pound (350 g) oil-cured black olives pinch of brown sugar 1 teaspoon rosemary needles grated peel of 1 orange 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 small chilli pepper, chopped ½ cup olive oil Strain the olives from the olive oil, add a small dash of olive oil in to the pan. Then heat them in the pan f

There are three basic ways to cure olives: a dry salt cure for black olives, a lye cure and a brine cure for green olives.

Chile

The Romans were probably the first to make widespread use of olive oil in cooking and to eat olives in large quantities.

The Ancient Roots of the Olive

Spain

Eat Well and Stay Well had a big impact in the US and, from there, echoed back to Europe, where the book was translated into Italian in 1962.