Tasting a Freshly Picked Olive

Even after the olive skin has turned a rich purple, the flesh has softened up, and the fruit is ready to be harvested, freshly picked olives are a far cry from tasty table olives.

Flavour Profile of a Fresh Olive

Fresh olives are packed full of biophenols and antioxidants that lend an incredible range of health benefits, as well as the tasting notes that make the oil they produce so unique. While these biophenols are so prized in EVOO, it does result in a less-than-palatable fruit to eat directly off the tree. That's why olives must be processed before they are eaten as the table olives we know and love.

Processing

Fresh olives are very firm and bitter, so they are typically brined if they are destined to be table olives. The olives soak in saline mixtures of varying concentrations for weeks to soften the fruit and leech out the bitter compounds that make raw olives difficult to stomach. Alternatively, olives are sometimes soaked in a lye, or sodium hydroxide, solution to quickly extract the bitter compounds. Either way, the olives are rinsed with water afterwards and proceed to the pitting and stuffing process. 

Gourmet Olives at Evoolution

After the above steps are complete, table olives are sometimes pitted and stuffed. Pitting is exactly what it sounds like: removing the pit of the olive. Some table olives do not have their pits removed, but we like pitted olives as they can be stuffed with some very tasty additions!

Evoolution's stuffed olives are Manzanillo olives, which are known for their large fleshy fruit which make them an exceptional olive for stuffing. If you want a bit of crunch in your olive, try the Chardonnay Almond Stuffed Olives or the Double Stuffed Olives, which boast a pungent bite of garlic and jalapeño pepper. Prefer a bit of a bite? Go for the Garlic Pepper Jack Cheese Stuffed Olives. And don't forget about the Vermouth Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives, for the ultimate savoury, creamy combo!