To begin with it is necessary to clarify, because some people wonder if green olives and Black Olives are fruits of different trees, that both are stages or stages of the same fruit of the same tree. Green olives are still immature fruits and Black Olives are mature fruits of the olive tree, which is the tree they come from.
In Spain, olives, both green and black, are also called “olives”, due to their origin of the olive tree.
Green olives have their audience and are picked from the tree when they are still immature and undergo a treatment to remove the bitterness that makes them inedible.
Black Olives are picked when the fruit is ripe and its color, depending on the variety, is black or dark brown and it is also necessary to subject them to a process that makes them edible.
Many of us remember the face of the EU Commissioner of Agriculture, when on a trip to Andalusia he was shown olive fields, which at that time were in the green olive phase and one was introduced in his mouth, thinking that, like any other Fruit could be eaten directly, and instead of the exquisite taste of the olive, what he noticed was the extraordinary bitterness that characterizes them. An experience that you will surely never forget.
But returning to the Black Olives for their preparation the following steps are followed.
First, the ripe fruits are picked, but not passed, because although the olive remains a long time, its flavor and texture lose if they are left in the tree for too long.
Its transport has to be careful, making sure that the fruits do not crush and the ideal is to do it in boxes not excessively large, about 22 Kg, but this makes the product very expensive and it is usual that containers of greater size and weight are used, which It is also a distinctive quality that is pursued.
Once in the factory, the first thing is to clean it with water, to remove dust and dirt that Black Olives may have.
They are then placed in brine containers, with concentrations that can vary, as it is intended to produce one product or another, which depends on the PH, and which results in fermentation with yeast, or lactic acid, and in any case of very long duration , since it takes more than 9 months to complete the preparation of the Black Olives.
The Black Olives elaborations are also different, according to varieties and zones. In Andalusia it is more frequent that the final product is a “full” fruit more round and regular, with a softer flavor and that is packaged mainly in jars or cans of preservation and is presented with bone or without bone.
In other areas such as Aragon, Black Olives are made “wrinkled” with a much more intense flavor and a color that turns more brown. These are usually packed in plastic bags.
The use of Black Olives is not only their consumption in snacks, but integrating cooking recipes, complementing others such as rice and pizza and crushed to make exquisite pates.
You can buy Black Olives online through our Gastronomic Spain page and receive it at your home, in all European countries.
