olive on the table

The olive tree does not let her fruit go to our tables easily. Olives are bitter. Humans spent centuries to eliminate this bitter taste of the olive that makes it inedible. A result of this process of domestication was the many varieties of olive. People first immersed the olive in water for a prolonged time to get rid of its bitter taste. They also tried to immerse it in a mixture of ash and vinegar or in chalky water. They learned how to store it for a longtime. They made a slot on the olives, made them crack and processed them in brine. They put various herbs in the brine to flavor it. People of different regions treated olives in a different way. The methods of the present day are a combination of tradition and modern technology.

According to statistics, Turkey produces around 120,000 tons of olives for consumption on the table. Out of this produce, 80% consists of black oils, 12% of green olives and 8% of pink olives. The production of table olives and that of olive oil has been increasing over the last years, because the Turkish breakfast ritual with white cheese, olives and pain survived all radical changes in consumption patterns in Turkey. The share of Turkey in the global production of table olives grows continuously. The most popular form of olives is the black olive. It contains more fat compared with the green olive. It is more nutritious. 100 g of it provides 250 calories. In addition to fat, black and green olives contain minerals such as calcium, iron, sodium and potassium, vitamins, carbohydrates and proteins. Table olives are referred to as “extra”, “first class” or “second class” (standard) depending on their quality.