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The olive is a
bitter, tart, and/or savory vegetable. Since each one
contains a pit, olives are technically a type of fruit.
Many varieties are grown, and a large number of
preparation methods exist. Most olives are simply pressed
for oil.
The fruit is naturally
quite bitter; processing is necessary to reduce this
bitterness to tolerable levels, though a noticeable amount
remains in gourmet olives. Fermentation
and osmosis are methods of destroying and extracting this
bitterness, respectively.
Osmosis methods resemble Pickling
or salt curing, but are carried further since the goal is
the removal of bitter water-soluble chemicals, rather than
water alone. Olives are bruised and then either leached
repeatedly in Brine
or packed in Salt
for long periods of time.
The green olive and black
olive are the same plant; green olives are pickled before
ripening, where black olives are pickled after being
ripened.
In mixed drinks it is the
famous garnish of the Martini;
in Sausages,
it may be used in Mortadella
and so on. It is commonly used in Breads
as well.
Like anchovies
and capers,
olives are a mainstay of Mediterranean cooking, a simple
ingredient that can add complex flavor to a wide variety
of dishes. Tapenade
is a mixture of these three ingredients.
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