Olives

Jessica made a two week stop in Morocco on her way home from Niger, and when at last she showed up here in Oregon she had a small collection of really interesting stuff. This included a plastic sack full of olives and a little blue and white bowl inscribed with verses from the Koran, perfect together. The Moroccan olives are fantastic, mixed with pickles and hot peppers: yummm, plus they were so pretty:


Olives. I have always liked them, but because of all that Omega-3 it seems they're playing a bigger role in our diet than ever before . I have been using such increasing amounts of olive oil that the bottles I buy have become bigger and bigger, approaching huge.

Olive oil is on the expensive side, but I guess I can see why. A mature olive tree only produces from 2/3 to 4 gallons of oil per year. And it's tricky knowing when olives are ready for harvest, since their color isn't a true indication; in a recent news article a California olive grower describes how he knows when an olive is ripe :

"I close my eyes, squeeze the olives, and check the drag against my fingers; less drag means more oil. That's how I know."

So olives are a pretty interesting thing. But I wouldn't go so far as making olive oil tasting trips, ala vineyard wine-tastings. Check out this olive grower (do look at the recipes); imagine sidling up to the bar and sampling this many olive oils:

I love olive oil, but I don't think I could do it. Wine, yes. Somehow it goes down easier.

Still. I am sorely tempted by this Olive Oyl costume for next Halloween, available on Amazon for just 35 bucks. I probably don't deserve it though, if I'm not willing to do the olive-oil-tasting thing.