Olives Category

Olives

A staple of Mediterranean cuisines, olives, with their distinct pickled/salty/bitter flavor, are most often eaten out of hand, though cooks also use them to jazz up everything from pizzas to martinis.

Raw olives must be cured before they can be eaten, and the curing medium--usually lye, brine, or salt--affects their flavor and texture. So too does the olive's degree of ripeness when it's picked. Green olives are picked while unripe, which makes them denser and more bitter than brown or black olives, which stay on the tree until fully ripened.

Olives become bitter if they're cooked too long, so always add them to hot dishes at the last minute. You can make them less salty by rinsing them in cold water.

Opened cans or jars of olives should be refrigerated, but some olives can be stored at room temperature if they're submerged in brine or olive oil.

Varieties:

Agrinion olive

Agrinion olives

This is a large, green Greek olive with very tender flesh.

This is a black, dry-cured Middle Eastern olive that's hard to find in the United States.

Alphonso olive, Alfonso olive

Alphonso olives

This large Chilean olive is cured in a wine or wine vinegar solution, which gives it a beautiful dark purple color and tart flavor. Its flesh is very tender and slightly bitter.

Amphissa olive, Amfisa olive, Amfissa olive

Amphissa olives

These are dark purple Greek olives that are hard to find in the U.S. They're great for snacking.

Arauco olive

These are large green Spanish olives flavored with rosemary.

Arbequina olive

Arbequina olives

These are tiny green Spanish olives with a mild, smoky flavor. They're hard to find in the U.S.

Atalanta olive

Atalanta olives

This is a muddy-green Greek olive with soft flesh.

black olives, ripe olives

These are olives that have been allowed to ripen on the tree. American recipes that call for black olives are probably referring to the Mission olive. Other varieties of black olives are the Aleppo, Alphonso, Amphissa, black Cerignola, Gaeta, black Greek, Kalamata, Ligurian, Lugano, Moroccan dry-cured, Niçoise, Nyons, Ponentine, and Royal.

Cerignola olive, Bella di Cerignola

Cerignola olives

These sweet Italian olives are large enough to stuff. Black Cerignolas are softer than green Cerignolas.

cracked Provencal

These aromatic green olives are marinated in a solution with herbes de Provence.

empeltre olive

empeltre olives

These Spanish black olives are soaked in sherry.

Gaeta olive, Gyeta olive

These are small, purple Italian olives are either dry-cured (making them black and wrinkled) or brine-cured (making them dark purple and smooth-skinned).

Greek black olives

Greek black olives

A generic black Greek olive is large, dark purple and brine-cured. Popular varieties include Kalamata, Amphissa, and Royal.

Greek green olives

Greek green olives

Napfilion and Ionian olives are the most common types of green Greek olives.

green olives

Green olives are picked from the tree before they're completely ripened. The most common variety is the Manzanilla olive, which is often pitted and stuffed. Other green olives varieties include the Agrinion, Arauco, Arbequina, Atalanta, green Cerignola, cracked Provençal, Kura, Lucque, Nafplion, Picholine, Sevillano, and Sicilian.

Hondroelia olive

Hondroelia olives

This is a juicy, meaty olive.

Kalamata olive, Calamata olive

Kalamata olives

You can find these popular Greek black olives in most large supermarkets. They're salty and have a rich, fruity flavor. These can be eaten out of hand, or used to make tapenades.

This Middle Eastern cracked green olive is hard to find in the U.S.

Ligurian olive, Taggiasca olive, Liguria olive

Ligurian olives

These small Italian olives are brine-cured.

Lucque olive

These green olives are brine-cured.

These are salty Italian/Swiss brownish-black olives.

Manzanilla olive, Spanish olive

Manzanilla olives

These green olives are available in most supermarkets. They're often pitted and stuffed with pimento or garlic. They're often put into martinis.

Marche olive

Marche olives Learn more

Mission olive

These are the common black ones that are ubiquitous in supermarkets, pizza parlors, and salad bars. They don't have as much character as European black olives.

Moroccan dry-cured olive, Moroccan oil-cured olive, Moroccan salt-cured olive

Moroccan dry-cured olives

These are shriveled black olives that are somewhat bitter. They're best used for cooking rather than snacking.

Moroccan green olive

Moroccan green olives Learn more

Nafplion green olive, Nafpelion, Nafphlion

Nafplion green olives

These are green, brine-cured Greek olives. They're somewhat salty.

Nicoise olive, Niçoise olive

A key ingredient in Salade Niçoise, these small purplish-black olives have a distinctive sour flavor. They're great in tapenades.

Nyon olive

These black olives from France are salt-cured, which makes them wrinkly and more bitter than standard lye-cured American black olives.

Olives

A staple of Mediterranean cuisines, olives are most often eaten out of hand, though cooks also use them to flavor everything from pizzas to martinis. Raw olives must be cured before they can be eaten, and the curing medium--usually lye, brine, or salt--affects their flavor and texture. So too does the olive's degree of ripeness when it's picked. Green olives are picked while unripe, which makes them denser and more bitter than brown or black olives, which stay on the tree until fully ripened. Olives become bitter if they're cooked too long, so always add them to hot dishes at the last minute. Opened cans or jars of olives should be refrigerated, but some olives can be stored at room temperature if they're submerged in brine or olive oil.

Picholine olive

Picholine olives

Picholines are green, torpedo-shaped olives that are brine-cured. Those made in Provence are marinated with coriander and herbes de Provence, while American picholines are soaked in citric acid. They make great martini olives.

Ponentine olives

These are mild Italian brine-cured black olives.

raw green olive

raw green olives

These are for the rare cook who's intrepid enough to cure olives from scratch. Do not eat them raw.

royal olive, Greek royal olive, Royal Victoria olive, Victoria olive

This is large brown Greek olive is brine-cured.

Seracena olive

Seracena olives Learn more

Sevillano olive, Queen olive

Sevillano olive

This is a large, green, brine-cured olive.

Sicilian olive

These are large, green, sour olives that are usually marinated with herbs. They sometimes pitted and stuffed with pimento, garlic, or jalapeño pepper.

Toscanelle olive

Toscanelle olive Learn more