Expert’s Guide to Olives

Byamazingfoodstv


Testing expert Jack Bishop walks you through the different olive varieties.

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41 Comments

  1. you are not just wrong you are stupid, I am Italian and every time I see an American talk about olives they say something stupid, black olives are delicious and every one in my family thinks the same, all olives are good but black olives are the best.

  16. What?! No canned black olives?? They are a staple for me. Why malign them? I’ve never considered them low on the totem pole😒 I demand you take back what you said about them, Jack!!

  24. As I've gotten more into olives, I don't like pitted olives. It seems the brine becomes the dominant flavour instead of the olive. Of the bunch above, the salt / oil cured are my favourite since you can taste the oil in the olive.
    If you do like olives, make Chicken Tagine with olives and preserved lemons. Use a mixture of black and green olives. Don't use pitted olives since they will probably turn into mush.

  25. I'm guessing that canned olives also have their niche as well: Canned food can tolerate room temperature whereas salt-cured foods should generally be refrigerated. I'm also guessing that exposure to heat will also reduce the flavor and soften the texture of olives: In recipes that involve the application of heat, it might not matter so much and canned would be preferable if we consider the cost difference between both. <- Might also be a good idea for a future test video.

  33. Hate Castelvetranos. Giant lumps of flavorlessness. It's not the lye-cured olives that are the problem. Lye-cured can be excellent–nutty and crisp. The problem you have with them is that they're canned, which means they have to be retorted at high temperatures to keep them from developing botulism (they are too low acid to be safe in an anaerobic environment). Kept in brine and not canned, I've kept them for several months, with no discernible loss of quality. The canning process is the culprit. It tends to make them a bit mushy, though there are variations between brands. I did my first competitive (canned) olive tasting about 65 years ago, at age 10, at an annual Olive Convention in Santa Barbara.

    My Dad's first job out of college, in 1936, was working as the plant chemist for an olive company in the San Fernando Valley. Even after he left there, when we could get fresh olives, he would lye-cure them. We loved them; all my friends used to love them, when I did them. Some even "borrowed" the recipe and cured their own. Unfortunately, I now live in an area that's marginal for olives, so don't have easy access.

  34. One of my favorite open-faced sandwiches growing up was cream cheese and sliced green olives with pimiento on white toast (preferably Arnold Brick Oven White). It's so good you have to try it. Buy the whole. stuffed olives and slice them yourself. They even come in a low sodium version now so I don't feel so guilty when I indulge.

  37. skimming through the comments, I feel as though I've discovered a new olive loving family. I disliked olives strongly for about 1/2 of my life and then have come to love their briney flavor. I just assumed due to my former tastes that people who like olives are in the minority but would like a longer olive episode. I have an olive tree so I wonder if it is super labor intensive to do the curing yourself

  39. I have an objection to the idea that castelvetrano olives are starter olives, as opposed to being recognized as just the best olives. I don't think them not being particularly challenging of a flavor profile makes them a chicken patty equivalent of an olive. Venison is more challenging of a flavor than Elk is, I don't think that means elk isn't obviously better than the comparable options.

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