Since ancient times, olive fruit have been highly important in the human diet: long before producing oil, our ancestors consumed olives, an excellent source of nutrition, relatively easy to obtain and store.
There is extensive historical and archaeological evidence on the subject are abundant. Consider the frequent references to olives in recipe books and in the advice of great authors of the past – to mention one – the great Roman agriculture expert Lucio Giunio Moderato Columella (1st century AD), who handed down recipes for preparing crushed and flavoured olives with many ingredients such as grape must, vinegar, fennel seeds and lentisk.
Table use of olives is so important that today olive varieties can be grouped into two main categories: oil varieties and table varieties (table olives).
To these is added the group of dual-purpose varieties, whose fruit, besides being used for oil, can also be processed and eaten as table olives, especially when the environment and growing techniques allow a suitable crop for the purpose, i.e. fruit that is healthy and adequately sized.
Table varieties are characterised by production of larger fruit, with a high flesh-to-pit ratio (i.e. plenty of flesh relative to the pit) and generally low oil content.
Characteristics of the fruit
The olive, the fruit of the olive tree, is called a drupe and consists of:
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a thin outer layer, the skin or epicarp,
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a fleshy central part, the flesh or mesocarp,
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and the stone or endocarp, the hard inner part.
The olive has an elongated sub-ovoid shape that varies by variety (cultivar). The drupe colour is initially green and, as it ripens, takes on shades from pink to purple to black, passing through an intermediate phase called veraison.
Olives have a high fat content, which increases with ripening, and a very low carbohydrate content, lower than that of any other edible fruit.
Table olives in Lazio
Table olives represent part of Italy’s olive history and culture and are an important production niche in our olive growing. In Lazio, this sector is growing, both in production capacity and processing.
The main varieties in Lazio are:
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Itrana, widespread especially in the province of Latina
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Leccino, common in Sabina
Both are dual-purpose, suitable for both oil production and processing into table olives.
Classification and processing of table olives
Once processed, table varieties are distinguished by:
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the good taste and aroma of the fruit,
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a high percentage of flesh,
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firm flesh consistency (in green olives),
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and not soft in black olives.
The aim of processing is to remove bitterness from olives, making them ready to eat and suitable for keeping.
Table olives are classified into four types:
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Green olives: fruit picked while still green, colour from green to straw yellow.
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Turning-colour olives: pink-wine or brown fruit, picked during veraison.
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Black olives: very ripe fruit.
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Black olives by oxidation: green fruit darkened by oxidation and debittered by alkaline treatment. They are kept in brine and preserved by sterilisation or other safe methods.
“Gaeta al naturale” method
One of the most widely used methods in Lazio is the “Gaeta al naturale” method:
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the fruit, once picked, is placed in containers with water and salt for several months,
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without preservatives or additives,
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until complete debittering.
The result is an olive with high nutritional value, rich in polyphenols and natural antioxidants.
