Learning to understand olives and black olives. Olives and black olives. Chemical olives. What are the benefits of olives?

Differences between olives and black olives. The benefits and harms of olives.

The olive tree was very popular in ancient times. The olive branch was a symbol of wisdom and prudence. Nowadays it is an ordinary tree, the fruits of which are used for food and useful oil is prepared from them. There are a lot of misconceptions about olives among our people.

What are olives and olives?

Olives are the fruit of the olive tree. From a culinary point of view, these are vegetables, but judging by the principle of botany, these are berries. But all this is not important, since the definition of fruits does not in any way affect their benefits and nutritional value.

The most interesting thing is that many consider olives and black olives to be different fruits.

Actually this is not true. These are the fruits of one tree.

The concept of “olives” is due to the fact that oil is made from the berries.

A ripe olive or black olive is dark purple in color and large in size. Besides, it's wrinkled. It is from these fruits that oil is obtained.

Olives are fruits from the olive tree, only they are not ripe, that is, a little green. If you collect the fruits earlier, you will be able to collect very little oil. But these berries are ideal for pickling and canning. These fruits are smaller in size and green in color. They are elastic and not wrinkled.

Olives and olives are the same thing, what is the difference?

Olives and olives are the same thing, what is the difference?

There is no difference between the fruits.
Only in Russia and Ukraine did people come up with the names of olives because of their relationship to olive oil.

In other countries this name is not used. I call the fruits olives.

These are berries collected from the same tree, only at different periods: some are ripe, others are unripe.

Many, seeing black and green fruits on store shelves, believe that the black ones are olives, and the green ones are olives.

This is a gross misconception. In fact, initially all berries that are served for canning are characterized by a green color. Already during the sorting process, the fruits are divided into two parts. Less mature ones are quite tart with a bitter aftertaste and lend themselves to coloring.

Exactly black olives are obtained by dyeing(olives). They are treated with a solution of alkali and iron. This treatment allows you to get rid of the specific bitter taste. Since the reagent is black, the fruits become dark.

Black olives, which are distinguished by their large size and wrinkled skin, are natural and uncolored fruits of the olive tree. These are ripe fruits that are also suitable for oil production.
They cost an order of magnitude higher than blackened ones. You can easily determine the degree of ripeness and the presence of processing of olives by their appearance.

VIDEO: Difference between olives and black olives

Benefits of olives:

• Improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. Olives contain a lot of bitterness and terpene compounds. They stimulate the stomach and increase the metabolic rate.
• Promote wound healing. The composition contains substances that increase blood clotting and are characterized by antibacterial properties. Thanks to this, wounds heal faster.
• Improves women's health. The fruit contains a huge amount of retinol and tocopherol. These components help normalize the tone of the uterus. This increases the risk of getting pregnant and carrying a child to term.
• Improves bone condition. This is useful for women over 50 years of age. Due to the decrease in estrogen, the amount of calcium and magnesium in the body decreases. This causes bones to break. The risk of fractures increases. Olives help replenish the deficiency of potassium, calcium and magnesium.
• Improves heart function. The fruit contains components that dilate blood vessels. This helps reduce stress in the heart.

Harm of olives:

• May cause diarrhea. If you have a weak stomach or dysbiosis, do not overuse olives. Otherwise, diarrhea may develop.
• May cause exacerbation of cholecystitis. The olives themselves promote the secretion of large amounts of bile. Due to this, chronic cholecystitis can develop into an acute form.

In fact, the benefits of these fruits are much greater than the harm. Therefore, we advise you to enjoy the specific taste of olives.

VIDEO: The benefits of olives

However, residents of the country have little idea of ​​the difference between these concepts.

This is not surprising - this curiosity does not grow in Russian regions.

Some are sure that these are the fruits of different trees that have no relation to each other, others consider olives to be unripe olives.

But neither one nor the other point of view is completely correct.

In fact, we are indeed talking about the same tree.

In Europe, the word "olives" is not used at all - they use the designations "black olives" and "green olives."

The latter are indeed collected from trees at an early stage of ripening and have a color characteristic of young fruits.

However, ripe and even overripe olives will still not be blue-black, like those that we are used to calling olives. This color is achieved as a result of special chemical treatment.

Gifts of the Mediterranean

There is a famous legend about the appearance of the olive tree in Greece. According to it, the sea god Poseidon and the goddess of wisdom Athena argued about whose honor the Greek capital would be named.

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Residents proclaimed that they would choose the one whose gift for the city would be considered the most necessary. Poseidon cut a source of fresh water into the rock, and Athena grew an olive tree.

The inhabitants liked the goddess’s gift, and the city acquired the name Athena, familiar to all of us.

The goddess's gesture was by no means overrated. “European olive” is still considered one of the most useful and valuable plants, and in some countries even sacred.

Thanks to the cultivation of the crop, the Mediterranean diet, which invariably includes olives, has been recognized as important for the body.

Often the use of the product is typical for the peoples of the Caucasus, who are famous for their good health and physical fitness.

The fruits of the tree are used:

For the production of olive oil, savory sauces;

• as a separate dish.
  Olives are considered a suitable appetizer for expensive wines; in addition, they are stuffed with vegetable or meat fillings, which will become the signature dish of your table;
• as an addition to salads and hot dishes:
  • Greek salad,
  • solyanka,
  • pizza topping;
• in the medical and cosmetic fields.

How olives are made into olives

The ripe fruits of the tree are used to make oil and are rarely used as food. They also have a dark color, but uneven, and close to brown.

The remaining fruits will either remain green or turn into olives. Both types will be processed, only the method differs.

The fact is that eating fresh olives is harmful, and they do not taste pleasant - they are too bitter.

To make the unpleasant taste disappear, the fruits were kept for a long time in a special soda-based solution. Later, they learned to speed up this process with the help of special technologies.

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After soaking, the green olives are ready to eat - all that remains is to place them in brine and add spices.

But in order to become black, their counterparts have to undergo additional oxidation. It lasts 8-10 days, after which the fruits change color and become softer, and the taste acquires an “oily” tint.

In green olives it is more pronounced: they are sourish-spicy.

In their homeland, in the countries of southern Europe, olives are sometimes sold without brine - they look hard and wrinkled, but taste bitter.

In our country, both products are sold only in canned form. To distinguish processed olives from overripe olives, look at the ingredients on the can.

If the list of additives includes iron gluconate (E 579)- here are fruits whose color was obtained by oxidation.

What do they help with?

One ancient doctor called this plant a cure for all diseases - and this was not an exaggeration.

By eating 6-10 olives a day, you will insure yourself against a list of diseases, since it provides the amount of amino acids and minerals we need.

Olives are easily absorbed by the body and have a beneficial effect on all processes occurring in it.

They contain dozens of useful substances:

• calcium,
• vitamins of several groups,
• proteins and fats, phosphorus,
• iron.

Eating olives has a beneficial effect on the following areas:

The cardiovascular system

Vegetable fats contained in olives do not contain harmful cholesterol and remove existing cholesterol.

Thus, they protect blood vessels from atherosclerosis, improve heart function, and prevent early aging.

Cancer prevention

The fruits provide an antioxidant effect, which prevents the formation of tumors.

Studies have shown that frequent consumption of olives greatly reduces the risk of cancer of the breast, skin (the properties of black elderberry in oncology are written here), prostate and digestive tract.

Musculoskeletal system

Joint pain is relieved due to the abundance of calcium and manganese in the plant.

Strengthening the immune system

The acids contained in olives restore cells and keep the body in good shape.

Reproductive function

Fighting excess weight

If you are on a diet, be sure to include one more element in it:

• the fruits regulate water-salt metabolism in the body and will help you on your way to a slim figure.

Healing cuts, wounds and swelling

By the way, not only the fruits, but also the leaves of the olive tree are used to create useful solutions.

It is curious that in countries where olive trees are grown, there is a custom to eat at least 5 olives along with the pits.

This part of the plant is also extremely useful.

The assumption has not been scientifically proven, however, and there is nothing wrong with following the advice of the southerners - the bones are digested by the stomach.

But the benefits of this part of the fetus for the treatment of pinched nerves have even been confirmed by doctors and are successfully practiced.

Application in cosmetology

For a long time, the fruits have been used to create cosmetics, from creams to soaps. Olive extract is now included in skin products.

But to improve the condition of the skin and hair, you can simply eat olives - according to some cosmetologists, this has an equally strong effect.

You can make your own face mask based on 1-2 teaspoons of oil and rub it into the skin every time after taking a bath.

Masks for hair treatment

The most accessible of them is the use of oil in its pure form.

Apply it to your hair and distribute over the entire length.

After the procedure, cover your hair with a warm towel.

There are no restrictions on exposure time:

• Ideally, it is better to leave the mask on all night, it will only be healthier.

But, if time is limited, a couple of hours will be enough.

Is there any harm?

As with other foods, eating olives has its downsides. Do not overuse this delicacy if you have diarrhea:

• it has a mild laxative effect,
• people with the opposite problem, intestinal obstruction, should be careful with bones.

By themselves, they are harmless, but they can be the last straw in the formation of a bezoar.

This disease is fraught with serious consequences, including intestinal obstruction.

In addition, you should not eat seeds that are pointed or have sharp edges. They will injure the mucous membrane.

The question of which is healthier: olives or black olives is difficult to answer. The properties of both forms of the product are the same. But it’s still worth considering that olives are obtained through chemical processing, even if it’s safe, and therefore are less natural.

Be that as it may, the harm from consuming these products is insignificant and is not commensurate with the benefits.

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In the video you will see how olives differ from olives and how to choose the right natural ones.

Olives have long taken pride of place in the national cuisines of many peoples around the world. Olives appeared in our country relatively recently, so controversy around them continues. They have an interesting spicy taste that is difficult to describe even for an experienced taster: they simultaneously contain bitterness and sweetness, sour and salty notes. The mystery of this product has long divided all food lovers into great connoisseurs of olives and their ardent haters.

The interest in this product is further fueled by a question that few can answer: “Olive - what is it? Is it a fruit, or a vegetable, or a berry? The answers to this question are as contradictory as the taste of the product. Some argue that it is a berry or fruit, since it has a seed and grows on bushes or trees. Others claim that it is a fruit or vegetable because it requires additional processing, after which it acquires its unique taste.

To find out what olives are, you need to remember your school botany course. In botany there is no such thing as berries, vegetables or fruits - this is only the consumer name for the fruits of flowering plants that are intended for seed dispersal. There are juicy (berries, drupes) and dry fruits (pods, nuts, pods, achenes, grains). Olives, from a botanical point of view, are drupes and not berries, fruits or vegetables.

Olives or Olives: What's the Difference?

On the domestic market, consumers are not familiar with fresh fruits of olive trees, but with canned products with black or green fruits. This is the reason why there is a common myth among ordinary uninitiated buyers that explains why olives are black and olives are green. In their opinion, the difference between olives and olives is that they are the fruits of different types of trees. But that's not true.

In fact, the words “olives” and “olives” are synonyms in Russian. To make sure that there is no difference between olives and black olives, it is enough to find out which family the trees on which they grow belong to. Olives, also known as olives, grow on trees of the olive genus, the olive family. The word "olives" has Eastern European roots. In the rest of the world, the fruits of these trees are known as “olives.”

It is likely that this confusion with the names of the fruits of olive trees arose due to the current GOST for olives. GOST R 55464-2013 in Russian is called “Olives or black olives in pouring. Technical conditions". At the same time, in the English translation, the GOST names both olives and olives sound the same - olives, however, adjusted for color. Perhaps this is why in Russia green fruits of olive trees are called olives, and black olives are called olives.

What determines the color of olives?

The difference in the color of the fruit appears during their processing before canning. The fruits of the olive tree for preservation are collected while they are still green. To preserve them green, it takes several weeks to keep the olives in brine. To reduce the time of harvesting olives, this process is accelerated: they are saturated with oxygen. This process is called oxidation. After this, the olives acquire a coal-black color, to stabilize which a preservative, iron gluconate, is used. After this treatment, producers receive black oxidized olives, which they preserve.

After you have figured out what colors black olives with, the logical question is: “Are there real black olives?” The color of untreated olives depends on their degree of ripeness:

• yellow-green, yellowish, white olives are harvested at the very beginning of their ripening. They are inherently immature;
• pink, red, brown, chestnut color of the fruit indicates their partial ripeness. These olives are harvested later than green ones, but earlier than ripe ones;
• The dark color of olives is a sign of their ripeness and can have various shades: red-black, purple-black, dark chestnut, violet. But there are no coal-black olives on trees.

The main difference between self-ripened olives is that they are always sold with a pit. This is explained by the fact that it is impossible to remove the pit from their mature pulp without damaging the pulp itself.

How olives grow

Olives grow on evergreen olive bushes or trees. In botany, up to 60 species of olive trees are distinguished, but only half of them are of industrial importance.

The main industrial type of olive trees is the European olive, one plant of which can produce up to 30 kg of fruit per season. Plants of this species are resistant to high temperatures, and mountain varieties are frost-resistant.

Trees of this species are covered with dry, hard gray bark. Narrow gray-green rough leaves grow on their crooked branches. The leaves of the olive tree do not fall off during the cold season: they change on the tree gradually.

Olive trees bloom in April-July. How do olives bloom? The flowers of oil trees are collected in panicles, which consist of 10-40 white fragrant flowers. After flowering, fruits similar to small plums appear on the branch of the olive tree. Olive is a drupe oval shape up to 4 cm long and up to 2 cm in diameter. The color and weight of the fruit depends on its variety and degree of ripeness. The color of the fruit can vary from light green to dark purple. The pulp is elastic, oily, the skin is dense, with a waxy surface. Olive trees first begin to bear fruit after 20 years, bearing fruit once every two years.

The olives are harvested 4-5 months after the trees bloom. Olives ripen between November and January. But the harvest time often depends not on the time when the olives ripen, but on the variety and method of harvesting and processing the olives. If they are used for canning or making green oil, they are harvested 1-2 months earlier than they ripen.

Green fruits are usually picked by hand because they do not fall off the stem themselves. Ripe olives are often shaken onto a pre-spread net under the trees. After harvesting, the olives are sent for processing as quickly as possible. Any delay in this process negatively affects the quality of the final product.

Where do olives grow?

Today olive trees are cultivated:

• in Mediterranean countries (Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Turkey);
• in the Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya);
• on the Black Sea coast (in Crimea, Bulgaria, Georgia, Abkhazia);
• in the countries of Asia Minor and the Middle East (Israel, Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan);
• in northern India;
• in Australia;
• in Mexico and Peru.

Olive trees are grown in these countries by both large producers and small farms.

In Russia, olive trees are not grown on an industrial scale, but small olive groves grow on the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar Territory.

Olive varieties

Up to 250 varieties of the cultivated species, European olive, have been bred through selective breeding. The fruits of its different varieties differ in color, size, taste and oil content. There are varieties of olives:

• dining rooms, which contain a lot of pulp, so they are used for pickling, canning and other preparation methods;
• oilseeds, which contain a lot of oils, so they are used to make olive oil;
• universal.

On modern shelves you can find many varieties of olives with diverse origins. Olives are grown on an industrial scale in Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Turkey, Cyprus, Tunisia, Morocco, and Israel.

Spanish olives

The leader in the production of olives and olive products in Europe and the world is Spain. About 50% of all olives exported worldwide come from Spanish producers.

The most popular variety cultivated in Spain is Picual, which translates as “nipple”. This is a versatile olive variety, but is more often used for making butter. Olive trees of this variety are grown in the mountains and on the plains, and the fruits grown in different areas differ significantly in taste.

The Ojiblanca and Casareña varieties are famous for their small black fruits with soft, juicy pulp, from which the stone is easily separated. These are the best olives for canning.

Italian olives

In Italy, olives are one of the main ingredients in many dishes. The world's most popular Italian table green olive of gigantic size is the Vittoria variety. Olives of this variety have juicy, fleshy, aromatic pulp. No food additives are used for their preparation.

On the southern Italian island of Sicily, the famous variety of bright green olives, Miccio Le Olive, is grown and is renowned for its fruity flavor with a fresh finish. To preserve their color, these Sicilian olives are stored in a special brine, the recipe of which is kept secret and passed down from generation to generation.

Greek olives

More than a hundred different varieties of olives are cultivated in Greece. Often Greek olives are named after the area where olive trees of that variety grow.

The best Greek olives are considered to be the fruits of the Kalamata variety, which got their name from the town of the same name in southern Greece, near which they are grown. Ripe olives of this variety are medium in size and purple-black in color. They have juicy pulp with a tart taste and pronounced aroma.

Halkidiki is a variety of large green olives grown in northern Greece. Due to their large size, these fruits are used for stuffing with fillings (paprika, onions, garlic, gherkins, capers, almonds, cheese).

The most numerous olive groves in Greece are located on the island of Crete, where the Koroneiki oil variety is grown. The annual harvest of these Cretan olives exceeds the total harvest of olive fruits throughout the rest of Greece. Aromatic olive oil is made from these olives.

French olives

Nice olives are those collected from olive groves growing near Nice. These are small-sized fruits of purple or black color, have oily pulp with a pleasant delicate taste.

French small black olives from Provence have a slight piquant bitterness. Nyon olives are round in shape, small, red-brown in color and also slightly bitter. The French variety Picolini is represented by green, crispy fruits with a fresh, salty taste.

The vast majority of French olive varieties are universal and are used for making oil and in cooking, in canned or pickled form, in the form of pastes, pates, and dressings. Cosmetic products are made from them.

Israeli olives

In Israel, mainly oil-bearing varieties of olives are grown, so olive production in this country is aimed mainly at producing oil.

One of the popular Israeli varieties is Suri. It is believed that the real homeland of this variety is the Lebanese city of Sur (Tire). These aromatic olives produce a zesty green oil with notes of honey and pepper. Israeli Suri oil is well suited for preparing Jewish dishes.

Another popular olive variety grown in Israel and used to make olive oil is Barnea. An oil with a subtle aroma of fresh hay and fruity notes is extracted from them. Israeli green olive oil has a very beneficial property for children - taking it daily on an empty stomach is effective against worms in them.

Chemical composition of olives

The fruits of oil trees contain proteins, fats, carbohydrates (BJC), which are energy and plastic materials for the human body. The B:F:Y ratio per 100 grams of olives differs from their degree of maturity and variety: in unripe small fruits their content is lower than in ripe large ones.

The taste of fresh olives is bitterish-tart or bitter, so they are not eaten raw. For the consumer, what is more important is not the nutrient content of raw olives, but the amount contained in the finished product. Considering that olives often enter the domestic market in canned form, below is data on the nutritional value and chemical composition of the canned product.

Olives are a source of vegetable fats. A remarkable fact is that despite the high fat content in olives, they are not harmful: more than 90% of the fats in the fruit pulp contain mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The peculiarity of unsaturated fatty acids is that in the human body they are not independently synthesized and are practically not deposited (accumulated). For the normal functioning of the human body, daily consumption of foods rich in such fatty acids is important.

Olive protein consists of amino acids, many of which are essential, that is, those that are not produced in the human body.

Olive carbohydrates consist of 50-85% indigestible dietary fiber (fiber), so these carbohydrates do not pose an energy load on the body. In addition, the glycemic index of olives is low and is only 15 units per 100 g, which allows them to be consumed by diabetics.

The pulp of olives contains phenols (oleocanthal), which have powerful antioxidant properties. These substances are quickly destroyed when olives are cooked, but are preserved in the extra cold-pressed oil.

The pulp of the olive tree fruit is rich in vitamins and minerals. These substances, unlike proteins, fats and carbohydrates, do not contain calories, but are biologically active substances that affect many processes in the human body.

The chemical composition of olives differs significantly from their variety, place of growth, time of harvest, and method of processing.

Olive oil

More than 2 million tons of olive oil are produced annually in the world. It is used in many cuisines around the world, but for our country olive oil is still classified as exotic.

The benefits and harms of oil depend on many factors:

• varieties of olives and places of their cultivation;
• the method of collecting them (manually or mechanically);
• what kind of olives the oil is made from (green or black);
• how the oil is made (first or second pressing, cold or hot);
• conditions and period of its storage.

How is olive oil made?

Olive oil is made from olives of varying degrees of maturity. Most often these are ripe olives, but some varieties of olives are grown for pressing in their unripe form, for example, the Israeli green oil Barnea.

The process of making olive oil consists of several successive stages:

• fruit sorting;
• cleaning them from leaves and stalks;
• washing in warm water;
• first oil extraction;
• grinding pulp and seeds;
• second oil extraction.

Most oil producers try to create a full production cycle: from growing the crop to making the oil. It is worth noting that the production of olive products is practically waste-free: biogas is made from olive pomace, and briquetted environmentally friendly fuel is made from olive pits.

Types of Olive Oil

Depending on the method of collection, extraction and thermal or chemical treatment, olive oils are divided into several types.

Extra-virgin (extra-virgin)

This unfiltered oil is obtained by first cold pressing. No heat treatment or chemicals are used in its manufacturing process. During laboratory testing, the oil should contain less than 1% acids. This product contains all the vitamins, microelements and essential fats that are found in the fruits themselves, as well as the antioxidant oleocanthal.

Virgin (virgin)

This oil is produced in the same way as extra-virgin oil, so the content of nutrients in it is preserved. The difference between virgin oil is the higher permissible acid content in it - up to 3.3%. Due to this acidity, virgin oil has a milder taste.

Refined olive

It is obtained by refining from oil that has an acidity of over 3.3%. The taste of refined oil is neutral, it also does not have a special aroma. This is a product that contains almost only fat and none of the beneficial substances that olive oil is so famous for.

Pure olive

This product is obtained by mixing virgin and refined oils to improve the taste and aroma properties of the latter. Accordingly, the beneficial properties of this oil are somewhere between virgin oil and a refined product.

Light and extra light

In the process of producing these oils, various technologies are used (separation, deodorization, bleaching, heat and chemical treatments), resulting in a product with a “lighter” fat composition, and at the same time with a reduced content of all other substances.

Extra virgin and virgin oils contain many beneficial substances and are the most expensive, while refined and light oils are the cheapest.

In addition to cost and usefulness, the choice of olive oil is influenced by its purpose:

• Unrefined oils are not suitable for frying, because carcinogens are formed in them during heat treatment;
• Refined brands of oils are not suitable for dressing salads because they lack the expected olive taste and aroma.

How olives are harvested

Olives are eaten in prepared form. They are prepared for consumption in different ways:

• dried;
• dried;
• salted (by dry salting);
• marinate;
• canned.

How to remove bitterness from olives

After harvest, olives for preservation are washed and immersed in barrels of brine for several months. Thanks to the fermentation of this brine, the olives lose their bitterness and become soft and sweet. After this, the fruits are sorted, stalks and leaves are removed, and sorted by size.

Olive caliber

On a jar of canned olives, their caliber must be indicated. Their cost depends on this. To inform the consumer about the size of the olives in the jar, symbols are used - two numbers separated by a fraction. These numbers indicate the minimum and maximum number of olives of this caliber in 1 kg. Accordingly, the smaller the numbers indicated in the fraction, the larger the caliber of the olives. There are four calibration categories:

1. Giant or royal olives are especially large in size (70/90, 91/100, 101/110).
2. Large (111/120, 121/140, 141/160).
3. Average (161/180, 181/200, 201/230, 231/260).
4. Small (261/290, 291/320, 321/350, 351/380).

Thus, knowing how many grams are in the jar and the size of the olives, you can figure out how many fruits are in the jar.

How to remove pits from olives

Olives can be preserved pitted or pitted. How do you remove pits from olives? The seeds are removed using a special apparatus with knives. All these processes in large production facilities are carried out on automated lines.

Green olives are often stuffed. Capers, gherkins, anchovies, lemon, pepper, garlic, onions and other various ingredients can be used as filling. This process is carried out manually.

Beneficial features

Olive products, due to the large amount of essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals they contain, have many beneficial effects on various organs and systems of the human body when consumed orally. The beneficial properties of olives and olive oil make it possible to include them in therapeutic dietary menus, as well as in the daily diet for various pathologies of internal organs. They can be eaten with or without the pit. It is difficult to answer which olives are healthier: with or without pits, because they act on the body differently.

For the cardiovascular system

Olives are a leader among foods that are good for the cardiovascular system. Polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are contained in large quantities, are absorbed into the human blood from the intestines and exhibit their beneficial properties:

• anti-atherosclerotic effect (binds cholesterol in the blood, prevents the formation and reduces existing atherosclerotic plaques);
• increase the elasticity of blood vessels (by restoring damaged vascular endothelium);
• reduce vascular permeability (by strengthening the connections between the cells of the vascular walls);
• reduce blood viscosity, thereby reducing the risk of pathological thrombosis;
• help reduce blood pressure.

Indications for regular consumption of olive products for heart and vascular diseases are:

• atherosclerosis;
• cardiac ischemia;
• arrhythmias;
• arterial hypertension;
• neurocirculatory dystonia;
• varicose veins;
• thrombosis and thrombophlebitis;
• thrombophilia;
• post-infarction and post-stroke conditions;
• angiopathy.

The benefits of olive tree fruits and olive oil for the heart are proven by scientific research. After mass clinical examinations of residents of European countries, they found that residents of the Mediterranean suffer less from coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis of blood vessels than residents within the continent.

For the digestive system

What are the benefits of olives for the gastrointestinal tract? Polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamins from olive products have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the digestive system:

• stimulate the production of digestive juices and enzymes;
• heal defects in mucous membranes;
• restore liver cells;
• have a choleretic effect;
• prevent the formation of stones in the bile ducts;
• normalize intestinal peristalsis (forward movements);
• remove toxins from the intestines;
• restore intestinal microflora;
• help with hemorrhoids.

Olives affect a person’s stool, but it is difficult to say unambiguously whether olives strengthen or weaken, because the effect of their use depends on the presence of a pit in them.

Olive pulp, containing a lot of fat, promotes accelerated excretion of intestinal contents. Therefore, when eating olives in small quantities daily, they have a laxative effect and prevent constipation.

And the oil seed, containing a lot of tannins, strengthens, and is therefore useful for digestive disorders associated with diarrhea. Indigestible fiber, due to its spongy structure, is able to absorb toxins and toxic substances and remove them from the body, so activated carbon can be replaced with olives.

For the genitourinary system

Olive products can reduce the tendency to form stones due to urolithiasis. Regular consumption of olive oil helps get rid of kidney stones.

The inclusion of olive products in the daily diet is beneficial for the health of the female reproductive system, since fatty acids are included in fat metabolism and help normalize the synthesis of female sex hormones. For men, olives are useful for their ability to increase potency and improve sperm quality.

For metabolic disorders

Olive products can be consumed for diabetes. They normalize blood glucose and cholesterol levels in type 2 diabetes, thereby preventing the development of diabetic macro- and microangiopathies.

Olive oil is useful for gout because it helps dissolve uric acid salts that are deposited in the joints and urate stones in the kidneys.

For neurological diseases

Fatty acids and B vitamins contained in olive products normalize the functioning of the central nervous system, increase its performance, and improve memory. Scientists have proven that daily consumption of olive oil improves the condition of patients with multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease, and restores cognitive functions of the brain after strokes.

For inflammation

Olive products block the synthesis of prostaglandins - substances that cause inflammatory reactions in the human body. Oleocanthal, present unchanged in extra-virgin olive oil, has anti-inflammatory properties that mimic the effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). This allows you to include olives and products made from them in medical nutrition for arthritis, arthrosis, osteochondrosis and spondylosis.

For the body losing weight

The beneficial properties of olives and products made from them are successfully used in various diets. However, they should be included in the diet menu in doses, since they have a high energy value. For example, in the Dukan diet it is allowed to alternate black and green olives, but no more than 4 pieces per day. Their benefit for weight loss lies in the complex effect of the substances contained in olives on the human body:

• binding of “harmful” fats and cholesterol in the intestines and blood;
• saturating the body with essential fatty acids;
• antianemic effect;
• increasing the elasticity of blood vessels and skin;
• improving the condition of the skin and its appendages (hair, nails);
• normalization of stool;
• improving mood.

Why do people who are losing weight crave olives so much? What is missing in their body? Olives are rich in sodium salts, so the desire to eat them arises when there is a deficiency. This desire is especially relevant for people on a diet. To satisfy your desire to eat olives, you should not include them in your diet in canned, pickled or salted form. This cooking process makes the olives very salty, and salt is known to retain fluid in the body. It is better to give preference to dried, dried olives or olive oil.

Against cancer

According to medical statistics, women in Mediterranean countries suffer from breast cancer several times less often than European women living in other areas. The assumption that the reason for this is the large amount of olives and olive oil in the diet was confirmed in large-scale studies conducted in Spain from 2003 to 2009. The purpose of the research was to prove the anti-cancer effect of olive fats.

Spanish doctors examined about four thousand women who adhered to different diets:

1. The first group of women followed a Mediterranean diet with olive oil for a long time.
2. The second is the Mediterranean diet with hazelnuts.
3. The third is a diet with a reduced amount of fat.
4. The fourth group was a control group and did not involve changes in diet.

During the medical examinations of women who took part in this experiment, it was found that women in the first group were almost 70% less likely to develop breast cancer than women in the other three groups.

For pregnant women and nursing mothers

The mother's body experiences an increased need for nutrients, vitamins and minerals, especially essential (irreplaceable) ones, in order to provide their baby with sufficient quantities. If there is a deficiency of such substances, they begin to be “washed out” from the organs of a pregnant woman or nursing mother, leading to disruption of their functioning. If the deficiency of nutrients persists, the child will also develop a deficiency in the future.

The substances in olives have a beneficial effect on a woman’s body during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Their benefits are undeniable both for the female body and for the harmonious development of the child. Olives, especially those that have ripened on their own, are a source of iron, and therefore prevent the development of anemia in pregnant women. The healthy fats in olive oil improve the condition of the placenta and cervix before childbirth.

Regular consumption of olives (except canned) and olive oil helps pregnant women and nursing mothers, without compromising their own health, provide their baby’s body with the substances it needs for growth and harmonious development.

For children

Olives are good for children, but they need to be introduced into children’s diets very carefully. At what age it is best to do this depends on the state of the child’s digestive system. Considering that in our country olives are sold in the form of canned food, children over 3 years old can start introducing these products into the menu.

It’s better to start with ripe olives, which are sold in glass jars, but no more than 1 piece per day. At the same time, the product should not contain preservatives, especially iron gluconate. This preservative may cause allergies.

For animals

Olive fats are also beneficial for pets (dogs and cats): they improve digestion and make the coat smooth and shiny. Therefore, it is not at all surprising why dogs and cats love food flavored with olive oil.

But sometimes it happens that animals are “drawn” to eat olives from the owner’s table or drink the brine in which they were kept. Owners have quite natural questions: “Are they harmful to animals? Is it possible to give them to a dog or cat?

It is not known for certain why cats love olives. They probably instinctively feel the usefulness of this fruit. Fresh, dried or dried olives can be given to animals, but in a limited form. As for canned olives, it is not recommended to give them to pets, as they contain a lot of salt and preservatives.

Benefits of seeds

Many olive lovers are interested in whether it is possible to eat olive pits? What are olive pits good for?

Olive pits dissolve in the stomach, enveloping its walls, which is useful for erosions and ulcers of the gastric mucosa. In order for their antiulcer effect to manifest itself, it is enough to swallow 4-5 seeds on an empty stomach.

Swallowing whole olive pits can often be difficult and sometimes dangerous (some varieties of olives have large, sharp pits). To avoid harm to health, to treat stomach ulcers it is better to grind the seeds and eat them in powder form.

Olive pits are useful as absorbents after alcohol abuse. The bone is partially digested in the stomach, enveloping its mucous membrane, and the rest of it dissolves in the intestines, absorbing toxic substances.

For face and body

The rich chemical composition of olive oil has a good cosmetic effect, improving the condition of the skin and its appendages (hair, nails). Based on it, a variety of homemade cosmetics for women are made (creams, ointments and balms for the body, masks for the face and hair, baths for nails). It is also included in industrial cosmetics.

Cosmetics based on it are recommended for use every day, because they have virtually no contraindications. But before using them, especially for problem skin, it is necessary to conduct skin allergy tests. To do this, apply a little product to the bend of the elbow joint and after 30 minutes look at the reaction of the skin in this place. An allergy test can be considered negative if there is no feeling of burning, itching, redness or irritation at the site of application.

Restrictions and contraindications for use

Canned olives, like any other canned food, are saturated with salty marinade, so eating them daily is not recommended. This is especially true for oxidized black olives, which contain the preservative ferric gluconate. One can of oxidized black olives contains more than 20 mg of ferrous gluconate, with the maximum daily dose for an adult being 10 mg, so it can cause food poisoning. This preservative makes olives an allergenic product.

• children;
• pregnant women, especially in the early stages;
• women with breastfeeding (breastfeeding);
• with gastritis with high acidity;
• for pancreatitis and cholecystitis in the acute phase;
• with cholelithiasis;
• for kidney stones;
• with cystitis.

Contraindications to the use of canned olives are also individual intolerance and allergies.

How to use

Canned oxidized olives are tasty, but they cannot be used as a remedy: they should be considered solely as a delicacy that should be included in the diet only occasionally.

How many olives can you eat and what kind? In order for olives to fully exhibit their healing properties, they must be consumed daily in dried, dried, pickled form in the amount of 5-7 pieces per day.

Fruits can be replaced with olive oil. It is preferable for adults to consume high-quality unrefined vegetable oil daily for medicinal purposes, preferably extra-virgin or virgin, 1-3 tablespoons. It should be remembered that 1 tablespoon of olive oil contains 200-220 kcal.

How to choose olive oil

Recently, Chinese entrepreneurs have begun to produce olive oil from fruits purchased in bulk from olive farmers. Transporting fresh olives adversely affects the quality of their oil, so it is better to avoid such a purchase.

In today's market, according to the University of California, about 80% of olive oil sold is counterfeit. Counterfeits often have bottles and labels similar to the original ones, so it is very easy to make a mistake. How to distinguish fake olive oil from real one?

To protect yourself when purchasing this valuable product, you must follow simple rules:

1. It is advisable to buy the product in specialized or brand stores, which is better than purchasing it on the Internet or on the market.
2. It is better to prefer oil from well-known brands.
3. Before purchasing, you need to study on the Internet (preferably on the manufacturer’s website) how the original packaging and label differ, and what its approximate market value is.
4. Carefully inspect the packaging and label on the selected product container to ensure they match the original ones.
5. The label must contain information in Russian about the manufacturer, type and method of oil extraction, storage conditions, container volume, expiration date.
6. The price of the original product should not differ significantly from the average market price.
7. You should not purchase expired olive oil. Not only will it be bitter, but it can also cause food poisoning.

When you get home, you should put the container with oil in the refrigerator. At low temperatures, natural olive oil becomes cloudy and flakes appear. At room temperature, the oil becomes clear again and the flakes dissolve.

How to choose olives

It is best to buy olives in the regions where they are grown. It is there that you can buy the most delicious and healthy fruits that are difficult to find here.

The cost of harvested olives depends on many factors:

• where and how trees grow;
• how the harvest is harvested;
• caliber;
• preparation method (salted, pickled, canned);
• the presence of a seed (with or without seeds);
• integrity of fruits (whole or cut);
• type of filling.

In order for the purchased olives to be tasty and healthy, you need to know how to choose them. Today you can purchase these fruits by weight (in barrels or polymer containers) and in individual packaging (in jars or vacuum packaging). Which ones are healthier?

Buying in bulk

When buying olives by weight, you need to pay attention to:

1. Container with olives. The container must be plastic and have a lid. If olives are sold from an open tin container, such a purchase should be abandoned. When opened, tin containers quickly oxidize and release toxic substances into the product.
2. Label. The label must be available to the buyer so that he can familiarize himself with the manufacturer’s information and clarify the date of manufacture and expiration date of the product.
3. Temperature and storage conditions. Storing pickled olives without brine is unacceptable. The fruits must be completely covered with it. The storage temperature of an open container with pickled olives in brine should not exceed +6°C.
4. Brine color. The brine should not be cloudy or dark. It is advisable that the brine be covered with a layer of olive oil on top, which prevents it from spoiling.
5. Type of olives. Crumpled, weathered and wrinkled fruits should not be found among fresh ones. If there are any, this indicates that the seller mixed unsold remaining product with fresh product.
6. Taste of fruits. Try one drupe. Its pulp should be soft and easily separated from the stone. No foreign smell or taste should be felt.
7. Pay attention to how and how the fruits are removed from the brine and what equipment is used for this. The safety of the released product depends on the cleanliness of these devices.

But, no matter how attentive and careful the buyer is, he is not immune from unscrupulous sellers. To avoid deception and counterfeiting, you can purchase olives in individual packaging.

Purchasing individual packaging

What types of individual packaging are there? How to choose canned olives? On store shelves, consumers are offered olives in different types of packaging: glass, tin and vacuum packaging. Which ones are better? When choosing from the proposed options, it is better to give preference to olives in a vacuum or a glass jar. This way you can see what the drupes look like, what color and size the fruits are.

The label must indicate how much the product weighs without containers (net weight). Be sure to pay attention to the expiration date of olives. Expired fruits can cause food poisoning or intoxication with heavy metal salts.

How to store the product

Canned olives can be stored in an airtight container for 3 years. After opening the original packaging, the shelf life is reduced many times over. How long open cans of olives are stored depends on the material from which the container is made.

Storing olives in an open tin is strictly prohibited. The inner surface of this container is not designed for contact with air, so it quickly oxidizes. Toxic oxidation products pass into the brine, and from it into the olives. Consumption of such olives is fraught with severe food poisoning and intoxication. How to store opened olives from a tin so that they do not cause poisoning? Immediately after opening a tin of olives, the product must be transferred to a glass or ceramic container.

How to store opened olives? In glass or polymer containers, opened canned olives in brine can be stored for up to 3 days.

It happens that after opening a can of olives, the brine was drained and the entire product was not used. How to preserve leftover olives without brine? Is it possible to freeze them? You cannot store olives without brine: the product quickly weathers, loses moisture, and wrinkles. You should also not freeze olives without brine or with it. Frozen olives become very soft and tasteless after defrosting.

Use in cooking

Whole olives with pits or stuffed olives are used as a separate snack. Cut olives and pitted olives are used to decorate dishes and added to salads, soups, casseroles, and stews. They are ground into puree and olive paste is prepared from them. Thanks to their piquant taste, olives add spicy notes to drinks.

Olive oil is used in cooking for dressing salads, preparing sauces and marinades, and baking. Can you fry in olive oil? Only refined olive oil is suitable for frying. Extra virgin oils are eaten raw.

Are olives eaten raw?

Raw olives have a bitter taste, so they are not usually eaten raw. Everywhere except their homeland - Greece. For example, in one of the central Greek regions of Magnesia, ripe olives are eaten without any pre-processing. This is a special local variety of large dark cherry-colored olives with easily peelable skin and juicy, oily soft pulp. These olives have a tart, bittersweet taste with a spicy aftertaste.

But eating olives in this way is an exception to the rule. More often, olives are used in cooking in processed form. For culinary purposes, they are dried, dried, salted, pickled, and canned.

What do olives go with?

The specific taste of the fruits of the olive tree goes well with:

• spicy herbs;
• lemon;
• pickled garlic and onions;
• vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers);
• greens;
• nuts;
• pickled cheeses;
• fish;
• seafood;
• lean meats;
• alcoholic beverages (wines, liqueurs).

Black olives are more suitable for meat dishes, and green olives are more suitable for fish and seafood.

What do you eat olives with?

Different people have different taste preferences. Very often they depend on the characteristics of the national cuisine. In Greece, they prefer to eat olives with feta, cheese, tomatoes, and eggplants. In Spain, olives are usually served with sweet peppers, meat dishes, and seafood. In Italy, olives are added to pizza, lasagna, and eaten with mozzarella, cauliflower and tomatoes.

But, as they say: “There is no friend according to taste!” Where to add, with what and how to eat olives, everyone is free to choose at their own discretion. The main thing is that it tastes good!

In Mediterranean countries, flavored olive oil is used as a salad dressing. How to make homemade flavored olive oil? To do this, light or refined olive oil is infused for 15-20 days:

• spices (cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, cloves, star anise);
• herbs (thyme, basil, marjoram, rosemary, oregano);
• zest and fruits of citrus fruits;
• vegetables (garlic, celery, horseradish, paprika);
• dried berries.

In recent years, in Mediterranean European countries it has become fashionable to decorate the table with olives, which are colored with natural food dyes in red, orange, and emerald colors.

Useful tips

Sometimes it happens that you need pitted olives to prepare a dish, but there are only fruits with pits in the refrigerator. To remove pits from olives at home, you can use a cherry pitting machine.

There is another secret to pitting olives: use a wide knife blade to lightly press the olive onto the work surface. If the olive is ripe, the pit in it will begin to move. After this, it can be easily removed using tweezers.

To extend the shelf life of opened canned olives, you need to drain the brine and add olive oil to the rest of the product. These canned foods can be stored for up to 2 months.

Interesting facts about olives

In the history of mankind, the branch of an olive tree has always been considered a symbol of peace among many peoples.

Greece is considered the birthplace of the olive tree. In ancient Greek mythology, there is a myth about the appearance of the olive tree. According to this myth, once a dispute arose between the goddess of wisdom, crafts and knowledge, Pallas Athena, and the ruler of the seas and oceans, Poseidon, over the ownership of Attica. Competing with each other, Poseidon presented the people of this region as a gift with a source of sea water, and Athena, thrusting a spear into the ground, presented an olive tree. The judges recognized Athena as the winner in the dispute, since they considered her gift more useful, and gave her this land under her protection. The people of Attica, in gratitude for such a generous gift, named the city of Athens in her honor.

The Olympians of Ancient Greece were awarded a wreath woven from olive branches if they won the Games. Its image can be found on ancient Greek vases and amphorae, from where the culture of worship of this plant passed on to Ancient Rome. The first descriptions and characteristics of olive trees and their fruits in the literature also appeared there.

But it was not only the Greeks and Romans who revered olive trees. The Bible also contains references to this tree: during the Flood, Noah was notified that dry land was nearby by a dove that brought him an olive branch. And the Virgin Mary was notified that she would give birth to the Savior of the human race by an angel who brought her a sprig of olive.

In the Middle East, the olive tree was considered a symbol of love and passion, where there is its own legend about the appearance of the olive tree. One day Princess Maslina fell in love with a shepherd named Olivo, but her love was not reciprocated. Then Olive got angry and killed the shepherd on a dark night. At the site of his death, a tree with narrow leaves and small tart fruits grew. This tree was named olive tree in honor of the shepherd, and the fruits ripening on it were called olives.

The olive tree in Muslim countries is considered the Tree of Life and a symbol of the Prophet.

The olive branch today is a symbol of peace and is present on the coats of arms of many countries: Italy, Cyprus, Serbia, Portugal, France, Zaire. The white olive branch is featured on the emblem of the United Nations (UN).

These interesting facts indicate the importance and reverence of this plant in many countries around the world.

For many centuries, olives and olive oil have been the basis of the economy of many states. Today they have not lost their popularity. They are valued not only for their taste, but also for their healthfulness, low calorie content and high levels of healthy fats, fiber and iron. Knowing the benefits of olives, it becomes clear why you want to eat them.

Fresh olives are not edible until they undergo certain culinary processing. They are consumed salted, pickled or canned. Green olives are stuffed with a variety of fillings, from onions and garlic to gourmet blue cheese. Olive oil is no less popular in cooking.

The beneficial properties of olives and their oils are successfully used in therapeutic nutrition for diabetes, gout, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, urolithiasis, and sexual disorders. Even the seeds of the olive tree are useful.

Despite all the beneficial properties, olives have a number of restrictions when consumed. To ensure that these fruits do not cause harm to health, you need to know in what quantity and how to properly eat olives for a particular ailment. Before taking them as a preventative or therapeutic agent, you should consult your doctor.

Olive trees with their juicy fruits have been cultivated by people for so long that scientists still cannot decide whether this is a miracle specially bred by breeders or a slightly cultivated wild species of plant from the olive family. One way or another, the benefits of olives were widely known back in ancient Hellas. Moreover, the Greeks believed in the divine origin of the olive and knew about its miraculous properties.

Olives and olives - similarities and differences

The oblong fruits of the olive tree are widely consumed throughout the world. Moreover, in Russia they are called both olives and olives. What is the difference and is there any?

Juicy black olives are simply fruits taken from the tree in the phase of biological ripeness. At the same time, olives can be collected from the same tree, but before they are fully ripe. That's why olives are green in color. As they ripen in natural conditions, they darken from light pink to blue-black. However, the difference between these fruits is not only in color.

Due to the fact that olives have been on their native tree longer, they can be larger and grow to the size of a small plum. But as for the chemical composition and effect on the human body, the benefits of olives and black olives are almost the same.

Variety of canned olives

When buying a jar of juicy canned olives, you may be surprised that fresh olives from the tree are not available for sale anywhere. The thing is that freshly picked fruits taste bitter and are very hard, regardless of their ripeness. Therefore, they are always first soaked to remove the bitterness, and then pickled or salted to make them soft. Often the olive pits are removed. The benefit of this is that you can place the filling instead.

Today, olives are offered for consumption with additives, which can be tuna, anchovy, lemon or even cucumber. You can also often find fruits with and without seeds on sale. At the same time, gourmets prefer olives with pits, pointing to their special taste and softness.

What is so “magical” about simple olives?

Since these berries have been eaten by people for a very long time, the benefits and harms of canned olives are well known and studied. Today scientists say that all of them are extremely useful, because:

• They contain antioxidants, which means they help relieve depression and reduce the effects of severe stress.
• They replenish the body with elements such as calcium, chlorine, sodium, magnesium, iron, iodine, potassium and phosphorus, as well as many others.
• They contain various amino acids and numerous vitamins, including vitamin E.
• Their chemical composition includes special natural substances - polyphenols, which, in turn, help improve memory and better brain function.
• They contain oleic acid, which is so important for those who want to preserve youth. Because of this, regular consumption of olives reduces the appearance of wrinkles by 25%.
• Reduces cholesterol levels in the blood and promotes its removal.
• They reduce appetite due to the monounsaturated fatty acids they contain, which leads to rapid saturation with this product. Nutritionists advise eating 7-10 olives before meals. This simple nutritional rule leads to weight normalization. In addition, thanks to the same acids, after eating, fat burning processes are launched in the body, which last for 5 hours.

What are the benefits of olives for men, women and children?

The benefits of black olives for men's intimate health have already been proven. Regular consumption of these fruits enhances potency. In addition, men value canned olives for another quality – relieving hangover symptoms. Olives are recommended for women not only as a unique dietary product, but also for the prevention of such a terrible disease as breast cancer. Studies have shown that it is on the Mediterranean coast, where olive fruits are part of the daily diet, that malignant tumors of the mammary glands are less common than in the rest of the world.

What are the benefits of canned olives for children? And there are a lot of advantages here. But it will be much better if, instead of a canned product, olive oil is included in the child’s diet.

People of all ages with digestive tract problems can also eat olives. The low acidity level of olives allows them to be easily digested, and the oils they contain improve the functioning of the stomach. But at the same time, you need to be careful about canned food that is too spicy, since the brine in which the olives are pickled can cause an exacerbation of gastritis and ulcers.

Harm from olives - myth or reality?

Olive fruits collected from the tree and processed, regardless of their ripeness, are always useful. The oil obtained from them is considered one of the most valuable food products. However, there are situations when caution in their use will not hurt.

Of course, if you are allergic to them, which is quite rare, this product becomes prohibited for a person. And if you have a disease such as cholecystitis, olives can cause damage to the body. The thing is that they have a choleretic effect, and although in other conditions this is also a benefit of olives, in the case of this disease it is harmful.

Those who are undergoing a course of treatment that involves the use of retinol should also beware of eating olives. After all, vitamin A is contained in olives, and if it is in excess, various side effects characteristic of hypervitaminosis can occur. In this situation, the benefits and harms of canned olives depend only on the amount eaten, but it is better to avoid such risks.

But the most dangerous product today may be green olives, which are dyed black with ferrous gluconate for marketing purposes. Despite the fact that such canned olives are safe in nutritional terms, the dye itself can cause acute allergic reactions and, if consumed in large quantities, can cause stomach ulcers.

How to recognize fake olives?

Colored olives, which are sold as olives, can be distinguished from the natural product by the following characteristics:

• They are almost always rolled up in tin cans. This also determines the price category of the product. Natural olives are always a little more expensive than green olives.
• The color of the fake fruits is uniformly black, while the berries themselves are the size of grapes. But ripe olives can be the size of a plum, and their color is not so ideal. However, most often the seeds are not removed from such fruits.
• The composition, which is always indicated on the can of fake olives, contains a dye - iron gluconate E-579. A natural canned product may contain citric acid and spiced olive oil in the brine, but not dyes.

By choosing the right olives for the table, you can be confident in the quality of your nutrition. But in any case, olives are an excellent prevention for a whole list of diseases, including diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, atherosclerosis, depression and obesity.

The fruits of the olive tree are loved all over the world. But in our country they have two names. In this regard, the question arises: “What is the difference between black olives and olives?” Do they grow on the same tree or not? It is not difficult to answer these questions. We will reveal all the secrets of the olive tree and its fruits, as well as the benefits of eating them.

Olives or olives

It is mistakenly believed that olives are black fruits and olives are green. In fact, there is only one name in the world - olives. So what is the difference between black olives and olives? Only in the level of fruit ripeness. If harvested before they are fully ripe, they will be green to yellow in color. Black olives are harvested when the fruits have reached full ripeness. There is another type, which is called combined olives. They range in color from pink to brown. They are collected during the ripening period. But why are canned olives green and olives black? Initially, when harvesting, the fruits are sorted. Black olives that have reached full ripeness are used to produce oil. Green olives canned. But since we see two types of product on the shelves, a reasonable question arises: “What is the difference between black olives and black olives?” It all depends on the technological process of conservation. As a result of processing, green olives turn black. This is due to oxidation, which gives the fruit its color, makes it softer and changes its taste. This is the difference between olives and olives.

Beneficial features

The fruits, when raw, have a slightly bitter taste. Therefore, in order for them to acquire the appearance in which we are accustomed to seeing them on our tables, it is necessary to salt them. They are soaked in a saline solution for 5 months, and then aired for a day in the fresh air. Next comes the conservation process. It lasts longer when cooking black olives. Sometimes the fruits are stuffed or spices are added. What is healthier - olives or black olives? There is practically no difference here. The fruits of the olive tree contain proteins, antioxidants, unsaturated fats, phosphorus, iron, potassium and a group of vitamins. Olive oil has a beneficial effect on the entire body. Unlike animal fats, it does not increase cholesterol levels, but strengthens the heart and blood vessels. It reduces the risk of cancer, heart attack and diabetes. Therefore, the cost of high-quality cold-pressed oil is very high. It is used as a salad dressing. In this case, all the benefits of this product are preserved. One spoon of olive oil, drunk on an empty stomach, reduces the effect of alcohol. To produce one liter of this valuable product, 5 kilograms of olives are required. The fruits of the olive tree owe their popularity to the presence of a large number of beneficial properties and rich taste. Even in ancient times they were used in cosmetology. Soap was made from them by mixing with ashes and talc. Today, many cosmetic preparations contain olive extract, which provides all the beneficial properties accumulated by nature. It is no longer possible to imagine modern cooking without this product, which is added to salads, first courses and sauces. These are such healthy and very tasty olives.

People quite often add olives to them when preparing various salads. Some recipes call for green olives, while others call for black olives. Based on this situation, many begin to think about whether it is necessary to buy olives of the exact color indicated in the recipe, because, despite the color differences, they are the same fruit, and accordingly the taste should also be the same. But everything is not so simple, because, despite the similar shape and the same name, these fruits have a lot of differences.

What are black olives?

Black olives are fruits that grow on trees such as olive or olive. These fruits acquire black color only when they become ripe or overripe.

Throughout the world, this fruit is called black olives, but on the territory of the Russian Federation there is a separate name - olives. It is not known for certain when black olives received their second name. It is worth noting that not in all cases black olives are ripe fruits; for faster sale of this product, the olives are “blackened” using oxidation.

Have a soft and rich taste. They are eaten only in canned form, since in their raw form their taste is incredibly bitter.

In their condition they are quite soft and oily. It is from this type of olive that olive oil, known for its beneficial properties, is created. People who suffer from diarrhea are strictly prohibited from consuming black olives as they have some laxative properties.

Features of green olives

Green olives are fruits obtained from trees such as olive or olive. As a rule, these fruits are green in the period of incomplete ripening. Olives are grown only in countries with a mild climate. These olives have pungent and pungent taste. Like black olives, they are eaten only in canned form.

They are quite elastic in their condition. Not used for making olive oil.

What do black and green olives have in common?

Black and green olives have both common elements and differences. It is worth noting that there are much fewer common elements than differences:

1. Both types of olives grow on the same tree.
2. Black and green olives are divided into six groups according to their size - small, medium, large, very large, giant and colossal.
3. Both types of olives contain a large amount of minerals - sodium, iron, potassium, magnesium, iodine, vitamins A and others.
4. Black and green olives have a very bitter taste when raw, so it is recommended to eat them only after preserving them.

It is these similar elements that make people think that black and green olives are interchangeable, and when preparing a dish it is not necessary to buy olives of the same color as indicated in the recipe.

Main differences between black and green olives

Despite the fact that black and green olives are very similar in shape and composition, they have a number of differences:

1. Despite the fact that these types of olives grow on the same tree, there is a difference in their condition. Black olives are already ripe and overripe fruits, green olives are fruits that have not yet reached a state of maturity.
2. Green olives do not have any other name, but black olives in the CIS countries are called “olives.”
3. Black olives have a very mild and quite rich taste, but the taste of green olives is sharper and bitter.
4. Green olives are more elastic and hard, while black olives are soft.
5. Due to their oiliness, black olives are used to make olive oil. Green olives are not suitable for making olive oil, so they are used only for canning.
6. When preparing olives for sale, they are processed in completely different ways. Green olives are soaked in an alkaline solution and then kept in brine for a period of 6 to 12 months. The longer green olives are kept in brine, the less bitter they will be. After soaking in brine, green olives are (most often) pitted and stuffed with pieces of garlic, anchovies, peppers and other products. Black olives, in turn, are also wetted in an alkali-containing solution, but then not kept in brine, but pickled or preserved in oil.
7. Due to differences in taste, different types of olives are used in different dishes. For example, black olives are mainly used for both salads and main dishes. But green olives are most often used as a snack.
8. The difference is in calories. Green olives are lower in calories than black olives.

Having studied all the differences between green and black olives, it will be very difficult to confuse them. It is also worth highlighting that they are not interchangeable. It is not recommended to use green olives for salads and main courses, because they will impart a certain bitterness to the dish, which will not always be beneficial. But if a person wants some kind of snack, then green olives are an ideal option, because they are low in calories, but at the same time satisfying.

Olives and olives - what's the difference? Most people are accustomed to thinking of green fruits as olives, and black ones as olives. Some are sure that the berries grow on different trees, while others believe that the fruits have different degrees of ripeness. We suggest you understand the secrets of growth, taste, harm and benefits of fruits.

Where and how olives grow

Olive is a tree that produces both olives and olives. Moreover, only in Russia the fruits are called olives. Throughout the world, their common name is olives.

The tree grows only up to a meter in height, but it can grow significantly in breadth. If you do not properly care for an olive tree, it very quickly turns into a bush and dies due to insufficient light at the base.

Olive is a very resilient plant that survives in dry conditions and tolerates frosts down to 10 degrees. A distinctive property of wood is its ability to renew itself and reproduce.

When harvested, green fruits are removed by hand and placed in special baskets. To collect ripe berries, which fall off on their own, they use small nets, hanging them under each tree.

The berries on the tree grow poisonous green, then their color changes to grass green, then purple and turns into bright black fruits, which are saturated with a lot of oil.

Olives and olives: difference in chemical composition

Tasty and nutritious fruits have a fibrous structure and are well absorbed by the body.

The composition of olives and olives includes:

• phosphorus;
• calcium;
• B vitamins;
• copper;
• oleic acid;
• magnesium;
• folic acid;
• selenium;
• vitamin E;
• potassium;
• vitamin K;
• zinc;
• choline;
• iron;
• sodium.

The difference between olives and olives in the chemical composition is minimal and is explained by the fact that the berries have a different ripening process.

The calorie content of olives is 145 kcal per 100 grams, while that of olives is 168 kcal.

Olea europaea L.

Greetings dear blog readers! In this article we will examine the topic: Olives, benefits and harm to the body, what is the difference between olives and black olives. Olives have high taste, are nutritious, and are a source of very valuable unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins for the body.

Olive, olive Olea is a genus of evergreen trees and shrubs of the Olive family Oleaceae; more than 30 species of olive are known.

Only one species is of economic and consumer importance - the European olive Olea europeae, cultivated olive or European olive, olive tree, a widely cultivated oil plant.

Members of the genus Olive grow in warm temperate and tropical regions of Southern Europe, Africa, South Asia and Australia.

More than 150 varieties of European Olive grow in the Mediterranean region. It is grown and produced mainly in Spain, Italy, Greece and North African countries. The olive tree has been cultivated since ancient times mainly for the production of olive oil; it is not found in the wild.

In Russia, olive grows on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus in the area from Gelendzhik to Sochi and on the southern coast of Crimea.

European olive

Olives are how olives grow. The European olive Olea europaea is an evergreen shrub 1 - 3 meters high or a fruit tree 3 - 12 meters high, the trunk is covered with gray bark, curved, hollow with age, the branches are knotty and long. The leaves of the olive are small, opposite, almost sessile, lanceolate or oval-oblong, up to 8 cm long, leathery, gray-green above, silvery below, changing within 2 - 3 years.

The flowers are small, 2–4 mm long, fragrant, white, collected in 8–40 paniculate racemes, located in the leaf axils. The fruit is an oval or spherical drupe, 1–3.5 cm long, weighing up to 15 g, dark purple, blue-black or reddish-brown in color when ripe, often with a waxy coating. The olive blossoms in May - July, the fruits ripen in September - December, the tree bears fruit once every two years.

European olive can withstand short-term frosts down to -13 ° C, the plant is drought-resistant. Olive trees absorb large amounts of moisture during the winter rainy season and can retain it in the trunks throughout the many dry summer months.

The olive tree lives and bears fruit for up to 400 - 500 years or more; there are long-living trees in Greece and Israel. An olive tree grows in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, which is about 2000 years old.

The European olive originated from the Greek olive; it is a very ancient crop, known three millennia BC; even then people used its healing and nutritional properties. In the 1st century BC. e. Italy was the largest producer of olive oil; the Greeks brought the European olive here, then they began to grow it from Spain to Syria and further east.

Fresh olive fruits are inedible due to the very bitter taste caused by the presence of oleuropein, a bitter glycoside, in the fruits. The bitterness disappears only after a long soaking of the fruits in water, which is changed daily, or a long soaking in salt brine - for several weeks. After this, the olive fruits become healthy and tasty.

Since ancient times, both ripe and green olives have been pickled and salted; they were also discovered during excavations in Pompeii. Olives became widespread due to the high content of olive oil contained in the fruit, which was pressed from the fresh fruits of the olive tree. Olive oil production is believed to be of the same age as winemaking.

Olive is a symbolically significant plant, associated in antiquity with Athena, the goddess of war. The sacred grove at Olympia was made of olive trees, and images of the gods were carved from olive trees. Olive branches were presented to winners of sports competitions, and soldiers carried wreaths of olive branches in triumphal processions.

And in Ancient Rome, the olive branch was a symbol of the goddess of peace Pax; with olive branches in their hands, messengers prayed for peace and protection.

Nowadays, the olive branch is a symbol of peace, truce; in the Islamic tradition, the olive is the tree of life. The emblem of the World Peace Congress depicts a dove carrying an olive branch. The olive branch is widely used in heraldry and is depicted on the coats of arms of many countries.

Olive oil is made from 90% of the olives, the rest are marinated with or without pits. Olive varieties differ in their use. Oil-rich olives are classified as oilseed varieties and are used to produce olive oil. Olives with less oil content are classified as table olives; canned olives are used for canning in their entirety. There are also combined, universal or canned-oil varieties.

The difference between olives and black olives

In terms of sound and word formation, olives and olives are two different words, but they are simply different names for the fruits of the same olive tree or shrub - European Olive.

What is the difference between olives and olives? In international terminology, there are names: green olives for green unripe fruits of the olive tree and black olives Black olives for ripe fruits of the olive tree. As olives ripen, they can be light green, yellowish, pink, red-brown, purple and almost black in color.

The color and shades of canned olives depend on the degree of ripeness of the fruit and the technology used during harvesting and further processing.

In Russia, olives are usually called green, olive-colored fruits, and black olives are called olives; this division of names exists only in our everyday speech. Abroad, all fruits of the olive tree are called olives; the name of the fruit, olives, is widely used only in Russia.

Black olives, the olives that go on sale and that we can usually buy in the store, can be of two types: olives that have ripened naturally on the olive tree and those that have turned black artificially.

The second type of black olives, Black oxidized olives - black oxidized olives. For their production, unripe green olives are used, which turn black during the process of oxidation - saturation with oxygen in a solution of sodium hydroxide with iron gluconate. The fruits are soaked to quickly remove natural bitterness and coloring, using food additives E524, E579.

Naturally ripened black olives are ripe, softer and always marinated with pits. Canned olives must be labeled according to fruit size, degree of ripeness, and other differences in the production process of these foods.

Canned olives: benefits and harms

Benefits of canned olives

Olives are mainly used to obtain olive oil; canned food is also made from green unripe olive fruits; dry-salted olives are used from black olives - salted using a dry method. Canned olives arrive on our table.

After soaking and removing bitterness, olives are placed in brine using seasonings and spices and stored in containers of up to 10 tons. Then the seeds are knocked out, stuffed and packaged in various glass and metal jars for sale in a retail chain of stores.

Canned olives, stuffed, are used as a delicious snack on the table. Olives are stuffed with paprika, garlic, fish - anchovies, salmon, tuna; shrimp, onions, chili peppers, gherkins, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, almonds, lemon, orange.

Chemical composition of olive fruits and leaves

Fresh ripe olives are rich in fats, proteins, pectins, sugars, vitamins B, C, E, P-active cakhetins, contain salts of potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and other elements, the fruits contain phenol carbonic acids, triperten saponins.

The raw pulp of the fruit contains up to 80% oil, which contains unsaturated fatty acids: oleic - 75%, linoleic - 13%, linolenic - 0.55%, this is the main component of vitamin F in its natural form, they also lead to a decrease in glucose levels in blood.

Fresh olive leaves, as well as extracts and infusions, are used to lower blood pressure in hypertension, as a diuretic, and to normalize breathing.

Vitamins E, F are natural antioxidants, protect the body from premature aging and destruction, participate in the fat metabolism of the skin, and help remove cholesterol from the body.

In canned olives, canned olives, vitamins and minerals are preserved.

To strengthen your health and replenish your body with vitamins contained in olives, it is enough for a person to consume 8 - 10 olives per day.

If the body receives a sufficient amount of vitamins and antioxidants, the immune system is strengthened and the body receives additional protection.

Eating olives reduces the risk of developing atherosclerosis, promotes good digestion, stimulates the production of gastric juice and intestinal motility.

A few olives a day will calm the nervous system, give vigor, lift your spirits, and improve the condition of your skin and hair.

Canned olives, canned olives harm:

• Individual intolerance
• Canned olives contain a lot of salt and spices, so they are contraindicated in large quantities for people with hypertension, heart disease; moderation must be observed in everything.

Watch a video about how olives grow, how they are harvested, and how olive oil is produced in Greece:

Video about olives, black olives and olive oil

Most olives are produced in Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, and Morocco.

Canned black olives are widely used in Mediterranean cuisine and throughout the world. They are consumed both separately with and without seeds, stuffed, and in various salads, when preparing first courses, all kinds of hodgepodges, they are perfect for decorating a festive table.

Strong greenish-yellow olive wood is well polished and used for making furniture, souvenir jewelry, and inlaying expensive wood products.

Dear readers! In a short article Olives - benefits and harm to the body olives Difference between olives and black olives I tried to tell you how olives grow, how canned olives are useful, about their composition and properties.

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