🫒 Table olives

Table olives are olive fruits that have had their natural bitterness removed and been made ready to eat. Fresh olives are bitter because of oleuropein, so the bitterness is taken out with lye, by soaking in brine or by fermentation. The olives are then preserved in brine, in dry salt, in a modified atmosphere, or by pasteurisation or sterilisation. Varieties chosen for the table have large fruit, tender flesh and a stone that comes away easily.

The International Olive Council (IOC) standard divides table olives by ripeness into green, colour-changing and black. So green and black olives are often the same variety picked at different times. By processing, there are lye-treated, natural, dried and black olives darkened by oxidation. The three most common methods, Spanish (Sevillian) style, Californian black and Greek-style naturally black, account for about 80% of world output.

The standard also describes styles: whole, cracked, slit, pitted, halves, slices, stuffed with pepper, almond, anchovy or capers, as well as olive paste. By quality there are three trade categories: “Extra” (Fancy), “first” (Choice, Select) and “second” (Standard).

In the 2024/25 season the world produced about 3.3 million t of table olives; the largest producers were Turkey (750,000 t), Egypt (600,000) and Spain (533,000). Well-known table varieties include Gordal Sevillana, Manzanilla Sevillana, Kalamon, Konservolia, Gemlik and Aggizi Shami.

What to check on the jar. The size grade on the label is the number of fruits per kilogram: 60/70 means very large, 351/380 small. Compare by the kilogram of drained weight, which the standard requires to be stated. Evenly black, soft olives with ferrous gluconate (E579) are Californian-style, darkened by oxidation. 100 g of green olives contains 1,560 mg of sodium, while the WHO advises adults to stay under 2,000 mg a day. Keep an opened jar in the fridge, under brine.