Ask a Dietitian

As seen on BCTV Noon News

The olive is a small, oily fruit that contains a pit. It’s grown for both its fruit and its oil in parts of the southern United States, Latin America and the Mediterranean. There are many olive varieties which can vary both in size and flavour. Fresh olives are bitter and the final flavour depends largely on its ripeness at harvest as well as the processing it receives. Unripe olives are green, whereas ripe olives may be either green or black. Olive processing may include soaking in a lye solution, fermenting in brine, removing pits, or stuffing with foods such as pimientos, almonds, onions, etc. Olives picked in a riper form contain more oil and are a deeper color.  Black olives start off green and then are cured with lye and oxygenated. Tree ripened olives become a dark colour naturally.

Packaging and Storage

Olives can not be eaten right off the tree; they require special processing to reduce their bitter taste.  Most olives are used for olive oil but the rest are brine or salt-cured and can be found packaged in olive oil, brine or vinegar. Niçoise and Kalamata olives are two of the more common imported ripe olives. Dry-cured olives are packed in salt, which removes moisture and creates drier, wrinkled olives. These olives are often lightly coated with olive oil or packed with dried herbs. Olives are available bottled, canned and in bulk year-round in a variety of forms including whole (pitted/with pit), sliced and chopped. Unopened canned/bottled olives can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 years. Once opened, they can be refrigerated in their own liquid (in a non-reactive container) for a few weeks.

Nutrition

Aside from water, olives are mainly comprised of monounsaturated fatty acids – a type of heart healthy fat.  In fact, approximately 80% of an olive’s calories are from fat and 75% of this fat is from oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat.  However, since olives are also low in calories, they can easily be part of a healthy diet. Five large olives are just 25 calories and 2 grams of fat.  1 cup of olives contains 154 kcal and is a good source of vitamin E, an excellent antioxidant.  Since olives are usually cured and packaged in a brine solution, they contribute significant amounts of sodium to the diet.  Olives also contain polyphenols like hydroxytyrosol and flavonoids which are potent antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties.

Uses in foods

Olives can be added to salads and pasta sauces or made into tapenade -a delicious olive spread for bread and crackers.  Add them to a pizza or serve them on an appetizer platter.  They can also be used in tasty main courses such as Spanish Chicken with Prunes and Olives (page 165 from The 80 – 20 Cookbook; Eating for Energy Without Deprivation by Diana Steele and Patricia Chuey).    

Adapted from www.foodtv.com and the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference

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