The olive in all its states

Asia Minor for origin

This fruit of the olive tree is not only an appetizer offered to the apéritif, it is under various forms in the Mediterranean cooking.
Let's start with a little history will allow you to know better what we call the oliva in Provençal.

Indeed, the olive is a part of the cultural heritage of the countries of the Mediterranean Sea.
In the antiquity, its importance is such as we speak about civilization of the olive tree.

From the family of Oleaceae, this tree with branches and with a tortuous trunk would come from Asia Minor where from it would have propagated, afterward, in all the Mediterranean Basin. From the IVth millennium before J-C, we cultivated the olive tree on the island of Crete and, from approximately the year 2300, it spread widely in Egypt. From the glorious period of Greece to the Middle Ages, the olive tree is symbol of tribute. The crown of the winners of Olympics is made not with laurel but with branches of olive tree. The olive tree, the olive and the olive oil are part of a cultural tradition as civilization, symbol of peace, sign of the sacramental rites of the Jewish and Christian religions.

Romain implanted olive groves in Spain, in Algeria and in Tunisia, so facilitating the distribution of this tree in all the Mediterranean countries in particular the southeast of France.

From the "Picholine" to the "Grossane"

Today, these symbols eased but the olive remains one of the spearheads of the Provençal heritage.
On markets, we can find olives with green, purple or black skin. The green olives and the black olives do not correspond to two different varieties, as many people believe it, but to two stages of ripening of the fruit.

In Provence, the varieties of olives for the table are called "Picholine", "Lucques", "Amellau" (or Amellaou), "Belgentéroise", "de Salon" or "Salonenque" for the recipes of green olives, "Tanche" or "olive de Nyons", "Cailletier" or "olive de Nice", "Grossane" for the recipes of black olives.

Before meeting on our tables, olives pass by a stage which will seem to you of the most logical but which takes on a major importance for the quality of the fruit : the picking which begins in November and continues until January.
To collect the olives which will produce the oil, we use the long pole or the reed which allow to bring down ripe fruits on the ground. These methods are not very recommended because they alter the quality of the fruit.
For the olives of table, we prefer the handmade picking, very boring, not enough profitable and consequently less and less practised.
The natural flavour of the olive is characterized by its bitterness, more or less strong according to the degree of maturity. Even the ripe fruit falling spontaneously of the tree is still bitter.
Before any preparation or seasoning, the olive is subjected to a treatment with salt, with wooden ash, with lively lime, with soda or still with heat or with cold intended to make it lose its bitterness. Then a treatment for the preservation is made. The olive can finally be seasoned.
Among the most famous preparations with olives we can quote the tapenade which would be an invention from Marseille and naturally the olive oil.

The recipes of the tapenade are numerous, and, as the legends, we do not know exactly which is the real recipe of the Mediterranean caviar. Ingredients common to all the declensions of this typical dish are the black olives, the anchovies, the olive oil and the capers.

The olive oil

The olive oil is extracted from some pulp and from the almond of the stone. To obtain this invaluable element of the Provençal cooking, 4 mechanical operations are necessary.
First of all, olives are, by means of a millstone, reduced to pulp. This last one is placed on baskets then pressed by means of a press. After a few days of settling, the oil of surface is separated from the "margine*". The obtained oil is called virgin oil or of first pressure.

The oil of second pressure arises from some residue of the first pressing.
It is necessary to count 5 kg of olives for 1 liter of virgin oil.
To be able to appreciate the olive oil in its just value, it is important to choose the oil of first pressure. Best is to go directly to the oil mill. Today still, we can carry our olives to the mill to get back then the oil.

The benefactions of the olive oil

Indispensable in the Mediterranean cooking, married to the garlic, to the basil or to the mixed herbs, the olive oil possesses incomparable gastronomic qualities. It is sun in the plate and on the papillae that heightens, by its more or less fruity flavour, dishes.

Besides its gustative promises, the olive oil is also recognized for its medicinal and nourishing properties.
Rich in vitamins, this soft and perfumed liqueur, exempt from any acidity, so smooth as light in the digestion is a hepatic stimulant and its use in friction on gums prevents the loosening of teeth. The is also beneficial against the ageing of the brain and of the nervous system.
It is also used for the manufacturing of the real "savon de Marseille" because of its sweetness for the skin.

Grandmother's small recipe to conclude our escapade; before sitting down to eat, take a soupspoon of olive oil, this will avoid you a difficult digestion after a copious meal.

*Margine = Water contained in the cells of olives, which takes out press at the same time as the oil, and at the same time as we separate by settling