Olives

Legs · #1 09-14-2005, 10:00 PM

mmmmmm.. olives

I like all different kinds, but I just had some kickass 'spicy jumbo green' ones that were amazing.

livius drusus · #2 09-14-2005, 10:10 PM

Giant green cracked are my favorite, although I do love those itty bitty black ones from the French and Italian riviera areas.

How were yours spicy? Was the oil spiced or were they stuffed with spicy goodness?

Legs · #3 09-14-2005, 10:12 PM

They still had pits, not stuffed but they were in a spicy oil - in fact my lips are still stinging!

wei yau · #4 09-14-2005, 10:12 PM

I like these big green ones stuffed with garlic. My daughter has also developed an appreciation for them. I forget their names, but there's also a black variant of these olives. The black ones are buttery where the green ones are piquant.

Damnit, I'm gonna have to visit the olive bar at Wegman's and find out the name. Might as well buy some while I'm there.

Poor me.

ETA: Cerignola olives

viscousmemories · #5 09-14-2005, 10:12 PM

Kalamata for me. :hungry:

Legs · #6 09-14-2005, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

Kalamata for me. :hungry:

mmmm... with feta and red onions...

JoeP · #7 09-14-2005, 10:22 PM

Calamata (or kalamata, however they're packed)

Lauri D · #8 09-14-2005, 10:44 PM

Kalamatas rule.

I love pretty much all olives. For a while I went through this phase of being obsessed - OBSESSED, I tell you! - with these green olives stuffed with blue cheese. They were served to me in a dirty martini at a restaurant in Southern California - they were so good that after finishing the martini, I somewhat sheepishly told the waiter that I didn't want another martini, but could I have a few more of the olives? :blush:

After that I couldn't find them ANYWHERE, even at the super-gourmet-type groceries and delis in the area - and strangely enough finally stumbled upon them at a gift shop in the middle of *nowhere* on route to Las Vegas.

I probably coulda found them online, but this was some years ago before I was online much.

The obsession has passed but I'd still love to run across them somewhere.

Legs · #9 09-14-2005, 10:53 PM

mmmm olives stuffed with bleu cheese.... mmmm

cappuccino · #10 09-15-2005, 03:54 AM

My favorite olives would have to be spicy little black ones, soaked in olive oil, crushed red peppers, black peppers, and a dash of salt. The best black olives are grown on the slopes of Mt. Etna. The towns of Gardini-Naxos and Taormina have wonderful marinated green olives too, yum. I could eat my way through entire bowls of those olives in a single sitting.

Legs · #11 09-15-2005, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demosthenes

I could eat my way through entire bowls of those olives in a single sitting.

Save some for me! :please:

Leesifer · #12 09-15-2005, 08:29 AM

Yuk! I hate olives, they taste like antiseptic.

Legs · #13 09-15-2005, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leesifer

they taste like antiseptic.

Hmmm.. well I have no idea what antiseptic tastes like, so I guess I can't argue that point with you

livius drusus · #14 09-15-2005, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demosthenes

My favorite olives would have to be spicy little black ones, soaked in olive oil, crushed red peppers, black peppers, and a dash of salt.

The ones that look sort of wrinkly, like they've been in the bathtub too long? I love those.

cappuccino · #15 09-15-2005, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demosthenes

My favorite olives would have to be spicy little black ones, soaked in olive oil, crushed red peppers, black peppers, and a dash of salt.

The ones that look sort of wrinkly, like they've been in the bathtub too long? I love those.

Yep you got it, shrunken and wrinkly black olives...mmmm I'm drooling. I want some right now :teary:

livius drusus · #16 09-15-2005, 03:31 PM

I particularly like those little fellows with a slab of young pecorino and thick slice of multigrain bread. Gotta have something to sop up the leftover spicy oil, donchaknow.

Damn. I want some right now too.

JoeP · #17 09-15-2005, 03:38 PM

Bread. Oh yes. Mmm

livius drusus · #18 09-15-2005, 08:29 PM

Olive lovers, this salad is for you. Make the dressing with those little pruney black spiced olives Demosthenes was talking about and it's so outlandishly good (and thick, thanks to the chopped olives) that you can forget about the whole salad part and just spoon it onto crackers.

cappuccino · #19 09-15-2005, 08:54 PM

That salad recipe looks absolutely delicious. I can't wait to go shopping for the ingredients I need. Thanks for posting the link, I'm so behind on reading all those recipe threads.

livius drusus · #20 09-15-2005, 09:00 PM

It is truly scrumptious, Demosthenes. Best. Salad. Ever. Be sure to post about it after you've made it. :wriggle:

livius drusus · #21 09-22-2005, 05:18 PM

Okay I have to ask. Just what the hell is with sliced, pitted black olives on pizza? If you're going to put olives on pizza there's only one way to do it: three tasty and intact placed in the middle of the pizza after it's been removed from the oven.

Anything else is a mutilation both of the pizza and of the olives, although I should note that those repulsive sliced things are already mutilated beyond recognition.

Here's a tip I learned from my daddy who exported Greek olives and olive oil for a few years: black olives cannot be machine pitted. It's not possible because they're too ripe at that point and pitting machines will simply squish them to death. Any pitted black olives you come across are green olives that have been dyed.

:brooding:

fragment · #22 09-22-2005, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Here's a tip I learned from my daddy who exported Greek olives and olive oil for a few years: black olives cannot be machine pitted. It's not possible because they're too ripe at that point and pitting machines will simply squish them to death. Any pitted black olives you come across are green olives that have been dyed.

That's interesting. It explains why I've always found pitted black olives to be a severe disappointment.

BDS · #23 09-22-2005, 06:52 PM

When I was in Morocco last year, one could go to any market and get a large bag of olives for the equivalent of 25 cents or so. Each olive dealer had 20 or 30 varieties, and you could mix and match. I'd say you got 50 or 100 olives for your quarter, and they were as good as the best gourmet olives you get here in the States -- except that it would cost $8 or so for the same small bag.

RevDahlia · #24 09-22-2005, 08:34 PM

I hated olives for years and years, and then overnight I became an olive freak. I love them all, except those black water-packed ones that little kids like to stick on their fingers. I find that kind bland and sickly. Other than that it's all good. Kalamata, Spanish manzanilla, little wrinkly greasy Nicoise ... yum yum yum.

My local gormy grocery store has the best olive bar in the world. I've happily munched my way through every kind they have, and the habanero-stuffed ones were the only option that I couldn't handle (until I deadened my taste buds with a quantity of grappa.)

cappuccino · #25 09-22-2005, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Here's a tip I learned from my daddy who exported Greek olives and olive oil for a few years: black olives cannot be machine pitted. It's not possible because they're too ripe at that point and pitting machines will simply squish them to death. Any pitted black olives you come across are green olives that have been dyed.

:brooding:

Now that's just evil. I say EVIL! I've never liked those pitted back olives, they taste like somebody put them up to their noses and blew out of them. I used to be an olive hater till recently when like Rev Dahlia, I turned into an olive worshipper overnight. Alas even the pitted olives failed to pass muster with my newly enlightened tongue. Now I know the explanation.

Thanks livius, I must go and spread the truth to my mother and others.