Rediscovering Calabria’s mystical white olives

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/white-olives

by Thevet • 4 years ago

69 8 4 years ago

atlasobscura.com

donatj• 4 years ago

As an olive lover I read this whole article just trying to imagine what they taste like.

brianprovost• 4 years ago

Interesting, sounds like the oil is transparent and "spicy":

But while Calabrians venerated the white olive, they rarely consumed it. Rotella has uncovered very few past or present instances of the oil or olives being used as a part of local cuisine, besides accounts from farmers of frying the olives and eating them as a frugal, simple snack while working. The oil from white olives is transparent and, according to Rotella, was generally considered too spicy and unusual for the Calabrian palate.

dendrite9• 4 years ago

I'm curious as well.

You might be interested in this Cooking Issues episode with Nick Coleman from Grove and Vine discussing olive oils. They discuss fruite noir, an oil made from slightly fermented olives and it sounds fascinating to try. I'd like to find some to try it soon.

https://shows.acast.com/cooking-issues-with-dave-arnold/epis... https://cronotempvscollectors.com/fruite-noir-the-fruitiness... https://groveandvine.com/

iHateStylo• 4 years ago

Often fruits that are identical vary by taste a lot while fruits of alternative color don't taste different "at all", especially if blind-tested. I don't expect this to be any different from other local olives.

teruakohatu• 4 years ago

From the article:

The oil from white olives is transparent and, according to Rotella, was generally considered too spicy and unusual for the Calabrian palate.

Semaphor2• 4 years ago

But that does not hold for black and green olives, which taste very different. Not to mention, TFA has

The oil from white olives […] was generally considered too spicy and unusual for the Calabrian palate.

Rediscovering Calabria’s mystical white olives

Related Stories