Do different kinds of olives come from different kinds of trees?
June 27, 2020 11:37 AM   Subscribe

Can all of the olives on this page be made from the same tree? Or are different kinds of olive trees needed to make different kinds of olives? (Or are all the differences made from harvesting or curing, etc.?)
posted by andoatnp to Food & Drink (6 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
There is one species of olive tree, Olea europaea, but dozens of cultivars. Think of it like dogs; there’s one species, but member of that species have been bred to emphasize different characteristics.
posted by chrisulonic at 11:57 AM on June 27, 2020 [2 favorites]


Most of those are from different types of trees. The "green ripe" and "black ripe" varieties could be the same kind though. Whether a processed olive is black or green depends on how it's prepared. They may also be the same as the "Spanish stuffed" and "Spanish whole" varieties, though I can't be sure. But aside from those, they are definitely different cultivars.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:59 AM on June 27, 2020


Think of them like different varieties of apples or chilli peppers. Technically they come from the same[-ish] plants, but not really. And of course, their fruits are quite different.
posted by Neekee at 2:13 PM on June 27, 2020


There are more than dozens of cultivars, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of highly localized varieties of olive trees, with countless more lost to time. Olives were among the very first domesticated tree crops, domesticated somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000 years ago. The "olive flavors" listed on that page are but a tiny slice of what is possible to do with an olive.
posted by rockindata at 2:14 PM on June 27, 2020


Yes there are lots of cultivars but there are also lots of preparations. Pick one cultivar, stuff it with different stuff or cure it differently and it will be considered a different type of olive.

Many traditional cultivars are also matched with traditional preparations, so often both aspects change when you compare a few different types you see at the grocer.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:06 PM on June 27, 2020 [1 favorite]


Many of those are varieties of olive -Kalamata, Spanish, Nicoise, Sicilian, Greek, Cerignola, at least.

Now I am idly wondering if, like apples, one can grow several or even many cultivars on the same tree by grafting.
posted by theora55 at 10:33 AM on June 28, 2020


« Older Hot weather drinks that make you happy -...   |   How to find someone to do small but urgent... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.