• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Unsettling truth behind how black olives we eat from cans are actually made

Home> Lifestyle> Food & Drink

Updated 15:26 9 May 2024 GMT+1Published 15:27 9 May 2024 GMT+1

Unsettling truth behind how black olives we eat from cans are actually made

Eating just seven olives a day can be good for you, but there are some downsides too

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

Olives are seriously horrible to eat - that's if they are fresh.

If you went and grabbed a ripe olive off a sun-warmed tree, the bitterness would dry up your mouth instantly.

When first discovered, the only reason why we continued to stick it out with the olive tree is because of olive oil.

Advert

After removing the stone, you're left with a fleshy outer layer, which contains about 30 percent oil, which has since been used in the eastern Mediterranean, where people have been grinding olives to make olive oil for food for the last 8,000 years or so.

Eating just seven olives a day can be good for you, but there are some downsides too (Getty Stock Images)
Eating just seven olives a day can be good for you, but there are some downsides too (Getty Stock Images)

Even the original Olympic torch at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics burned olive oil.

Now, according to food writer Harold McGee, it was the Romans who were responsible for coming up with the idea of using an effective technique to put olives on the dinner table.

People realised that the olive could be debittered by soaking them in repeated changes of water, which took many months.

Advert

This technique was later improved by fermenting the olives in brine, which was slightly quicker than water.

But the Romans found that supplementing the brine with lye from wood ashes (sodium hydroxide) was a much quicker alternative, and took hours instead of days.

With regards to olive colour, there are over 2,000 variants of mostly green and black.

However, the difference is that green olives are picked green and are then unripened, then cured.

These are often referred to as Spanish olives.

Advert

Whereas tree-ripened olives, which are left to themselves, turn purple.

The black olives you eat in cans aren't black. (Getty Stock Images)
The black olives you eat in cans aren't black. (Getty Stock Images)

Yet according to Olive Oil Source, black olives, which are labeled as 'ripe' on cans are actually not black.

Instead they are cured in an alkaline solution, treated with oxygen and an iron compound, which turns their skins into a shiny black.

The website states: "'Ripe Black Olives' in a can are actually olives which are neither black nor ripe when they are picked.

Advert

"They are picked very green and then cured using dilute brine and lye solutions.

"Lye treatments cause natural phenolic compounds in the olives to oxidise to a black colour.

"Calcium chloride salts, iron salts (ferrous gluconate) and compressed air bubbled through the curing vats help develop the black colour.

"Home curing of olives without these added salts will result in mottled and brownish olives which taste just as good but are not as attractive."

Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images

Topics: Food And Drink, Weird

Anish Vij
Anish Vij

Anish is a Journalist at LADbible Group and is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2025. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

X

@Anish_Vij

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

16 hours ago
a day ago
2 days ago
  • 16 hours ago

    Teacher sacked for being on OnlyFans hits back at Susanna Reid's 'cheap' comment on GMB

    Teacher turned OnlyFans creator Kirsty Buchan has hit back at the comment

    Lifestyle
  • a day ago

    Couple sold house and entire lives to live on cruise ship because it was cheaper than their old life

    Angelyn and Richard Burk have spent their retirement on board several cruise ships after their belongings 'went up in flames'

    Lifestyle
  • a day ago

    Former pilot explains all reasons why there are so many plane crashes right now following Air India tragedy

    An ex-commercial pilot has highlighted the possible main causes behind the growing number of aviation tragedies

    Lifestyle
  • 2 days ago

    Anyone with an air fryer given warning about cooking specific foods in them

    The prized kitchen possession could suffer serious damage

    Lifestyle
  • People just discovering how meal deal sandwiches are made vow they'll 'never eat them again'
  • Simulation shows what happens when you eat superfood that left man with a blocked food pipe
  • Residents who eat dish that can give you liver cancer with one bite give strange response to doctor's warning
  • Scientists find 'proof' that disproves famous story from the Bible