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Consumers are familiar with canned products with black or green fruits of the olive tree. There is a common myth among ordinary uninitiated buyers.
In their opinion, the difference between black olives and green olives is that they are the fruits of different types of trees.
Black olives are a valuable nutritious product. It includes about a hundred active components and vitamins. The pulp also contains fats, proteins, sugars, pectins, ash components, and vegetable lipids. The suppliers of black olives are Greece, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Syria, other countries of the Mediterranean region, and the Middle East.
What Are Black Olives Made Of?
Olives contain 5.6 g of carbohydrates per 100 g of the product. It is about 25% of the total energy from a serving or 22 kcal. Only 100 g of olives contain 1% of protein, fat – 8%, and carbohydrates – 2%.
The fruits of oil trees contain proteins, fats, carbohydrates. We can consider black olives as an energy and plastic material for the human body. The taste of fresh black olives is bitter-tart or bitter, so they are not eaten raw.
Black olives are a source of vegetable fats. With a high-fat content in olives, they are not harmful: more than 90% of the fats of the fruit pulp contain mono – and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
For the normal functioning of the human body, it is significant to eat daily foods rich in such fatty acids. The protein of olives consists of amino acids, many of which are essential, not formed in the human body.
The vitamin and mineral complex include vitamins, potassium, iron, sodium, and essential vegetable fats. The product promotes the elimination of toxins, due to the presence of fiber. Experts recommend using black olives for those who have problems with the cardiovascular system.
Black olives contain the following vitamins and minerals:
- Vitamin E. Plant foods with a high-fat content usually contain large amounts of this powerful antioxidant.
- Black olives are a good source of iron, which is significant for your red blood cells to transport oxygen.
- This essential mineral is often lacking in a typical Western diet. Copper deficiency can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
- Calcium – the most abundant mineral in your body is essential for healthy bones, muscle function, and nerves.
- Most black olives contain a large amount of sodium, as they are packed in brine or saltwater.
Health benefits
- Experts have found pectin in black olives, which cleanses the body of decay elements, and toxic compounds. The product is valuable for smokers and people who live in polluted areas.
- Dietary fiber provides the intestines with healthy microflora. These substances accelerate metabolic processes and stimulate weight loss.
- Black olives contain B-group vitamins. They help to normalize the work of the central nervous system.
- The use of olives leads to compaction of the walls of blood vessels, increasing blood circulation. Experts have proven that black olives prevent varicose veins and the formation of blood clots.
- Black olives can strengthen the protective shell of the body. It will help to increase the body’s resistance to various viruses.
Possible harm
The shiny black color and pulp indicate that the producers treated black olives with chemical additives-sodium hydroxide (E524) and iron gluconate (E579). Olives contain a lot of salt, which retains moisture in the body, increasing the load on the kidneys, heart, and blood vessels.
Some people may have an allergic reaction, manifested by an upset stomach. If olives have E579 in their composition, it means that olives contain iron gluconate.
The main contraindication to use is the presence of stones in the kidneys or bladder. The product has a diuretic property and can provoke the movement of stones. Some people may have individual intolerance to olives. The manifestation is an upset stomach. Also, an allergy can manifest itself to olive oil.
Canned products contain a lot of salt, which is harmful to the body.
How many black olives should I eat a day?
Experts believe that it is optimal to consume 5-6 fruits a day. This amount of olives will improve the metabolism and saturate the body with nutrients.
Due to the high fiber content, black olives can negatively affect weight. Therefore, people who follow a diet should especially carefully monitor the amount of food consumed.
Are canned black olives good for you?
Due to the bitter taste, black olives are usually not eaten fresh. Producers dry them and ferment them. This process removes bitter compounds such as oleuropein, which are most common in unripe olives. Experts found the lowest levels of bitter compounds in ripe olives.
There are some varieties that producers do not need to process. Processing of castings can take from several days to several months. Another significant element in the processing is lactic acid. It acts as a natural preservative that protects olives from harmful bacteria. Canned black olives contain a high content of salt and acetic acid.
Do you have to wash canned olives?
Canned black olives are carefully processed. Manufacturers not only wash them but also carry out heat treatment. Next, the black olives are placed in a concentrated marinade. After such a complex treatment, you do not need to wash the black olives yourself.
Do you serve olives with toothpicks?
Olives are a versatile fruit that is perfect for various snacks, hot dishes, and drinks. It is better to serve green olives with ham, capers, pine nuts. Black olives reveal their taste with cold white meat, salad, and cheese. The worst combination is olives with mayonnaise and fatty foods. At receptions, waiters serve black olives on skewers.
You can make snacks from black olives, tomatoes, and avocado, putting them on a lettuce leaf. A delicious solution will be a combination of black olives and lemon.
No wonder the cooks add black olives and lemon to the hodgepodge. To surprise your guests, prepare a green cocktail: grind green bell pepper, avocado, cucumber, and asparagus in a blender. Pour into glasses, cut the olives lengthwise, and put them on the edges of a glass container.
What cheese goes best with olives?
Various types of cheese are perfectly combined with fruits. In restaurants, waiters often serve canapes with cheese and black olives.
The best option is to use hard cream cheese. For example, you can buy Gouda. This type of cheese is good with apples, grapes, olives, or pears.
Canapes with olives and cheese are the most common snack option. The taste combination of the components will appeal to any gourmet. It is a set of products that is basic for making mini-sandwiches. Based on cheese and olives, you can prepare sweet snacks, combining seemingly incongruous products.
Canapes with ham, cheese, and olives are one of the classic options, the preparation of which takes a minimum of time while obtaining a consistently excellent result. Ingredients:
- ham (170 g)
- hard cheese (195 g)
- fresh parsley, black or green olives (12 pcs.)
Cooking instruction:
- Cut the ham and the cheese in the form of cubes.
- Thread the ham on a skewer, folding it into several layers.
- Then stick a leaf of green parsley and an olive into a piece of cheese.
Green VS black olives
Gourmets in all corners of the planet like green and black olives. So what is the difference between the two types of them?
Many people are sure that olives and olives are the fruits of two different trees. But both the first and the second are collected on the same tree. The color of the berries depends on the time of harvest: white or green olives are early, unripe fruits that are usually plucked in October.
At this time, the berries are very elastic, have light flesh. The size of the olives is already reaching its caliber dictated by the variety, but the shades of the fruit can still vary. So, if you leave the berries on the tree, then in November they will get a beautiful pink shade, and in December they will turn black.
Green olives harvested from the tree in an unripe form are usually tough and may have a bitter taste. Therefore, such fruits come to markets and shops in processed form – salted, pickled, or stuffed. But the ripened fruits, which have a dark color, given to them by nature itself, differ from the first ones with high oil content, so they are soft, have amazing flavors, and, as a rule, are expensive.
Cooks often use them to prepare olive oil, but also sell them in the whole form.
Olives and olives are very rich in vitamins and minerals. They include pectins, proteins, vitamins C, E, B, sugars, P-active catechins, as well as macro and microelements: phosphorus, iron, and potassium salts. Due to the high content of unsaturated fatty acids, olives are very desirable products on our table.
However, do not forget that canned olives contain a large amount of table salt. From this, we can conclude that green olives are a little more useful.
Black olives benefits
Black olives have some beneficial qualities:
- They help to reduce the risk of several types of tumors.
- They ensure the normal functioning of the digestive system, fight constipation.
- Normalize the work of the gallbladder.
- Restore the gastrointestinal mucosa.
- They help to accelerate the healing of the skin affected by burns, cuts, bruises.
- They purify the body.
- Normalize the level of cholesterol.
- They contribute to the preservation of calcium in the bones.
- They reduce the likelihood of angina pectoris, disorders of the cardiovascular system.
- They calm the nervous system.
- They support a good mood, energy, cheerfulness.
Are black olives dyed?
During processing, producers put ripe black olives in a barrel with salt, put the barrel on its side, and roll it from time to time to drain the bitter brine.
Black mature olives (olives), unlike immature green ones, are difficult to process before preservation. After industrial processing with alkali and soaking in salt brine, the pulp of mature fruits swells and turns into porridge. Producers of food olives are cunning with the consumer and, for green olives to look ripe, they are oxidized (saturated) with oxygen.
Black olives VS kalamata
Kalamata and black olives are similar. It is worth understanding that Kalamata olives are ripe olives from Greece, and black olives are any fully ripe variety of olives. They differ in all respects: taste, color, size, and method of processing.
Manufacturers process kalamata with brine and vinegar. After processing, both types of olives are very salty. Main differences:
- The color of kalamata olives is brown or purple. The color of even a fully ripe fruit does not change to black. Kalamata olives have a more pointed brush. It gives them an elongated almond-shaped shape.
- Black olives are softer than kalamata. It is due to the way olives are processed. To taste, black olives are softer, saltier, and have an earthy taste. They are best combined with mayonnaise, potatoes, and pickles. Kalamata olives always have pits inside that are difficult to remove. They are denser. It has a sharp taste, which many people find unusual.
- Another difference is the processing method. Black olives are treated with a solution of lye, which removes oleuropein. It is a bitter substance that can be found in raw olives. The lye draws out the bitterness from the black olives. After such processing, manufacturers place the product in brine. Kalamata olives are processed by producers like green olives, with brine. It also helps to remove a significant amount of oleuropein. Then the kalamata should be washed and placed in a new brine. Kalamata olives are a fermented product. To enhance the taste, they need exposure to bacteria.
Summary
Black olives are a nutritious and delicious product. It has some healing properties, goes well with many products. Using olives, you can make a variety of snacks for the festive table. The main thing to remember is that any canned product is concentrated. Black olives are salty and saturated, you can not eat them in large quantities.