Olive
the name of numerous small trees and shrubs of the tropical Old World. Olives of commerce are the fruit of the European olive raised chiefly in Mediterranean countries. Olives and olive oil have played an important part in the Levant from Biblical times to the present day. The olive oil industry is an old one in Syria. Some of the producing trees are 300 to 500 years old, while others were planted by the Crusaders. There is an orchard in Syria whose history is definitely established by a deed covering 490 trees, which was issued 499 years ago. The trees look old, but they bear fruit abundantly. The Shway-fat grove, south of Beirut, is claimed to be the third largest in the world.
Olives require a warm, dry climate. Although our main supply yet comes from Italy and Spain, southern California has engaged largely in the raising of olives, having no less than 3,000,000 trees. An olive farm twenty-five miles from Los Angeles contains 12,000 acres and has 120,000 trees. It is considered the largest olive orchard in the world. Italy plants perhaps a twelfth of her cultivated land in olive orchards and exports $10,000,000 worth of olives and olive oil yearly. Spain produces quite as much more. Portugal is a heavy producer. Greece has half a million acres in olives; Turkey exports olive oil. The olive is a plum-shaped fruit, green in color. The pulp is hard and grainy, and to a beginner exceedingly disagreeable in taste. Green olives are pickled, and are stuffed sometimes with red pimento for table use.
Olive oil is an important article of food in the countries of the Mediterranean. It is obtained by crushing the fruit. The oil of ripe olives is an excellent article of diet. It is rich in fat and albumen. Added to fruit, bread, and vegetables, it forms a complete diet without meat. In the east it takes the place of cream, meat, butter, sirup, sauce, and gravy. Two tablespoonfuls contain as much nourishment as a pound of beefsteak. The finest oil is put up at Leghorn. The olive harvest lasts from November to May.
Olive wood is of a greenish yellow and takes a fine polish for expensive cabinet work. Crinkly olive root is used for snuff boxes and other ornamental articles. Among the Greeks the olive was sacred to Athene Minerva, as the laurel was sacred to Apollo. Twigs of olive likewise were used to crown victors in the games. The dove, it will be remembered, brought Noah an olive leaf. Gen. viii:11. The Mount of Olives was in the vicinity of Jerusalem on the road to Bethany. An olive branch is the symbol of peace. "To extend the olive branch," is an offer of agreement.
The following account of the olive industry in Italy is adapted from a report made by Consular Agent A. B. Butman in 1908:
The cultivation of the olive is a very important agricultural industry in Italy. It is estimated that fully 2,000,000 acres of land are at the present time devoted to this purpose, while the annual average yield of oil is 75,000,000 gallons. Italy is the largest olive oil producing country. Spain ranks second, and France third. The production of Italian olive oil is largest in the Neapolitan provinces on the island of Sicily, though the quality is much inferior to that of the Tuscan district, which is known as Lucca oil.
The olive tree is of slow growth and long life. It lives from one hundred to one hundred and fifty years. It demands a warm climate, either excessive heat or cold being alike injurious. The lowest temperature which may be borne by the tree is 14 degree F. The best results are obtained in a hilly country with a medium soil, neither too moist nor too rich, and at a moderate elevation. In some portions of Italy one notes the olive trees planted in rows widely separated, with the intervening spaces devoted to vines; but those who have intimate knowledge of olive culture assert that the trees should be grown by themselves. This latter method obtains very generally throughout the district of Tuscany, where the finest quality of oil is produced. The olive groves of this district are usually on terraced hillsides, and the greatest care is given to their husbandry. The trees are pruned every second year and enriched every third year. Pruning is done during the months of February and March, and between April and June the groves are in flower. The fruit begins to ripen during the latter part of November and its harvesting continues from that time on until about the 1st of March--that is, in favorable years, when the crops are large.
The fruit is picked from the tree by hand or gathered from the ground as it ripens and falls. The former method insures a more rapid harvest, and does away with the danger of unsound fruit, which is one reason for inferior oil. Wind and rain storms, during which quantities of olives are thrown to the ground, resulting in bruised and moldy fruit; frosts, and an insect known as the "olive fly" are the principal causes of an unadulterated yet inferior olive oil. If the fruit is unripe, the oil produced will have a greenish tinge and a sharp flavor; if overripe, the color will be pale and the flavor insipid, often slightly rancid. It is estimated that, in a favorable season, the yield of oil for the best variety of olives is about eighteen per cent of their given weight, or about one and one half gallons per tree.
A very simple process used in extracting the oil, is almost the same as that employed for many centuries past. The more important olive growers have their own mills, to which the smaller growers fetch the fruit for pressing, carrying away their oil. There are no large mills or factories for this purpose in Italy.
The olives are taken to the mill immediately after being gathered and are pressed within twenty-four hours. The mills, which are worked by water power or oxen, consist of a mill trough of cut stone cemented externally and the millstone, both of which must be non-absorbent lest a rancid flavor be imparted to the oil. About ten bushels of olives may be pressed at once, the time occupied for this being about one hour. The fruit is crushed entire, both pulp and stones, until reduced to the consistency of paste. This substance is then placed in flat, circular receptacles, a sort of bag made from rushes tied and placed under the press. Cold water is then poured over the bags to faciliate the flow of oil, which passes into a receiving vessel and is skimmed off the water gradually into a second receptacle, where it is allowed to settle before being transferred to the oil store or terracotta jar in which the oil is preserved in the country districts. The oil resulting from the first pressing is known as "virgin oil," and is of course the finest in quality. The second pressing, which must be performed immediately to avoid fermentation, is carried out in practically the same manner, hot water being used for pouring over the paste before pressing. Oil thus extracted, though lacking body, may still be of fair quality. The residue after these two pressings will still contain a certain amount of oil which is fit, however, only for industrial uses. After all the oil possible has been extracted the residue is formed into cakes and used for fuel with satisfactory results.
The oil after being extracted is sold to the merchant, who undertakes the process of filtering. Pure olive oil is not refined, as many are led to believe, but filtered. Even the finest quality, the oil yielded by the first pressing, contains small particles of fruit and a certain amount of water.
The oil is first pumped from the casks in which it is sent by the grower to the merchant into a large receptacle with double bottom through which steam circulates. In this way it is heated and made fluid, for in winter the oil hardens almost to the consistency of butter. It is then pumped into a filtering tank, where the actual process of filtering takes place by passing the oil through several layers of carded cotton wool, which removes any impurities or sediment. The oil, being now perfectly clear, is pumped from the filters through pipes to covered storage tanks. These tanks are constructed of cement and are lined with slate or hard marble. They hold about 10,000 gallons each. Here the oil remains at an equable temperature until wanted for shipment. At time of shipment the oil, having been pumped from the storage tanks to tanks in the shipping room, is drawn off and put into barrels, cans, or bottles and packed.
This process is simple, but care must be taken in its execution, as olive oil is easily tainted, being susceptible to any odor. Cleanliness of all appliances is a necessity. There is no such thing as pure olive oil obtained by a refining process; pure olive oil of the finest quality may be obtained, only by the first pressing of the fruit; such fruit must be ripe, sound, and free from the effects of frost or the ravages of the olive fly, and, lastly, all presses and filtering utensils must be clean. While it is a fact that an inferior grade of olive oil may, by being treated with chemicals, lose some of its objectionable odor and flavor, it is nevertheless but inferior oil, though labeled as "refined." The natural and "fine" product owes its agreeable flavor to the sound, ripe fruit from which it is produced. An olive oil of inferior quality will deteriorate rapidly if kept for any length of time. No olive oils improve with age, though fine oil will, it is claimed, retain its freshness and good flavor for two years. Bottled oil is naturally much more certain to retain its good qualities through course of time than that exported in cans and casks. Olive oil is adulterated by the addition of cotton oil.