In the early preparation of olives in order to remove the bitterness,
they were soaked in water, which was renewed from time to time,
sometimes hot water being used. The olives, after draining, were then
held in brine. The green olives as well as the mature and black were
used.
The Romans exercised the greatest care in their preparation, and
introduced refinements, by not only removing the bitterness, but by
causing them to acquire various flavors through infusion in solutions
containing aromatic substances.
One of their methods for the preparation of green olives consisted in
adding roasted salt to the olives after a preliminary soaking in hot
water, then covering them with grape must, boiled wine, or honey water,
and to this solution were added fennel, mint, and lentiscus seed. Fennel
was used as a tampon to keep the olives immersed. A simpler method was
to use vinegar with the brine. Sometimes the olives were beaten to
facilitate the action, but this caused discoloration, which was avoided
by making cuts in them. The brine was replaced by oil as a preserving
liquid. Another method was to put the olives with the aromatics in the
brine at the start, then they were removed, crushed lightly, and put in
a mixture of oil, vinegar, and honey, to which were added leek, celery,
mint, and sometimes rue. The rue was supposed to be most efficacious in
bringing out the natural flavor, and was most prized. The mature olives
were first put in brine for 30 to 40 days, then put in the preserving
liquid with the aromatics. Olives prepared in the ways indicated were
known as “Colymbades”.
A form of conserve made by the ancients, and to which the name
“Epityrum” was given, consisted in taking green, mature, or black fruit,
though, as in the former, the green were preferred, and drying them in
the shade, after which they were put in baskets, and crushed in a press.
The crushed fruit was then put in vessels, sprinkled with salt, and had
mixed with it lentiscus seed and minced leaves of fennel and rue, and
was finally covered with oil.
Many recipes have been left by the ancients, the preparations varying as
to time, strength of solutions, mixtures of spices, etc. To the recipes
of Palladius (1518-1580) is owed the knowledge that the Romans were
cognizant of and used lye solutions, though this is supposed to be a
modern practise. In this particular recipe sifted ashes are indicated as
one of the ingredients, and it is supposed that this recipe, changed in
detail, furnished the basis for present day methods. The use of wood
ashes was introduced into France by an Italian refugee named Picholini,
who settled in Provence, devoting himself to the preparation and sale of
preserved olives. The olives preserved according to his process are
called “olives a la Picholine”. Previous to his time the preparation in
southern France consisted of crushing the olives lightly, immersing in
clear water, which was renewed each day for about nine days, then
preserving in brine. This latter process is still employed for the
olives in which appearance is not an asset. For the more carefully
prepared ones, the method was to pick by hand when the olives had
attained full development, then they were carefully sorted, and immersed
in lye, the duration in the lye depending on the size of the fruit, and
the concentration of the lye. They were removed from the lye when the
flesh was penetrated to, and readily detached from, the stone.
There are many variations of the lye treatment. In the olive countries
the preparation is done in the homes as well as in factories, and it is
in the homes, naturally, that the greatest variations occur. Lime is
often used with the ashes, one formula consisting of the olives mixed
with a paste of wood ashes and freshly slaked lime. In the ordinary
methods, however, a solution is made of the sifted ashes and lime,
sometimes sodium carbonate taking the place of the ashes. In the
ordinary factory preparations both ashes and lime are omitted, and
either caustic soda or potash used. When removed from the lye, the
olives are put in clear water, changed night and morning for three or
four days, then put in brine.
The early accounts of olive preparation show quite conclusively that
great variation in strength of the caustic solution was inevitable, but
fortunately the tendency to err was on the weaker side. It was not until
the modern introduction of caustic preparations of soda and potash that
standardization of the process was possible. Even with this possibility
the practise remains largely empirical and is based upon the experience
of the operator. Some still adhere to the use of weak solutions, taking
considerable time to act upon the olive, whereas others use relatively
strong solutions so as to hasten the process.
The brine used has been subject to quite as marked variation as the lye.
A weak brine has been used in order to encourage the natural
fermentation of the fruit, which corresponds to the fermentation in our
cucumber pickles. The other extreme is represented by the use of a very
strong brine which practically inhibited all fermentative change and
this same brine was filtered and used a succeeding season. Every
gradation between these extremes has been in common use. As might be
expected, more or less of the fruit softened and underwent changes which
at present would be regarded as decomposition or rotting rather than as
clean, normal fermentation. The esthetic side of olive preparation has
not always been of the highest order, though, as in the case of many
other foods, very great improvement has been wrought in recent years.
Even with the later methods the use of aromatic substances has not been
abandoned, and many of these are used, such as bay leaves, cloves,
coriander, cumin, mint, orange skin, fennel, etc., the amounts and
combinations varying greatly. Sometimes the aromatics are first
extracted, the solution concentrated, and a quantity of this solution
added to the brine, or they are boiled in the brine at the start, then
removed, and when the brine is cooled, it is ready for use.
In Spain the ripe olives are not treated ordinarily with lye, but by the
slower process of soaking in water. The black olives, gathered late in
the year, are cured in a salt brine to which black pepper is added.
After the bitterness is removed, they are preserved in oil.
A process used at present for ripe olives which is very simple but
effective, is to mix fine salt with them after they have been cleaned
and sorted. They are stirred twice a day, and through the osmotic action
of the salt, a dark-colored juice is exuded which contains, among other
constituents, the substance causing the bitterness. To hasten the action
the olives are pierced with a needle. The Spaniards vary this method by
adding aromatics, as wild marjoram, thyme, fennel seed, anise seed,
garlic, laurel leaves, etc., at the same time as the salt. The special
spice mixtures are held as trade secrets by the manufacturers.
When the bitterness has been removed, the olives are washed, dried
lightly, and placed in casks or jars until required. Before being served
the olives are soaked in oil.
One style of Greek packing of ripe olives is of special excellence. Sour
wine is added to the pickle to accentuate the flavor and the product is
packed in oil. The olives are plump, tender, and brilliant, and possess
a very rich flavor.
In parts of Southern Europe certain kinds of olives are left on the
trees to become very ripe, and are then dried in the sun without any
preparation. These are only used locally as they are lacking in the fine
flavor of the prepared olive.
In the preparation of the olive, both green and ripe, during all these
centuries, there had been no attempt at sterilization. The olive was
preserved by partial drying, by the action of salt, and by its
spontaneous fermentation in pickle in which certain desirable forms of
organisms had the ascendency. With the good fruit thus prepared, there
must have been considerable which was spoiled, and yet no illness is
known to have resulted.
Though olives have figured so largely in the alimentation of southern
Europe, the oil particularly being so important and general a food, the
people of northern Europe have not esteemed either to an important
extent. With the crude methods in vogue for transporting the oil, and
the lack of understanding as to its nature, it is supposed that their
apathetic attitude was due to its being received in poor condition.
In England also, though so close to the olive growing districts, the
olive has not been used to any considerable extent, judging from its
absence from menus and from their cookery. In examining old cookery
books it was surprising to find no mention of olives. In Russel’s “Boke
of Nurture” and Mrs. Napier’s “Noble Boke off Cookry” the manuscripts
dating from the 15th century, there is no mention of olives, though
there are condiments and spices from foreign countries used in sauces
and other preparations. Neither is there any mention of olives in “The
Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Opened” written in the 17th century, though
Digby had traveled much and lived on the continent. The earliest mention
in 17 cookery books, published in the 17th and 18th centuries is the
following, published in 1745, and which is really a translation of a
French work by L. Lemery, physician to the King, and member of the Royal
Academy. It is interesting in showing the many virtues attributed to
olives.
=“OF OLIVES”=
“You ought to chuse such as are large, pulpy, well preserv’d and
tasted, and those that have been cultivated in hot Countries.
They create an Appetite, fortify the Stomach, dissolve and expell
the viscous and gross Humours fix’d there, repress Reachings, and
are a little nourishing.
They produce no ill Effects, unless they are us’d to excess.
They contain much Oil, Phlegm, and essential Salt.
They agree in cold Weather with any Sort of Age and Constitution,
provided they are good, and well preserv’d.”
=Remarks=
“_Olives_ are oblong or oval and juicy Fruits, larger or smaller,
according to the Country they grow in: Care must be taken to gather
them before they are ripe, and then they have a harsh bitter Taste not
to be endured, because their salts are clogg’d and swallow’d up by the
earthy and gross Parts.
_Olives_ are preserv’d with Water and Salt, and then they become
pleasing to the Taste; the Reason is, because the Liquor of Brine causes
a little Fermentation in the _Olives_, by the Help thereof the Salts
free themselves by degrees of the earthy Parts that do retain them; and
afterwards with more Lightness and Delicacy prick the nervous Fibres of
the Tongue.
“The Brine produces another good Effect in the _Olives_; for by its
saline Parts it stops up the Pores of this Fruit, and prevents the Air
from ent’ring too much into it, and thereby cause a considerable
Fermentation therein, which destroys the Fruit, and soon rots them.
_Olives_ well preserv’d create an Appetite, by gently pricking the Sides
of the Stomach, not only by their acid Salts, but also by those
communicated to them by the Pickle. They also bind up and fortify the
Stomach by their earthy Parts, which swallow up the over-abounding
Moistures that relax the Fibres of that Part.
The _Picholines_ are _Olives_ cut in several Places, and then steep’d in
Pickle; they are sooner in a Condition to be eaten than others, because
that by the Help of the Incision made in them, the Brine or Pickle is
sooner and more effectually communicated to their whole Substance.
Oil of _Olives_ is much us’d in Ailments; it’s of a qualifying,
mollifying, anodine, dissolving and detersive Nature, good for the
Cholic and Bloody-flux, and is prepar’d in this Manner.
They get together in _November_ or _December_, a great Quantity of full
ripe _Olives_, and lay them by for a Time in some Corner of the House,
where they are heated, and thereby become purified of their watry
Moisture; then they grind them in a Mill, and put them into Rush or Palm
Frails, plac’d on the Top of one another Pressways, and the first Oil
that comes from them, is called _Virgin’s Oil_.
They sprinkle the _Olives_ with warm water, and by pressing them a-new,
and still the more, there comes a good Oil from them.
This done, they stir the _Olives_ again, and sprinkle them with hot
Water, from which, thus order’d, there proceeds another Oil full of
Dregs, and not so good as the rest.
These Oils are easily separated from the Water, because they swim a top,
but they find a Kind of Lees to the Bottom, which the Ancients called
_Amurca_.
Those _Olives_ of which you design to make Oil, must ripen ’till they
are even rotten; and the Reason is, because the sulphurous Parts in them
have had Time to disengage themselves from those gross Principles, which
before fix’d them, which we know by the sweetish and oily Taste that
then they had. They also let them ferment for some time before they
press them, that so those sulphurous Parts may free themselves, and be
more fully separated from the watry and saline Parts, with which they
were united in the Fruits. Here it is to be observ’d that you cannot
extract a Drop of Oil from green olives, but only a viscous Juice,
because their oily Principles are very strictly united with their other
Principles.
The Leaves of the _Olive-Tree_ are astringent, and fit for to stop the
Bleeding of the Nose, and Looseness.
There are certain wild _Olive-Trees_ that grow near the Red-Sea, from
which there sweats out a Gum that stops Blood, and cures Wounds.
The _Olive-Tree_ in Latin called _Olea_, comes from the _Greek_ Word
_elaia_ which also signifies the same Thing.”
* * * * *
A later work, “The Lady’s Assistant” published in 1778, gives a much
better idea of how little they were used at that time in England.