Olives

Olives since there are over a hundred varieties of olive, the fruit varies far more than we suspect in the north. The largest are the ‘queen’ olives grown in Spain, the tiniest the little black olives from Nice. Olives and their oil are so basic to Mediterranean eating that we can define the northern limit of the Mediterranean area by the northern limit of fruiting olive trees. Olives are picked at the green stage in the autumn, and then right through to December or even January, when they have ripened to black. They are pressed for oil in November and the result varies widely. Go for oils from small producers, and choose them carefully according to your taste. Words to look for on the label are ‘cold pressed’, ‘vierge’, ‘extra vergine’. I suspect that the high reputation of Italians for frying food came from their use of olive oil: these days cheaper groundnut and other oils are often used, and olive oil kept for cold food, and perhaps for frying fish.