Are all Olive Types Edible?!


Question: Are all Olive Types Edible?
Moved to Portugal & there are many (wild?) trees can they be picked & used; for sure?

Answers:

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

As you may already found out, there is a species of olive tree that is indeed wild, its the original species from where all modern varieties were developed. In portuguese its called zambujeiro. It has small olives that, like the normal ones, can be picked and prepared for eating, it's perfectly safe, although not something usual.

One other thing,DON'T let the olives in brine for a year (!), these people don't know what they are talking about, I'm from Portugal, one of the major producers of olives and olive oil in the world, and when preparing olives, usually changing the water with salt every week, after a month of doing that they are already good to eat. There is also another way of preparing them, just with rough salt and pressed between two wooden boards, this is faster and they taste very different fro the brine ones.



Be careful about assuming olive trees are 'wild' and that you are free to pick from them. Olive trees are a valuable commodity and provide farmers with an income. They are very unlikely to be public property.

You also need to know which olives are which before using them. Some are used only for oil production, others can be eaten - but only after having been soaked in a brine solution for at least a year.



To be honest, raw olives will taste horrible, which is why you will find them in a brine solution that has been sitting for many months.

I haven't heard of raw wild olives being toxic or poisonous; they just taste bad.




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