Olives are among the most popular ingredients of the Mediterranean cuisine.You can often find them on vegetarian pizza, in a healthy Greek salad or in delicious tapas. Also to fish dishes and Geschmortem they fit perfectly. They are up to four centimeters long, oblong or round, black or green - and from the Mediterranean kitchen indispensable. In addition, they are one of the oldest foods in the world.
Green and black olives
Green and black olives are not distinguished by their variety or origin, but by their degree of ripeness. Green olives are harvested earlier, but the black fruits are fully mature.
Green olives have a fruity, sour-spicy taste. Besides, they are stronger than their black sisters. These taste savory and slightly bitter. However, raw olives are not to be enjoyed because of their bitter substances and are therefore usually consumed in oil or brine.
Incidentally, the question of whether the tasty products of the olive tree to fruits or vegetables, can be answered very easily. Since olives grow on long-lived trees, they are considered fruit.
Olives are healthy nutrient packages
Olives are real nutrient bombs. They contain a lot of vitamins, minerals and valuable phytonutrients. The fruits are rich in:
the minerals and trace elements phosphorus , calcium, sodium , iron , magnesium, zinc
vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, E, folic acid and provitamin A (beta-carotene)
phytochemicals such as polyphenols and sterols
Nutritional value of olives
The green, immature picked drupes have less calories and a lower content of important nutrients than black olives. However, for both maturity periods, they are low in carbohydrates , only about 3 grams per 100 grams for green olives and 4.9 grams for black.
Black olives have up to 45 grams of fat per 100 grams and are thus more rich than the green fruits, which only have about 13.5 grams of fat. Nevertheless, their occasional consumption is recommended because the fatty acids of olives are among the monounsaturated fatty acids considered to be healthy.
By putting the olives in oil also increases their calorie content . Depending on how the olives are pickled, green olives produce about 130 kilocalories (kcal), blacks even 350 kilocalories or more.