24 May
By benjamin Robertson,
A growing Chinese appetite for foreign foods has prompted the growth in popularity of the quintessential Middle Eastern ingredient – the olive.
Initially served in bars on the end of a toothpick as just an amusing accessory to a famous cocktail, the olive is slowly moving out of China’s posh watering holes and onto the country’s dinner plates.
Deemed too bitter by many first time tasters, import and consumption figures suggest middle class China cannot get enough of the Mediterranean fruit and its healthy oil.
Helping lead this culinary revolution is Karim Aljaadi. A 50-something Palestinian, Aljaadi has spent the past two decades promoting Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine across China.
Based out of a five table cafe in Beijing’s Sanlitun entertainment district, he has built up a modest trading company supplying China’s growing Arab community with locally made specialty produce such as cheese and yogurt that taste just like home.
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24 May
Il existe 7 AOC huile d’olive, 4 AOC olives de table et 1 AOC pâte d’olive à ce jour en France :
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24 May
A staple of Mediterranean cuisines, olives are most often eaten out of hand, though cooks also use them to flavor everything from pizzas to martinis. Raw olives must be cured before they can be eaten, and the curing medium–usually lye, brine, or salt–affects their flavor and texture. So too does the olive’s degree of ripeness when it’s picked. Green olives are picked while unripe, which makes them denser and more bitter than brown or black olives, which stay on the tree until fully ripened. Olives become bitter if they’re cooked too long, so always add them to hot dishes at the last minute. Opened cans or jars of olives should be refrigerated, but some olives can be stored at room temperature if they’re submerged in brine or olive oil.
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24 May
Marinated Picholine Olives can be served warm or at room temperature, but the flavor is brighter and the texture more tender when they’re warm.
Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 24 1/2 hr (includes marinating)
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24 May
The Olive (Olea europaea) is a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean region, from Syria and the maritime parts of Asia Minor and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea. Its use as a major agricultural product in preclassical Greece led to its wider distribution throughout the western Mediterranean. Olive trees show a marked preference for calcareous soils, flourishing best on limestone slopes and crags, and coastal climate conditions.
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24 May
The history of the olive tree can be traced back to Biblical times; when it was grown in the Mediterranean area which continues today. Everyone is familiar with the story of the dove sent out by Noah which returned with an olive branch. The olive was also important to the Greeks and the Romans, who made it a part of their mythologies to celebrate the use of its oil as an essential food and fuel for lamps. Continue Reading »
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