Should you swap butter or margarine for olive oil? Mostly yes — but let's be honest about what each of the three everyday fats actually is, and where each one still wins.
Read the story →Olive oil and lemon juice make a great dressing but not a liver cleanse. What the morning shot really does, the gallstone flush risk,…
October 4, 2026Olive oil for ear wax softens a plug so it can work its way out. The NHS routine, how long it takes, and when to skip the drops and see…
October 1, 2026A fruitless olive tree gives you the silver canopy without the staining fruit drop. Which varieties are truly fruitless, and how to grow one well.
September 28, 2026Straight off the tree, an olive is inedible — bitter enough to make you wince. Curing is how we fix that, and you can do it at home…
Kalamata are ripened and brine-cured. Tinned black olives are picked green and oxidised. Why one tastes of wine and the other of almost nothing.
An olive that is delicious from the jar can wreck a dish, because heat does three things to it: it drives out salt, it softens the flesh, and…
In a village in Crete stands an olive tree up to 4,000 years old — still making olives. A timeline of everything it has outlived, and the one…
Pan-fried lamb with a warm garlic, lemon and Kalamata olive sauce — a fast, bright, Mediterranean plate that turns four…
Laboratory work suggests the polyphenols in extra virgin olive oil can fight Helicobacter pylori, the stomach bug behind most ulcers.…
Olive oil is one of the most adulterated foods on earth, so laboratories have built a whole toolkit to catch…
Green and black barely scratch the surface. A field guide to the olive bar — and the trade secret behind…
Maslinic acid, a waxy compound in olive skin and pomace, has drawn real laboratory interest — but the honest story…
Iran is one of the newer olive nations, with a young-tree nursery trade and export ambitions — here is how…
Its beauty, its origins, its history: the varieties, the fields, the pictures.
“What does lavender have to do with olives? Well, I’m glad you asked. I just love both, and to me they’re the perfect match.”
