In Focus: The Lucques Olive
Among French table olives, the Lucques is the one connoisseurs whisper about. Grown mainly in the Languedoc, it’s a bright green, curved olive shaped like a parrot’s beak, with a sweet, buttery flesh that tastes of fresh hazelnut and avocado. Here’s why it’s worth seeking out.
A table olive, first and last
The Lucques is grown for eating, not for oil. Its distinctive crescent shape and vivid green colour make it instantly recognisable, and it carries a protected designation tied to the Hérault in southern France. Picked green and lightly cured, it keeps a firm but tender flesh with very little bitterness — one reason newcomers to olives often love it straightaway. The flavour is famously gentle and nutty, more like a buttery vegetable than the briny punch some people expect from an olive. It’s a seasonal pleasure, best in autumn soon after harvest.
How to enjoy it
Serve Lucques simply: drained, perhaps with a little of their own oil, good bread and a glass of crisp white or rosé. Their mild, fresh taste pairs beautifully with soft cheeses, charcuterie or a plain aperitif spread where a harsh olive would dominate. Because they’re lightly cured and not heavily salted, eat them within a reasonable time and keep them cold. They’re not cheap — the hand-harvest and short season see to that — but for a green table olive that wins over olive sceptics, few do it more gracefully.
If someone tells you they don’t like olives, a bowl of Lucques is your best rebuttal — sweet, buttery and nothing like the sharp black olives that put them off. Buy them fresh in autumn, keep them chilled, and serve them plain so their hazelnut character comes through. They reward simplicity.
Drawn from Languedoc table-olive tradition.