Coquillo olives
La petite olive noire de Murcie — un vrai cousin de la Niçoise, et l’honnête remplaçante de l’olive de Nice.
The Coquillo is a small black olive grown along the Mediterranean coast of Murcia, in south-eastern Spain. It is a close cousin of the Cailletier — the true Niçoise — which is why it has become the standard “Niçoise-style” olive on tables far from Nice. Small, dark, gently brine-cured, sweet and mild: a thoroughly good olive that asks only to be called by its real name.
- Origin
- Murcia · Spain
- Type
- Table olive
- Colour
- Black
- Size
- Small
- Flavour
- Mild, sweet, gentle
- Sold as
- “Niçoise-style”
- Best for
- Salads, eating whole
The honest stand-in
Because true French Niçoise is scarce and dear, the Coquillo does much of its work around the world — in salads, on boards, anywhere a small sweet black olive is wanted. And there is nothing wrong with that. The two are real cousins ; a Coquillo in your salade niçoise is a fair and tasty substitution.
The Coquillo is honest right up until someone hides it. Sold as “Niçoise-style Coquillo,” it is exactly what it claims. Sold as “authentic French Niçoise” at a French price, it is a swindle — not because the olive is bad, but because the label lies. The whole tale is in the great olive name swap.