Olives101.com

Aside from taste and color, they are from the same tree. The only difference is the ripeness — green are picked when they are immature, and black olives stay on longer. Unopened cans of olives have a shelf life of three to four years if stored on your pantry shelf. Once a can has been […]

Olives appear in one of the earliest cookbooks ever discovered, a 2000-year-old text by a Roman named Apicius. Olives were so revered in Biblical times that it is said that Moses granted olive growers an exemption from military service. Traditionally, olive oil was the oil burned in Hanukkah lamps. The earliest Olympic flame was a […]

When a recipe calls for pitted olives, pit them yourself for more intense olive flavor. Brine enters the cavity of pre-pitted olives, detracting from the essential flavor. To pit, smash the olive with the side of a chef knife. The pit is then easily removed. [Source]

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Kagoshima University has discovered a four-volume agricultural book that was printed in Leipzig, Germany, in the late 18th century. The 1,500-page opus–a copy of a 10th century Byzantine book–is written in Greek and Latin, and was found in the state-run university’s library storeroom in mid-July when librarians were inspecting old documents to create a database.