Olive and Olive Oil

Olive, (OleaEuropa), is supposed to have come originally from Asia. It grows well in Syria, and is now naturalized in the south of France, Italy and Spain. The culture of the olive is one of the principle commercial resources of the countries of southern Europe and the Northern States of Africa. The olive has been cultivated from the earliest times, and is of common mention in the Scriptures. The olive tree is from fifteen to twenty feet or more in height, having the growth of a bushy tree, and is very long lived, some specimens being considered a thousand years old. The flowers are small and white, and the fruit is an oval drupe or plum, of a greenish, whitish or violet color, with a stone in the center, the flesh on the exterior containing the oil. There are many varieties of the olive in cultivation; the long leaved is that which is generally grown in the south of France and Italy, and the broad leaved is that which is mostly grown in Spain. The long leaved variety produces the finest oil, that of the latter being of a strong, rank flavor. The oil is obtained by pressure; when the fruit begins to ripen, it becomes of a wine color and is fit for making the oil. The fruit is gathered, carried to a mill and bruised, the stones being set at such a distance that they do not crush the stone of the olive. The flesh covering the nut and containing the oil in its cells being thus prepared, is put into bags made of rushes, and moderately pressed; and thus is obtained in considerable quantity a greenish, semi-transparent oil of superior excellence which is known as Virgin's oil.
The pulp after the first pressure is moistened with water, and again pressed; this oil though inferior to the first, is still used for table oil. The pulp is again broken in pieces, soaked in water, left to ferment in large cisterns and again pressed. The oil thus obtained is of inferior quality, and is used in making soap and for manufacturing purposes. Olive oil may be said to form the butter and cream of Spain and Italy. It is very nutritious and is extensively used as an article of food. The fruit is prepared as a pickle, by repeatedly steeping them in water to which quick lime has been added, or any alkaline substance, to shorten the operation. They are afterward soaked in pure water, and then taken out and boiled in salt and water, with or without an aromatic. They are preserved by being kept in strong brine, and excluded from the air; they are also preserved in oil. For the year ending June 30, 1875, there were imported into the United States, 173,688 gallons of olive oil, valued at $ 127,240.
Salad Oil or Sweet oil is the name applied to olive oil after being purified by settling, filtering, washing, and by various chemical means. Of this salad oil, there were imported for the same year, 176,119 gallons valued at $ 335,918. Much of the table oil imported from France is adulterated with lard oil obtained from the United States, and reshipped as oil of Lucca or Provence. It is also largely adulterated by the oil from the common peanut, which is grown in Northern Africa for that particular purpose.
Source: What the Grocer Sells Us ©1880