OLIVES.
The pale green leaves and the gray bark of the olive trees blend with the ashy soil that lies on the slopes of Vesuvius and 'Etna. It is amazing that people have courage to plant again the groves that an eruption of the smouldering volcano may at any moment destroy. It is a wonderful tree that will grow in soil made chiefly of ashes. The olive does this, and grows to huge size and astonishing age, if the fates permit.
Native of Asia Minor, the olive is probably the oldest of all cultivated fruit trees. It is one of the earliest mentioned in the Bible and other ancient writings. The oil-producing plants were not so numerous as now, and oil was a staple product, with many uses.
The Mediterranean countries cultivated the olive tree when the Aryan peoples migrated west ward. North Africa, Australia, and now the great Southwest in our own country are olive growing regions that ship the oil and the fruit to parts of the world too cold for the trees to grow.
France and Spain and Italy produce much of the oil sent to America, but no better oil is made than that which California sends to market. We need a few years more to learn this important fact, for we still cling to the idea that things "imported" are better than home products. Slowly we are getting over this foolish notion.
When the olives drop from a branch that is shaken, it is time to pick them, even though they be hard and green, if pickled green olives are to be made. If they are to be pickled ripe, or pressed for oil, they are left until ripe, but not so long that they turn black and soften. If picked too early, the oil tastes bitter; if too late, it is rancid. So the picking must be carefully timed. Then, it must be done by hand, and the fruit cleaned of any spoiled or shrivelled specimens.
The idea of eating fresh fruits off of the trees will do in the case of oranges and grapefruit in California, but olives, green or ripe, are bitter and utterly distasteful in the natural state.
To pickle green olives, the workers soak them in weak lye to take out the bitter taste, then rinse and soak in brine, with certain aromatic flavorings.
The better method is to pickle the fruit ripe, but this process is far more difficult. The same proc esses are necessary, but they take longer time, and the softening and discoloration of the fruit must be guarded against. The nutty flavor of the ripe olive, and its oily content, make it one of the most nutritious and agreeable of foods. The green olive is an appetizer, and that is about all one can claim for it.
The extracting of oil from olives is simple. Any one with a cider press can do it. In this way families supply themselves with oil for salads and for cooking, in various olive-growing communities.
But for commercial oil production, mills are estab- 1 lished that handle the yield of entire sections, thus making the crop more profitable for all con cerned.
The olives are dried slightly in the sun, or by artificial heat, to make handling easier. Then they are crushed, pits and flesh, to break the cells that contain the oil. Next, the "pomace" is formed into blocks a yard square and three inches thick, called "cheeses," between folds of thick linen crash. Ten cheeses, separated by frames made of wooden slats, are piled one upon another, and a gentle pressure starts the oil to flowing. This is the best. It is called "virgin oil," and generally goes in with the next grade, making the most expensive quality sold.
Before the third pressing, the cakes are broken up in water, cold or hot. The last pressing gets only inferior oil, used for lighting or soap-making.
From the presses the oil flows into settling vats. It is dark in color, and contains impurities that form a sediment. From one vat to another the oil is drawn, until, at the end of four or five months, it is clear yellow, and ready for sealing in bottles or tins.
The Padres brought the olive trees from Spain into Mexico, and California. The "Mission" olive, planted around the old Franciscan missions, is the variety best known and best liked in Cali fornia. Wherever the climate is hot and the air dry, olives grow on irrigated land. But a humid climate will not do. So the olive is not a fruit of the Tropics.