Episode 96: Olives

We finally cover olives and the long, long history of olives and olive trees throughout the world. We also go over how they are processed to pull off the very bitter taste from a compound called oleuropin. We finally help out our Food Fight listener with a nasty work break room. By the way, what's your favorite olive?

Let's taco 'bout it!

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Ashton

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Let's taco 'bout it!

• Sharon and Ike smoked a brisket (flat and the point) for a total of 18 hours. They used their ThermoWorks Thermapen MK4 (have you heard the episode on Thermometry with Chef Martin Earl? You can hear it here!) Plus, they were able to make burnt ends--best part!
• Winter finally made baby back ribs in her 6 qt. Instant Pot using this recipe from Amy and Jacky. Make sure to baste it with BBQ sauce (we used Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce) and broil it in the oven to finish it off.

Photo courtesy of James Carol Lee

• This episode will be Part 1 about olives and olive oil. Look out for the episode on olive oil.
• There are native, invasive, non-native, and naturalized plants. Olive trees are naturalized plants in so many parts of the world.
• There is an olive tree in Brioni (Brijuni) still producing fruit, which is used for olive oil.
• There are protected olive trees called Bidni in Malta and dated to be 2000 years old.
• Greece is the #1 consumer of olive oil, while Spain is the #1 producer of olive oil.
• The Spaniard Franciscans brought olive trees to the California coasts at these mission gardens.
• Olives, unprocessed, are quite bitter because of the compound oleuropin. Though it's bitter, this compound oleuropin has many good properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, according to this scientific article.
• Olives can be processed many different ways: water-curing, brine-curing, salt-curing, lye-curing, and sun-curing.

Photo courtesy of Mariana Medvedeva

• Black olives, such as the Mission olives, are plucked from the tree green, but are then pumped with oxygen to change them to the black shiny color.
• There are some basic olives you should know (outside the black olives): Kalamata, Castelvetrano, and Nicoise.
• Pimento-stuffed olives are the green olive with a pimento (sweet red pepper). The Sadrym company in Spain introduced an olive stuffing machine in 1962.
• Our Food Fight listener is not loving how messy her break room has become, so we try to figure out how to not be totally passive aggressive. Passiveaggresivenotes.com is entertaining, by the way!

Run Time: 55 minutes

Sponsors: Our podcast is brought to you today by our awesome and food-loving sponsor, IKEA.

Glad Midsommar!

Our second sponsor is the Draper Utah IKEA (67 West IKEA Way, Draper, Ut 84020). IKEA is having their special celebration: Swedish Midsummer Smorgasbord on June 15, 2018 with seatings at 4:00 pm and 6:30 pm. (We'll be at 6:30 pm seating in Draper with T-shirts to giveaway!).

There will be drinks, crayfish, desserts, and lots of traditional Swedish food. There will even be a kids activity, where you can dance and make a midsummer wreath. The dancing will help you work up an appetite for all that delicious Swedish food!

Ask a Restaurant co-worker for more details and to purchase your tickets. Seating is limited. IKEAFamily members get special pricing, so sign up in store or on the IKEA store app!

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