Mondo Knows Facts
Olives are cured to remove their bitterness
Fresh fruit carries oleuropein, a compound that tastes harsh and astringent An olive straight from the tree is intensely bitter because of oleuropein, a phenolic compound in the flesh. Curing in brine, lye or plain water leaches it out over days or months, and lactic fermentation may follow. Green and black olives come from the same tree at different stages of ripeness. It sits in Mondo's food collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
Food and Agriculture Organization
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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Tags: olive, curing, bitterness
Olives are cured to remove their bitterness: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Fresh fruit carries oleuropein, a compound that tastes harsh and astringent. The figure is taken from Food and Agriculture Organization, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a food fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.