Olives in Glass Houses
It happened to me again! I started wondering why it is that black ripe olives are virtually always sold in cans, while green olives are virtually always sold in clear glass jars?! Of course, I had to do some research!
It came as a surprise to me that California is the only state in the US that produces olives, supplying 80% of the olives consumed in the US. However, because the cost structure for producing olive oil in the US is too high to be competitive with imports, 99% of the olive oil consumed in the US is imported from countries such as Italy, Spain, Greece, Morocco and Turkey.
The answer to the question of why black olives are sold in cans and green olives are sold in jars lies in how olives are processed. Black ripe olives, the kind we buy in cans and eat on pizza and salads, are actually not ripe at all! They are picked green, soaked in a lye solution to remove bitter tasting compounds, exposed to oxygen to turn the olives black, and then packed in cans with brine and steam cooked. Green ripe olives (NOT the olives we buy in jars and put in martinis!), are processed in cans like black olives except they are not exposed to oxygen and so retain their green color. Believe it or not, these green olives taste exactly like black olives. Do a blind taste test and see for your self!
The olives sold in jars, stuffed with pimentos and used in martinis are typically Spanish green olives. Like black and green ripe olives, these olives are picked green and soaked in lye to remove the bitter flavors. Then, the olives are fermented for months in a strong brine that essentially pickles the olives. The finished olives are packaged in jars, and are pasteurized but NOT cooked before shipping.
Mediterranean olives, such as Kalamata olives from Greece, are cured by soaking the olives in water, followed by salt water brining for many months. The olives are not cooked and are typically sold in jars.
Dry cured ripe olives are shriveled, dark olives that are cured in salt, typically soaked in oil and sold as a specialty item in the deli. They are really good, and are typically found in plastic containers, pouches, or jars.
No type of olive MUST be packaged in either a can or jar. For black (and green) ripened olives, its convenient and economical to package, cook, and ship the olives in a can. The olives are uniformly colored so there is no need to spend money on a jar to provide aesthetic appeal. Spanish green olives, on the other hand, are often stuffed with pimentos, garlic, anchovies, almonds, etc. and need to catch the attention of shoppers. Since Spanish green olives and brined Mediterranean varieties are not cooked, the convenience of a temperature tolerant can is unimportant, and transparent jars have become the norm.
So there you go!
– Chris