Subject: curing olives

From: [email-masked] (JOHN BARR (HSLC))
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 1994 23:03:56 GMT

Olives have for some time been a staple of my diet.  I could
rhapsodize on simple meals of olives bread cheese and wine.

Occassionally, usually after the 2nd glass of wine, I wonder how
on earth people figured out how to cure them and even more,
why it would occur to anyone to try.

The second question is probably not answerable, but has anyone
read any speculation on the history of this food?  Is there
a precident for curing with salt or lye (I don't have access to
my few books here at work but I seem to remember one or both
is used to make olives edible).

Certainly food had long been preserved in salt or oil (fish is probably
the oldest?) but the case of olives seems different.  It's not
preserving, but curing or making edible.  Maybe it started out 
as an attempt to get oil rather than make food?  Despiration
may have had something to do with it (the first olive eaters may not
have had much to rhapsodize about :)

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

John Barr
Philadelphia, PA
[email-masked]