Are you partial to olives? I must admit that I am not. A nice olive tapenade served with warm bread is one thing but olives served by themselves or as the main flavor is just not to my taste. Many people do, though, enjoy olives. That is why this Cooking Tip is dedicated to that topic.

An olive is a stone fruit (the pit is the stone) similar to mangos, apricots, peaches and cherries. Olives can be served as “table” olives or made into olive oil. Almost 90% of the olives harvested are turned into olive oil. For a more in-depth look at olive oil, especially Extra Virgin Olive Oil, see this prior Tip.

Although any olive can be used for either purpose, producers do have ones they prefer for each end product. For table olives, harvesters like to use a larger olive that has a lower oil content. If destined for oil, the preference is for smaller fruit with a higher oil content

All olives start out green and turn darker as they ripen. Semi-ripe ones turn red to brown although the interior is still green. Fully ripe olives will be purple or dark brown through to the pit.

Some people will tell you that you cannot eat fresh olives as they are toxic. This is not accurate. The reason almost no one eats fresh olives is because of their extremely bitter flavor. This is due to a compound called oleuropein. It acts as a natural defense against predators. To make the olives palatable, they must undergo a curing process that dampens the bitterness by drawing out the oleuropein and converting the natural sugars to lactic acid.

Curing methods

• Brine-curing – with this common method, fully ripened olives are gradually fermented in brine. The brine acts to intensify the fruit’s natural flavors. The process can take up to a year.
• Water-curing – this method involves soaking, rinsing and repeating multiple times. Since it is a very slow process, it is not done very often. Some producers will start with a water brine and then move to a seasoned brine.
• Dry-curing – this method involves packing the olives in salt for a month or longer followed by removing the salt. Salt pulls the moisture and bitterness out. Sometimes the olives get bathed in olive oil to keep them juicy and plump. They have a deeply concentrated flavor and a wrinkly appearance.
• Lye-curing – touted as both time and cost-effective, this method immerses the olives in an alkaline lye solution. Opponents of this method feel it can be detrimental to the flavor with a chemical aftertaste and a bland olive.
• Sun/air curing – this is a rarely done process that involves fermenting the olives on the branch or, once picked, in the sunshine.

As you may have seen at your supermarket, there are multiple types of olives. I will discuss a few of the more common ones.

Castelvetrano (aka Nocellara del Belice olives

• Origin – this olive is grown primarily in a Sicilian town of the same name.
• Color – naturally bright green. Look at the label to make sure there are no color additives.
• Flavor – mild & buttery. They are said to be a good choice for those who do not like olives.
• Texture – meaty
• Process – harvested young and cured in lightly salted water.
• Storage – as they will oxidize and brown quickly, keep them submerged in the brine until ready to use.
• Uses – snacking or as part of a cheese board. They pair well with cheeses such as feta, goat cheese, Pecorino or Asiago. They work well as marinated olives as they hold their shape. They are also a great choice for tapenades.

Kalamata

• Origin – Greece
• Color – deep purple
• Flavor – rich, earthy and complex
• Texture – meaty
• Process – brine-cured. In Greece, they are often found packed in olive oil, but in the US they are usually found in a vinegary brine.
• Uses – one of the best choices for a tapenade or caponata. Experts recommend buying refrigerated ones as they will be fresher. Jarred ones can be mushy and bland.

Manzanilla

• Origin – Spain and California
• Color – green
• Flavor – this type can be a bit bitter, sour and grassy.
• Texture – meaty
• Process – brine-cured
• Uses – these are typically found stuffed with pimento and in a glass jar.

Mission

• Origin – these are unique to the US. They were originally cultivated in California on Jesuit and Franciscan missions. Thus, their name.
• Color – black
• Flavor – most tasters describe them as watery, mushy and metallic.
• Process – they are usually found canned.

Niçoise

• Origin – from Nice, France
• Color – ranges from purple-brown to brown-black, depending on ripeness.
• Flavor – assertive with a lingering bitterness.
• Uses – Niçoise salads

Gaeta

• Origin – Italy
• Color – purplish brown
• Flavor – rich, intense, described as having a “coffee-like depth”. Also described as bitter, buttery, fruity and citrusy.
• Process – these olives remain on the tree until they are ripe and develop a bold, earthy flavor. They can be either dry-cured with salt, which turns them black and wrinkled, or brine-cured and then dipped in olive oil.
• Uses – because of their bold flavor, they are well suited to slow-cooked stews and braises.

Picholine

• Origin – France, Morrocco and California
• Color – green with a torpedo shape
• Flavor – clean, briny, almost buttery
• Process – harvested while still green to maintain their crisp, creamy texture and brine-cured.
• Uses – eat as is or on an antipasto platter.

Alfonso

• Origin – native to Chile
• Color – purple color from the red wine or red wine vinegar in which it is cured. They are also large in size.
• Flavor – sour, plum- or wine-like, tangy
• Texture – soft but meaty
• Process – brine-cured in red wine or red wine vinegar.
• Uses – eating as a snack.

Gordal

• Origin – Seville, Spain
• Color – green and one of the largest such varieties. So, also known as “queen” or “colossal”.
• Flavor – light, fruity, peppery
• Texture – dense and firm
• Uses – snacking, especially with mild cheeses.

Ligurian (aka Taggiasca)

• Origin – from the NW coast of Italy
• Color – both green and black
• Flavor – fruity, sweet, smoky
• Texture – tough skin but relatively soft flesh.
• Uses – snack or pasta (e.g., puttanesca). Also yields high-quality oil. Is a good substitute for niçoise olives.

Cerignola

• Origin – Puglia, Italy
• Color – green, black or maroon
• Flavor – slightly sweet, vegetal, fruity and very buttery
• Texture – firm
• Process – picked when barely ripe and brine-cured with a small amount of vinegar.
• Uses – good for snacking.

Nyon

• Origin – France
• Color – black
• Flavor – earthy, salty, intense coffee-like bitterness
• Texture – meaty
• Process – dry salt cured then soaked in olive oil or brine to rehydrate.

Oil-Cured

• Origin – this is not a particular type of olive but it is an olive that is dry-brined and coated with olive oil to rehydrate. They are sold as “oil-cured” Moroccan or Provencal olives.
• Taste – mild, floral
• Process – dry-cured and then softened in oil for several months. The Provencal style is herb-coated and the Moroccan style is saltier.
• Uses – the Provencal style is for eating out of hand and the Moroccan is used in cooking.

Olives may be sold pitted or unpitted. The pitted olives might be saltier and mushier. They might also lack the complex, fruity flavors of unpitted. The reason is that once pitted, the olives are returned to the brine for packing. The brine can then penetrate the interior of the olive, turning it mushy as well as increasing the absorption of salt. Therefore, if you have the choice, you may want to consider unpitted olives.

To pit them, you can use a hand-held olive pitter. This causes the least amount of damage to the olive. If you do not have one, place the olive on a work surface. Hold the flat of the knife over the olive and press firmly with your hand to loosen the meat from the pit. You can then remove the pit with your fingers.

You may have noticed that black olives tend to be sold in cans whereas the green ones are in bottles. According to a website called Olive Knowledge, there is a reason for this. The processing of these olives involves placing them in a diluted lye solution followed by rinsing. Lye helps the oxidation process to penetrate down to the pits. After the lye solution, they are placed in a brine to set the color. Following this, they are canned with some of the brine. The canning process is done with a high heat that glass would not tolerate. Also, the cans are airtight for safety. Finally, cans are cheaper than glass.

When buying olives, look for ones that are firm, not mushy and without bruises. Look for those dressed in brine to keep them moist and flavorful.

Store your olives in the refrigerator in the liquid they came in and covered loosely with plastic wrap for up to 10 days. If there is no brine, you can make your own by adding one teaspoon of salt to 1½ cups of water.

Most smaller supermarkets will probably only carry canned or jarred olives. However, larger stores may have a larger olive variety from which to choose. That makes it easier to find just what you like and want to use for your particular purpose. I hope you have that option!

All too often we hear about people getting ill (sometimes seriously) from one food or another. Sometimes it is from surprising sources such as the 2018 recall of Kellogg’s Honey Smack cereal over concern of Salmonella infections. Now, there may be good reasons for not eating this cereal, such as 16 grams of sugar per ¾ cup serving, but I suspect that most of us do not expect to get a food-borne illness from it. How to keep ourselves safe from these illnesses is the subject of this Cooking Tip.

Often, the foods that make people ill are those we should be trying to eat more because of their health benefits such as fresh fruit & veggies. So, what can you do to prevent these illnesses from hitting you or your family?

It is good to be aware of food recalls or concerns. Our news outlets are pretty good about informing us. Another thing you can do is to sign up for food recalls from the USDA. Here is a link to do that. Be aware, though, that you will get notifications almost every day. Not all of them have to do with possible pathogens. Some of them are due to undeclared allergens or other sources of concern. The large majority of the notifications will not affect you at all.

Just as important, though, is to make sure that the fruits/veggies that you buy are clean before consuming them. The USDA recommends washing your produce under cold running tap water to remove any dirt & reduce bacteria. If there is a firm surface, such as on apples or potatoes, the surface can be scrubbed with a brush. Do not use detergent or soap as these are not approved for use on foods. You could ingest residues from soap or detergent absorbed on the produce. Note that the recommendation is just for plain water. You don’t need any special type of produce spray. If you really want to do more than just plain water, make a mixture of 1 part distilled white vinegar to 3 parts water. This is really not necessary, though.

This same advice applies to fruits/veggies that you are going to peel. You do not want to transfer pathogens from the exterior to the interior of the item with your peeler. So, wash before you peel.

There is a bit of debate over washing pre-washed, bagged greens. Although some recommend washing these items, many others say you are more likely to introduce contamination from your kitchen by doing so. Also, any pathogens left on pre-washed greens are probably so tightly adhered that washing them again in your kitchen is not going to do anything. This is the opinion of the USDA.

It is usually best to wait to wash produce right before consuming it. This is especially true of fragile items such as berries. Following this, proper storage is also important.

Finally, should you be buying organic? As we have seen with some recent recalls, organic produce is not immune from contamination. You may have other reasons for wanting to buy/consume organic produce, but it has been shown that modern methods of cleaning conventional produce result in a product just as clean as organic. For more information on organic produce, see this Tip.

The risk of not eating fresh produce and therefore lacking very important and much needed nutrients is higher than the risk of food-borne illness. Using common sense and the above guidelines should help encourage you to eat fresh and not be scared off by stories of contamination.

In the last Cooking Tip, I discussed what GMO Foods are as well as the health and safety claims made about them. There are critics, though, and in this Cooking Tip, I will discuss those. I strongly encourage you to read both Tips so you can make your own decision about whether or not to eat these foods.

One of the main organizations concerned with GMO foods in our diets is the Non-GMO Project. They are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that says it is “committed to building and preserving the non-GMO food supply for all.” Their mission is to offer a “rigorous product verification and trustworthy education that empowers people to care for themselves, the planet, and future generations.”

Their concern is that this biotechnology creates combinations of plant, animal, bacteria and virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods. They feel that we do not have enough “credible, independent and long term studies” to back up the claims of the FDA and others that GMO foods are safe and healthy.

They point to a statement by the Center for Food Safety entitled, Are GMOs safe? No consensus in the science, scientists say in peer-reviewed statement. They also encourage consumers to read the 2014 publication GMO Myths and Truths. There is also an updated and condensed version in book form.

They feel that the governmental Food Disclosure Standard discussed in my last Tip is lacking because of the exemptions to the labeling standard. Other concerns are the negative consequences on farmers and the environment. You can read more about these here.

In answer to the question of whether GMOs are safe, the Non-GMO Project states, “In the absence of credible, independent, long-term feeding studies, the safety of GMOs is unknown.”

The Project has what they term the “High Risk List,” a list of crops and inputs (defined as “any material or substance that is used in the production of a wholesale or retail consumer good that they feel have a high chance of being genetically modified.”) The following list are those considered high risk as well as being able to be tested for the presence of GMOs.

• Alfalfa
• Canola
• Corn (except popcorn)
• Cotton
• Papaya
• Soy
• Sugar beet
• Zucchini and yellow summer squash

They have other high-risk crops that they consider “non-testable” as they are not necessarily detectable by current tests.

• Canola
• Potato
• Soy
• Apple
• Eggplant
• Pineapple

Food derived from animals are also considered high-risk due to the prevalence of GMOs in animal feed. These include the following.

• Meat
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Wool
• Hides
• Honey
• Seafood
• Livestock and poultry feed
• Bee forage and feed
• Fish and other aquatic animal feed
• Any other materials or substances originating from animals

The Project raises the question of what they say is a double standard when looking at studies that claim no health or safety concerns from eating GMO foods and those that raise questions. The former studies are usually industry-sponsored while the latter are considered independent. Researchers raising questions are considered to be “GMO deniers” and are met with a “kill the messenger” response.

They have their own non-GMO symbol, which is given to products that go through their verification process. They also have a section on their website where you can search for verified products.

Although the Non-GMO Project doesn’t outline any specific health risk concerns, these are the ones to which most critics point.

• Toxicity – the concern is that genetically engineered foods are unstable, with a theoretical possibility of creating toxins.
• Allergic reactions – it is felt that this process can transfer allergens from foods that people know they are allergic to other foods that they think are safe. This was actually found when a gene from a Brazil nut was engineered into soybeans, causing an allergic reaction in those with a nut allergy. This product was abandoned and no further reports of allergic reactions have been made. Also noted is the possibility of creating proteins with the possibility of new allergic responses.
• Antibiotic resistance – critics warn that this bioengineering could create disease-causing bacteria that might be resistant to antibiotics. Some GMOs are engineered for antibiotic resistance and in theory, those genes could be transferred to humans who might develop the same resistance.
• Immunosuppression – this condition was supposedly found in an animal study looking at the effects on rats of the consumption of genetically engineered potatoes.
• Cancer – concern is about a genetically engineered growth hormone that is meant to increase milk production in dairy cows. This hormone had been banned by some regulatory bodies in Canada and Europe due to a possible link to some cancers.
• Loss of nutrition – this is a hypothetical concern about a negative impact on nutrient levels in bioengineered foods.

As I said at the beginning, I encourage you to read both this Tip and the prior Tip that outlines the opinion that GMO foods are safe and healthy. Only by educating yourself will you be able to decide what is best for you and your family. I will admit that if you decide to go GMO-free, it may be more difficult than you think given the increasing use of this technology and its presence in our food supply.

Do you have an opinion over the debate of GMO foods in our diets? Are those opinions based on research or media reports? In the next two Cooking Tips, I want to explore this subject so we can all make an informed decision. This Tip will explain what GMO means, why the process is done and the viewpoint that GMOs foods are safe and healthy to eat. In the next Tip, I will outline some of concerns about this trend.

GMO stands for “Genetically Modified Organism” and is defined by the FDA as “a plant, animal or microorganism that has had its genetic material (DNA) changed using technology that generally involves the specific modification of DNA, including the transfer of specific DNA from one organism to another.” This is also referred to as “genetic engineering.”

Another term you will see more and more is “bioengineered.” This is because in December, 2018, the “National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard” was published. This was pursuant to a 2016 law that “directed [the] USDA to establish this national mandatory standard for disclosing foods that are or may be bioengineered.”

The standard defines bioengineered foods as “those that contain detectable genetic material that has been modified through certain lab techniques and cannot be created through conventional breeding or found in nature.” Although implementation of this standard began in 2020, it wasn’t until January 1, 2022 that it became mandatory to have these items disclosed by food manufacturers, importers, and certain retailers. Exemptions include “food produced by very small food manufacturers, and food served in restaurants, food trucks, trains, airplanes, delicatessens and in similar establishments.” These “will not be required to bear bioengineered food labels, even if the product has bioengineered ingredients.”

The above standard requires this label to be on the bioengineered food.

If, instead the label says “Derived from Bioengineering,” the standard clarifies that these are not bioengineered foods. They state “such labeled foods do not contain detectable modified genetic material.

If a food product carries the “USDA Certified Organic” label, you can be sure there is nothing in in it that has been bioengineered as GMOs are prohibited in organic products.

The reasoning behind creating GMO crops is said to be to higher crop yields, less crop loss, longer storage life, better appearance and/or better nutrition.

GMO foods have been available to consumers since the 1990s. GMO crops grown in the US include the following although there are also non-GMO versions of these crops.

• Alfalfa
• Apples – Artic Golden Delicious, Artic Granny Smith and Artic Fuji
• Canola – canola oil is sold as an oil but also is found in many packaged foods.
• Corn – most of the corn grown in the US is GMO, about 92%.
• Cotton – besides being an important component of the textile industry, it is also used to make cottonseed oil, which is used in some packaged foods and for frying in some restaurants. Approximately 96% is GMO.
• Papaya
• Pink Pineapple
• Potatoes – only a few varieties are GMO.
• Soybeans – most of the soy (~94%) grown in the US is GMO.
• Summer Squash – one of the first GMO crops on the market but is not widely grown.
• Sugar Beets – more than half of the granulated sugar on our shelves is made from GMO sugar beets.

The majority of the GMO crops are meant for animal food but they can also end up in foods such as cereals, chips and vegetable oils. Although most fresh fruit and veggies are non-GMO, you may run across some GMO varieties as seen in the above list. The USDA keeps a list of bioengineered foods which can be accessed here.

According to the FDA, GMO foods are just as safe and healthy as non-GMO foods. They also say that they can be even healthier. An example they give is GMO soybeans used to make oil that replaces oils that contain trans-fats.

More than 95% of animals used for meat and dairy in the US eat GMO crops. The FDA states that the nutritional value, safety and quality of these products are equal to those from animals that only eat non-GMO foods. They explain that the engineered DNA that is in the food does not transfer into the DNA of the animal eating it.

They also claim that in some cases, GMO plants contain “plant-incorporated protectants” that make them more disease resistant and thus, reduce the need for many pesticides.

The FDA points to a 2016 Consensus Study Report entitled Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects and published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine to back up the following claims.

• GMOs are safe to eat.
• GMO foods are no more likely to cause allergic reactions than non-GMO foods.
• GMO foods are not related to celiac disease.
• There is no link between GMO foods and cancer.

Despite assurances by the FDA and industry experts, a 2016 publication by Ohio State University found that “There is a significant gap in the opinions of scientists compared to the general public about the safety of consuming GM foods: 37% of consumers feel that GM foods are safe, while 88% of scientists say that GM foods are safe.” Why is this? I think it is partially that consumers do not really understand genetically modified foods. It could also be a general mistrust in new technology as well as not trusting the studies. Stay tuned for the next Tip for more explanation of why this might be and what contrarian opinions say.