I was standing at a bar the other day and there was a fellow there eating olives on a string. Eating olives on a string! I said, "What are you eating them like that for?" He said, "I may not like 'em."
--Max Miller, The Max Miller Blue Book, 1975

An old Arab riddle goes like this: "Our servant is green. Her children are born white and then grow black. Who is she?" Answer? An olive tree.

"The whole Mediterranean, the sculpture, the palms, the gold breads, the bearded heroes, the wine, the ideas, the ships, the moonlight, the winged gorgons, the bronze men, the philosophers--all of it seems to rise in the sour, pungent smell of these black olives between the teeth. A taste older than meat, older than wine. A taste as old as cold water."
--Lawrence Durrell, British author of The Alexandrian Quartet, wrote in "Prospero's Cell".

"The olive tree is surely the richest gift of Heaven. I can scarcely expect bread."
--Thomas Jefferson

Olives   (Olea europaea)

Olives have been cultivated since prehistoric times in Asia Minor. From there, they spread all over the world. Today they are commercially produced in Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, Portugal, China, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Angola, South Africa, Uruguay, Afghanistan, Australia, New Zealand, and California. Hands down, though, until this day, the Mediterranean area produces the most. Of the some 800 million olive trees growing on earth at this moment, 93 percent are growing in the Mediterranean area.

From the beginning, apparently, the calming and healing properties of its oil have been recognized. Thus the olive branch has long been used as a symbol of peace. Pouring oil on troubled waters--not to mention the dove bringing back a branch of olive as the first vegetation seen by Noah after the Deluge. Jeremiah (11:16) described prosperous Israel as "a green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit."

In the Mideast, the story is told of Adam suffering from pain and complaining to God. At that, Gabriel descended from heaven with an olive tree, presented it to Adam, and said, "plant it, then pick the fruit and press out its oil. It will cure your pain and all sickness." Indeed, early Mideastern civilizations believed it would cure every illness except death. And to this day, many drink half a cup of olive oil before breakfast to keep all systems well lubricated.

One writer observes, "It is quite affecting to observe how much the olive tree is to the country people. Its fruit supplies them with food, medicine and light; its leaves, winter fodder for the goats and sheep; it is their shelter from the heat and its branches and roots supply them with firewood. The olive tree is the peasant's all in all."

ranciscan missionaries planted the first olive tree in California around 1769. In fact, all the "mission olives" grown today in California probably derive from trees grown at the Franciscan mission in San Diego, probably from Mexican seeds. This particular species--and there are some 35 altogether--is especially good for its oil.

The trees themselves are exquisite--remember Van Gogh's branches, twisted in pain and pleasure, having dark and sunny moments. My first memory of them "in the bark" was watching beautiful Moroccan women, dressed in bright red and brilliant white djellabas, standing by the roads in the Rif mountains beating the trees with paddles so that the multicolored fruits showered around them like pointillist brush strokes. Consider that a ton--a TON--of olives produces about 50 gallons of oil.

These evergreen trees, celebrated and referenced in the cultural works of every society, can attain a great age--some in the eastern Mediterranean are estimated to be over 2,000 years old. They grow to a height of 20-40 feet and begin to bear fruit sometime between 4 and 8 years old. They bear lanceolate leaves and bloom with little whitish flowers that are wonderfully fragrant. Aldous Huxley wrote of them: "…I like them all, but especially the olive. For what it symbolizes, first of all, peace with its leaves and joy with its golden oil." Federico Garcia Lorca wrote: "Angels with long braids and hearts of olive oil."

Only the sea itself seems as ancient a part of the region as the olive and its oil, that like no other products of nature, have shaped civilizations from remotest antiquity to the present. In Greek mythology, Athena gave this luscious drupe to mankind as a gift--and, in gratitude, citizens of Attica were said to have named the city of Athens after her. The Greeks regard the olive tree as a symbol of euphoria, purification, victory and honor. The foliage of the olive tree has been used for centuries to honor victory, wisdom and peace. In Genesis, an olive branch was returned to Noah on the ark by a dove signaling the end of the great flood. The Olympic Game winners in ancient Greece were given olive wreaths from Kroneio as trophies. The olive and its oil have always engaged the intellect, the senses and the passions of the Greek world for the past four thousand years. Olive oil always held a sacred place in the solemn rites of the Greek religious life. The ancient Greek gods were believed to be born under the branches of the olive tree. In Modern Greek Orthodox religion, spiritually purifying olive oil has a myriad of uses, from baptisms to the illumination of church and shrine lamps throughout the Greek world. Greeks say, "We ate bread and olives together" to denote a good friendship.

Today there are more than 686,000 olive producers in Greece (representing 6.5% of the total population) who care for more than 137 million olive trees. The olive is so much a part of the culture that today Greece is the only country in Europe that still allows its civil servants time off to return to their villages of origin for their annual olive harvest.