Educate Me on Olives

[Mama Mangia]

I think all kids eat black olives off their fingers! Some even suck the red pimiento out of the green stuffed ones and put them on their fingers!

[rt49andellis]

Brings back memories of sucking out pimentos! Bout choked to death once. Serves me right! LOL

What's the deal with how they make your nose flare on the 1st bite, but after that you're okay? Is that just tastebuds getting use to the flavor or what? You'd think if they flared on olive #1 they'd go on #20 also

[expatgirl]

Has anyone tried the garlic stuffed olives---the ones that I have bought are the green ones??? They are to die for and make a great hors deoerves!! BTW, thanks Mama for the olive info---I didn't know ANY of that and I agree on the Pompeii olive oil--must be named after the lava from the real volcano.

[phoenyxstarr]

I used to eat pimento-stuffed green olives when I was a kid, but I don't really like them much anymore. I can usually eat 2 or 3 every Christmas, I put them out with pickles, carrots, and celery sticks as a snacking platter. The olives are usually gone first because my 10 year old and hubby love them. In fact, hubby is currently on an olive kick, he's been taking a 6 oz can of black olives to work with lunch everyday for the past 6 weeks.

[DrPepper]

Don't forget that olive oil comes from olives, so that have a lot of oil in them. Plus since they are in a brine solution, they have a lot of salt. Olive oil is a great oil for cooking, and the Mediterranean diet has low heart disease. But you should avoid all oils as much as possible. Olive oil is better than peanut oil, but no oil would be best.

And olive oil is only one part of the Mediterranean diet. The other is major parts are that the Mediterranean diet includes lots of fruits and vegetables with very little red meat and lots more fish then we Americans eat.

I love olives, and because of the olive oil, salt levels I only eat a handful at a time.

So Doctor Pepper's diet for today is:
Avoid all fats
Use Olive or Canola Oil instead of peanut or vegetable oil
Eat minimal red meat
Eat fish several times a week (healthy fish and not tuna or swordfish)
Eat lots of fruit
Eat lots of vegetables

So easy to say but so hard to do .... but I think if you try so stay within those rules, straying into other areas is ok. Just don't get lost!

[BensMom]

Olives is one of the very few foods I just don't like. I have tried to like them and often eat them in dishes, but I just don't like them at all

[loubear]

I grew up eating olives and I wish I would keep them in the house more. I do cook with olive oil any time I can and always use it in my bread making. I think for some they are an acquired taste.

[spiceplace]

I think olives are just one of those foods that are natural and even though it contains fat, it's healthy to eat (instead of something like Olestra). As far as flavor and taste, maybe it's something that you grow up with and so you like the taste of olives. I like olives, and buy lots of gourmet olives at the grocery store. And yet my wife doesn't like olives at all.

I always stay aware of the fat content of olives, and only eat a few at a time but I really enjoy the taste.

There have been many studies done on the Mediterranean region and the low incidence of heart trouble and much of the focus is on olive oil. From what I've read, this doesn't mean that we should go out and drink olive oil, but instead, we should replace corn, peanut, safflower, and other oils in our cooking with minimal amounts of olive oil. So lightly grease the skillet with olive oil instead of corn oil.