Talk:Olive (fruit)

Overly prosaic language
"An improved variety, possessed at first by some small Semitic sect, it was probably slowly distributed to adjacent tribes; and, yielding profusely, with little labor, that oily matter so essential to healthy life in the dry hot climates of the East, the gift of the fruitful tree became in that primitive age a symbol of peace and goodwill among the warlike barbarians." Eh? I propose that the author of this article read the article on "politics and the english language" for a few tips on how to make a point and be done with it.

The prose which this article displays, is, in the main, of a nature not wholly inferior to that of the article concerned with the olive tree in verbosity and archaizing prosody. Of its origins, nothing is certain. It is sometiems thought to have been transferred, from an antique manuscript of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica emnating from the Levant, by that method referred to in the vulgar idiom as "cut-and-paste," perhaps by a Spaniard racconteur (accepting the consensus dating that assigns it to the period of "Francis I "El Condor" of Spain) who was then travelling in those parts; or otherwise a perfidious Armenian, who smuggled the text out of Syria sometime during the reign of Hafiz Abu Bashur, who should nowise be misconstrued a relative of that famous Persian bard Hafez-e Shirazi.  In any event, the text seems to have suffered greatly by the well-meaning but untrained hand of the Anglo-Saxon conqueror, and is today considered badly corrupted and in need of careful pruning, perhaps by Greek farmers imported to Wikistan expressly for that purpose. --Jpbrenna 18:29, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

Um, yeah. For example: "The gourmet of the empire valued the unripe fruit, steeped in brine, as a provocative to the palate, no less than his modern representative." This could have been lifted directly from Gibbon; it's distracting in an encyclopedia article. The self-referential comment above is merely smirky in its preciousness. Just the facts!!! --Jim Abraham 23:00, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

I concur. The olive is not a hobbit. --sny

I expected something a little more direct, point-driven and a lot less verbose. Some points on the preparation of both ripened and unripened olives for consumption, for example, are not readily apparent (if it's there, it's buried).

The (mind-numbing) prose aside, is this article even a worthwhile read? It's not even really about the olive in general, but about some sort of "intellectual" history of the olive. Maybe it should just be deleted...?--weriov 21:57, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Cleanup needed
Ironically, this article does not focus very much on the fruit itself. The whole article is about the history and the symbolism behind the olive. It does not zero in on the taste, preparation, or typical consumption of the fruit. Nor does it mention the status of its popularity in various countries, its impressive nutritional value, or even its manufacturing for olive oil(except a mention of heroes soaking their bodies in it). If it did mention any of these things, than I must have missed it among the barage of historical facts. This article needs some serious cleaning up.

I agree. I was hoping to find out more about the Olive Medley in my fridge. No such luck! There is some decent info under "Olive" on a few varieties and the "Olive Oil" article is good. I'd like some info on commercial-scale production, different stuffing options, culinary uses, recipes, etc. --kp

Headings.
Why is the whole article under the heading "History"?69.218.184.139 02:25, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

This article is pointless and so affected to render it a curiosity. This page is necessary or the olive tree page needs more rigorous information on the fruit, its harvest, method of brining curing and the like.

Nutritional Value
I think there should be some information on nutritional value, nutr. characteristics and nutr. functions with this article. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.181.149.201 (talk) 00:31, 5 December 2006 (UTC).

I agree, I came here hoping to find out about the nutritional value of the olive and it's got no such information in it. 83.216.157.38 19:00, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Somebody should probably mention the high sodium levels :3 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.191.137.135 (talk) 00:04, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Well all I know about olives' nutritional value is that they are rich in vegetable oils. They probably contain Vitamin C, because they are a fruit.UnderwaterRainbows (talk) 07:06, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

Green Olives
I'm a little confused about what green olives are and the page didn't offer much help. I've been told before that they are unripe black olives; is this true or are they a different kind? Thanks!UnderwaterRainbows (talk) 07:03, 17 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Not sure if you will come back to read this, but, green olives are unripe olives. Black olives that you buy in the store are most often unripe olives, as well (definitely the case if they are pitted black olives, or sliced black olives). However, these "black olives" have been artificially ripened, usually by a process called "California ripening". Actual ripened olives vary in colour (most varieties have a blackish colour to them when ripe) and are somewhat soft. Biting into an actual ripened olive (being careful of the pit) can sometimes feel like biting into a grape (although, it is definitely not the same feel). You don't get that with California ripened olives. Just added a section on this talk page complaining about the lack of information, such as the above, in the article. —  al-Shimoni  ( talk ) 10:19, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

Pronunciation of the vowel of the second syllable: How many variations are used?
Rather than discuss this in two talk pages, please go to Talk:Olive and reply under the section of the same name. Thanks! Adavis444 (talk) 06:30, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

Production? Taste? Differences?
I noticed nothing really about the production of the olive? Why it is necessary to pickle them (ripe and unripe), or at least soak them for hours (often with lye water, this is due to certain chemicals — not mentioned either — that need to be soaked out of the fruit before it will have an edible taste). No mention of the "California ripening" processes (the process of taking green olives and chemically treating them so that they oxidize to appear ripe), or why such a process is necessary (because actual ripe olives have a consistency something similar to mushy grapes, and attempting to pit or slice them results in a destroyed fruit, California ripened olives are easy to pit and slice). No mention of the most common uses for olives in different regions. There is much more missing. As the article stands right now, it is very poor quality, IMHO. — al-Shimoni  ( talk ) 10:09, 18 August 2010 (UTC)