You know I love quizzes. Well, I also love olive oil. But I have a lot to learn, so recently I visited an olive oil farm and mill in Arizona called Queen Creek Olive Mill and learned some stunning facts. Ready for a quiz? Take a whirl at this:
True or False
Q: A green olive tree is different than a black olive tree
A: False. Weirdly, there are no black olive trees. All olives are green. Olives can either ripen on the tree to be become black, or they can be picked green and dyed black. The black olives you get in a can—the ones often labeled “California ripened olives”—were once green. They likely were treated with lye to decrease their bitterness and then soaked in brine.
Q: It takes 25 pounds of olives to make a gallon of olive oil
A: False. It takes 50 to 100 pounds of olives to create one gallon of olive oil. That’s a lot of olives considering that a typical mission olive tree yields between 100 and 200 pounds per year. Savor that olive oil!
Q: When cooking or baking, you can substitute olive oil for butter. Two and a quarter teaspoons of olive oil, for example, equals a tablespoon of butter.
A: True. You can easily substitute healthier olive oil in place of butter or margarine, and you need less of it to get the same effect. I have taste-tested cakes, scrambled eggs and lots of things you might think require butter—yummy and easy with olive oil. The only drawbacks are that you can’t deep fry or bake at temperatures over 375⁰ F. Here’s a butter-to-olive oil conversion chart.
Q: The process of pressing olives to create olive oil results in a waste product called pomace that is used to make lubricants like WD-40
A: True. Weird, huh?
Q: Olive oil gets better with age.
A: False. Olive oil has a shelf life–it doesn’t get better with age. So make sure to toss olive oil that has been sitting in your pantry forever and check expiration dates when you are making a purchase.
Woman Does Not Live by Wine Alone
In an upcoming post, I’ll reveal results from a blind tasting focused on the best olive oils for dipping as well as the best for making cakes. Somehow, I don’t think the winners will be the same. We shall see. In the meantime, please leave a comment and tell us about your favorite olive oil.