Because the weather here has been 10° to 15° below normal and it's the Christmas season, I haven't had much else on my mind except olives. I was thinking the other day that the whole world could be divided into 4 different groups: Those who like only green olives, those who like only black olives, those that like both types and those that like neither. Of course I didn't consider that there might be people who have never tried an olive. ~
I took an informal poll of the people in my immediate circle. My husband does not like either. Nor does my future son-in-law or my buddy Lo. My daughter likes only green, as do I. My mother likes both as does my friend Carole. My brother likes only black. I'm not certain but I think Dad liked only green, but who knows? I can't ask him.
~
The picture above is of some olives that I chopped up for a salad. I really love green olives on a salad. I also like them on a pizza with Italian sausage and on an Italian sub (that's a sandwich that maybe you call something else like a hero, hoagy, hoagie, grinder or poor boy). Oddly, I don't really eat olives out of the jar. I have, but I probably had only maybe 10 olives "straight up" in my life.
~
So I'm curious. Where do you stand on olives?
16 comments:
I'm an olive afficionado (green & black) and will always prefer them "straight up" rather than the chopped up variety which I find almost tasteless. We are blessed by an array of middle eastern groceries where I'm able to sample (no, I'm not a serial sampler...) and subsequently purchase divine concotions in which I indulge almost daily. Marinated, stuffed, double-stuffed, name it and I'll try it. I also love olive oil and again have an array of them in our cellar. Strangely, Jazz "no like" olives but loves olive oil. And that's all I have to say about that!
I hate olives. Black, green, on pizza, in salad, alone, in a martini. HATE THEM!
But there's nothing I love more than dipping bread in a really fragrant olive oil mixed with some good balsamic vinegar.
I am a paradox.
OK, how weird is it that Mr. Jazz and I commented at the same time?
Weird indeed... Must be the E.V.O.O. factor.
Me like both. Didn't like green ones for the first ten years of my life, but since then I have trouble getting enough of them, which is why I do my darnedest not to buy them myself but mooch 'em off my grandpa when he breaks out the really good stuff at Christmas.
HATE 'em.
I don't even like that photo of them (sorry).
Jazz and I could share our own pizza.
I also enjoy good olive oil, though.
Two paradoxes, we are.
Mr. Jazz,
~~That's funny what you said about chopped olives. I never buy them chopped or sliced. I always buy whole and cut them myself. I should find a middle eastern store. I just buy whatever looks good from the grocery store. As for olive oil, I had to stop buying the little $16 bottle of the stuff I really love because I was going through it so fast. I finally found a good $8 bottle but now my grocery store has stopped carrying it and I am going through a sampling phase to find another I really like. I use olive oil almost every single day.
Jazz,
~~If you guys ever come back to Texas we should meet at Italianni's. They serve a very good bread with evoo and balsamic. It's yummy. My husband, who also does not like olives, loves it.
Ticknart,
~~So your countdown is "17 days until olives."
VioletSky,
~~That makes sense to me as olive oil doesn't really taste like oilves. As an odd comparison there are probably millions of people that do not eat tomatoes that use ketchup all the time.
Well, not until olives, entirely, just the really good ones.
LOL!
I'll eat the black ones over pizza or in my "picadillo" (a ground meat dish) but never alone. The green ones I'll eat alone, but I prefer them tossed in my sald and I'll use them in my picadillo as well...they're tastier and more pleasing to the eye than the black olives.
I will eat both olives, black and green
I will eat them with cuisine
I will eat them with saltines
I will share them with marines
Even eat them with the queen
How I love my olives, black and green
Even when I’m feeling mean!
I love all olives, all of them all of the time. When I was about 9, I fantasized about growing up, getting my own apartment, and stocking the kitchen with nothing but olives and M&Ms--both foods I felt I did not get enough of at home.
Now, I could do without the M&Ms, but I have green olives, black olives, kalamata olives, stuffed olives on hand at all times. (and olive juice, for the occasional dirty martini)
Ily,
~~Yes, black olives are not very attractive are they?
Carole,
~~THAT'S GREAT!
GnightGirl,
~~It's so funny the things we imagine or wish for as kids. Have you had the jalapeno stuffed olives? I love those!
I'm in the all olive lovers all the time camp. Like Mr. Jazz, I like them whole and straight up - sometimes stuffed with things, sometimes not. I love olive oil on everything, too. I did a blogpost on olives once. My screen saver is an olive grove! Violetsky and I are going to have a problem when it comes time to pick out our French retirement villa because I'm going to need an olive grove.
Black only. I will eat Green, but I find they 'color' anything you put them in, in a very dominant way. Black olives don't do that, plus, I just like the taste of Black Olives better---more subtle, to me.
Xup,
~~Olive grove in France? I remember your post about olives. It made me hungry.
Naomi,
~~People really are all different on the olive thing. I think black olives are stronger.
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