Olives

[Alpine_Sapper]

Does anyone have any experience growing Olives?

I found this on Wikipedia;

"Olive trees show a marked preference for calcareous soils, flourishing best on limestone slopes and crags, and coastal climate conditions. They tolerate drought well, thanks to their sturdy and extensive root system. Olive trees can be exceptionally long-lived, up to several centuries, and can remain productive for as long, provided they are pruned correctly and regularly.
A calcareous soil, however dry or poor, seems best adapted to its healthy development, though the tree will grow in any light soil, and even on clay if well drained; but, as remarked by Pliny, the plant is more liable to disease on rich soils, and the oil is inferior to the produce of the poorer and more rocky ground.

In general, a temperature below 14 °F (-10 °C) may cause considerable injury to a mature tree, but (with the exception of juvenile trees) a temperature of 16 °F (-9 °C) will normally cause no harm."

And since I had no Idea what calcareous soil was, I found this;

calcareous soil , soil formed largely by the weathering of calcareous rocks and fossil shell beds. Different varieties usually contain chalk, marl, and limestone and frequently a large amount of phosphates. They are often very fertile, as in the case of the buckshot soils of the S United States. Sometimes calcareous soils are flinty, thin, and dry. They often form a large part of the soil of deserts, which may prove very fertile when sufficient moisture for crops is applied

But I was unable to find anything about them being cultivated in America and where, if the were.

Olives are the most extensively cultivated fruit crop in the world.[24] Cultivation area has tripled from 2.6 to 8.5 million hectares in the past 44 years.
The ten largest producing countries, according to FAO, are all located in the Mediterranean region and produce 95% of the world's olives.

I'm wondering how a few Olive trees would fare in Texas. It looks like they would survive the cold here easily, since ~20 is as low as it typically goes.

The Mediterranean type of climate features mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers.
Average annual temperature in Greece ranges from +14C (57F) to +30C (86F). However, since Greece is generally a mountainous country, real average temperatures vary considerably from region to region.

I'm wondering if they can withstand temperatures as high as a possible 110 or so?

[Alpine_Sapper]

Epic Fail.

http://www.texasoliveoilcouncil.org/...well_oiled.htm

I'll go repeat "Google is my friend" in the corner 50 times now.

Soooo, what do you think of Olives as a part of a fruit orchard? Worthwhile?

[Rick]

In America, Olives are grown in California, and to a small extent in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Olive trees can withstand some cold: in fact, they need some or they won't produce fruit. They are not, though, trees meant for where a real winter happens. At 17 F (-8 C), frost-damage occurs to the trees. At 12 F (-11 C), the damage is severe. Below 10 F (-12 C), most of the tree above ground may die, though the tree might grow back overtime from its roots.
Olive trees generally start to bear fruit at 5 years of age, though this can vary by cultivar. Olives grow on branches from the previous season.

From:

http://www.practicallyedible.com/edi...f/pages/olives

[Ken]

My sweetie and I had wine, cheese, crackers, and feta stuffed olives as a late night "snack" last night.

I had just picked up the olives from the specialty bar at the local grocery store. I couldn't stop eating the olives, even though she warned me that I'd be all dried out from the salt and would keep getting up all night for water.

I put a half-liter bottle of water on the nightstand, just in case. (We have phenominal well water so, tryin' to stay "green," I just keep refilling the bottle.)

She was still right. I drank that bottle, and got up to refill it three more times before I got up at 6:00. The olives were Kalamatas. They're great all by themselves or stuffed with cheese, roasted garlic, or proscuito ham.

[Alpine_Sapper]

My sweetie and I had wine, cheese, crackers, and feta stuffed olives as a late night "snack" last night.

I had just picked up the olives from the specialty bar at the local grocery store. I couldn't stop eating the olives, even though she warned me that I'd be all dried out from the salt and would keep getting up all night for water.

I put a half-liter bottle of water on the nightstand, just in case. (We have phenominal well water so, tryin' to stay "green," I just keep refilling the bottle.)

She was still right. I drank that bottle, and got up to refill it three more times before I got up at 6:00. The olives were Kalamatas. They're great all by themselves or stuffed with cheese, roasted garlic, or proscuito ham.

You sound like me and TDW. She didn't even eat olives when we got together. I turned her on to them when she was pregnant with my daughter. I eat more olives than I do peppers, which says a lot.

When I let my daughter have pizza she gets a personal pan pizza from pizza hut with sausage, italian sausage, extra green and extra black olives.

Go figure.

[Ken]

You sound like me and TDW. She didn't even eat olives when we got together. I turned her on to them when she was pregnant with my daughter. I eat more olives than I do peppers, which says a lot.

When I let my daughter have pizza she gets a personal pan pizza from pizza hut with sausage, italian sausage, extra green and extra black olives.

Go figure.

My sweeties ancestors were Italian. Mine were Portuguese. Our heritage DEMANDS regular consuption of olives. I prefer them "fresh," but still keep about 8 different varieties in stock in jars and cans.

[az51]

One or two words of caution...First, they can be very messy when the drop their fruit. Course if its the fruit you're after I guess its no big deal.

What is a big deal is if you have allergy's 'cause I'm telling you they are a night mare when they bloom if you do. In this part of AZ they were very common and grew like mad, but NO One could stand to be around them in the spring and I haven't seen a new one planted in years.

[grundle]

Olives should do well in Texas.

They thrive in semi-arid to arid conditions.

I lived in Spain for a stretch and it reminded a lot of the Southwest.

Granted California is the safest bet because the temperatures are moderated by the coast and there is no risk of hurricane damage.

If I lived in the southwest -- Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, I would probably have a few olive trees.

[Beans]

While living in southern Nevada, where they have hundreds of Olive trees, I looked into processing the olives to make them eatable. The information I found leaching with Lye Etc too much of a problem. I just gave up and decided to buy what olives i wanted to eat.


http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle...ives+(archived)

You can’t eat olives straight from the tree. They contain a bitter substance called oleuropein that has to be removed by processing. Olives are processed by one of three methods:

Spanish-style Green Olives

Olives should be picked when firm and green to straw yellow in colour and handled carefully as bruising causes dark blemishes on the processed olives. One way to avoid bruising is to pick into a bucket of water.

Wash the olives in clean water and remove any damaged fruit, leaves and twigs. The olives should be of a uniform size to ensure all fruit is evenly treated and the bitter taste removed.
Place the olives in a glass or plastic container and cover immediately with a lye solution. This can be made by mixing:
- flaked caustic soda (15g / litre of water) ... 4 level tablespoons
- common salt (15g / litre of water) ... 3 level tablespoons


CAUTION: Caustic soda can cause severe skin burns ... if you get the mixture on the skin or in the eyes - wash or flush thoroughly with cold running water for at least 10 minutes, and call a doctor. If swallowed administer milk or egg white. Do not induce vomiting. Call a doctor. Never put lye in aluminium or galvanised containers as it will ruin the containers and poison the olives.

Rain water or another source of clean, pure water is best for all steps. The salt is added to the lye to prevent the softening of the more mature olives. Once the lye is added keep the olives submerged and away from light. Exposure to air will cause the olives to darken. This must be maintained until near the end of this brining process when the olive's colour becomes stable. As the lye penetrates the olive the flesh discolours. This can be monitored by simply cutting open and olive.

Test at least 5 olives to ensure that on average the correct depth has been achieved. This will take between 8 and 48 hours depending on the olive variety, the size and the degree of ripeness. If the lye has not penetrated to the correct depth after 24 hours, replace the lye mixture.

Once the lye has reached the correct depth it has to be leached out od the fruit, so rinse the olives twice with clean water and leave submerged in cold, fresh water. Change the water after 2 hours, ensure that the olives receive no undue exposure to the air. Excess washing should be avoided as it leads to darkening of the fruit and loss of flavour and texture.

After the washing is completed, the olives need to be pickled in a series of brines of increasing concentration to prevent "salt-shrivel" which can occur if a single high-strength brine is used. During or after the brining solution, the olives are fermented and the sugars in the olives are converted into lactic acid to give the typical Spanish-style green olive flavour.

Before beginning the brining it is best to transfer the olives to the containers in which they will be stored. Used galls or plastic jars of at least one litre capacity.

step 1 25g / litre of salt / water 2 days
step 2 40g / litre of salt / water 4 days
step 3 60g / litre of salt / water 2 weeks
step 4 80g / litre of salt / water 3 weeks
step 5 80g / litre of salt / water storage
During brining and fermentation the olives must be kept submerged. If there is foaming and gas formation during fermentation ensure the brine level is maintained. Fermentation is most rapid at 20C to 30C. Once the gas formation has slowed, the pickling vessels should be closed to exclude air and reduce the growth of yeast on the surface of the brine solution.

Sugar may need to be added to achieve the desired level of fermentation ... 2grams of sugar per litre of brine at least 4 days after the fermentation has started.

Once the containers are sealed, store in a cool place until ready for use. If closely sealing containers are not used, cover the brine with a 5mm layer of olive oil to prevent evaporation. They will keep for at least a year, but may be too salty for use straight from the brine solution, so they may need to be soaked in cold water for 24 hours before use. They will keep for about a week in the refrigerator once freshened up this way.

[Alpine_Sapper]

Yeah, I was aware of the complicated curing/brining process. TDW and I mix of tex-mex/southwest and Mediterranean cooking mostly. If you are looking at a situation where you might have to sustain yourself from your garden, one of my primary concerns is not having to change my diet to much, and the olive oil was the main concern.I'm not worried about the work involved.

[Arsey]

The information I found leaching with Lye Etc too much of a problem. I just gave up and decided to buy what olives i wanted to eat.

Beans my friend you have hit the nail on the head.

When we first moved to where we live now (8 years ago) we bought a hillside that was covered in big boulders that some idiot had planted 250 Olive trees on it.
At the time we thought it was a good thing.
A couple of years later I regretted buying the place.
The olives were too much work. They were in fact a full time job, very time consuming.
The pruning itself was a mammoth task. Then there was the irrigation that the ants would block up every day, so you'd go along every nozzle with a pin and tease the dead ant bodies out then on to the next one.
Then you had to keep the ground under relatively clear otherwise it was too hard to work on the damn trees.
Our ground was 45 degrees steep and covered in big boulders so machine harvesting was out of the question.
Everything had to be done by hand.
They only produce every second year. Well actually every year but they have a 'bumper' crop every second.
Then once you've picked the things, by hand into buckets, you have to go through the rigmaroll of steeping in brine and all the rest of it.
I think if you had 4 trees for your own personal use it would be good. But be warned - they are a lot of work for not a huge deal of reward.
But then again if the world ends as we know it, you may be onto a winner by having them?
Also research which variety would grow best in your areas. There are quite a few different varieties, some are table olives, some are not.

[Badawg]

We have 20 trees at my in-laws(California). We don't always pick them, but we do sometimes and usually a few 5 gallon buckets is all we need. I prefer the salt cure myself. It's easier and safer. Been doing it since I was a kid as we had trees at my parents house too.

BTW, if you are going for oil, you don't need to cure them. Just pick them ripe and squeeze them. A couple grad students at Cal Poly started doing this and are making a ton of money from the oil. I have nev er tried it, but seen it done and it's easy.

[newtothis]

Can you tell us how to salt cure? I have five trees in central Florida, they grow well but no fruit. None, no flowering nothing. Any help on that would be great.

T

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

The autum olive that grows in the north east is good they are small and red when ripe,the seeds look like caraway seed. they are wild and they do grow near the coast and inland up to an elevation of up to 2400 feet.

[crashdive123]

Hey Newtothis - I'm sure there are some folks that can help you. While you're waiting for an answer how about heading to the Introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself. Thanks. http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...splay.php?f=14