What is the difference between a black and a green olive? Is a green olive an unripe black olive?
Judy Z., Rochester, NY The variety of olives is numbered in the dozens and vary in size, flavor and color. All fresh olives are bitter in taste and the final flavor and color of the fruit depends upon when it is picked and how it is processed. Unripe olives are always green, but ripe olives can be either green or black. The Mission olive or common black olive is a green olive that derives its color and flavor from lye curing and the addition of oxygen. Olives that ripen on the tree turn dark brown or black naturally. Most of these olives are used in the production of olive oil. Many are brine cured and sold to eat out of hand.
