Josh Price, age 11, of Nogales, Ariz., for his question:
CAN YOU EAT RAW OLIVES?
Human beings were enjoying the fruit of the olive trees even before our earliest history was written. Originally found only in the eastern Mediterranean basin, olive trees are now grown in many of the world's tropical regions. One thing is certain: You do not eat the olive raw.
Fresh olives have a bitter substance that makes them unpleasant to eat raw. This bitter substance must be largely or entirely removed as the fruit is prepared for market.
Olives abroad are grown first of all for their oil. In the United States, a large part of the industry is based on preparing the fruit for eating.
Harvesting olives requires careful handling. Farmers pick the green fruit and haul it to the processing plant in small boxes. Over long distances it must be shipped in barrels of light brine.
At an olive processing plant, the fruit is fermented a short time with lactic acid. The olives are then graded and put through a machine that separates the fruit of different sizes.
Next in the processing of olives comes a lye treatment and washing to remove the bitter substance.
Finally, the olives are treated with air to give them all the same dark color, and they are then canned in brine.
After canning, the olives are sterilized at 240 degrees Fahrenheit. This treatment makes the olives one of the safest of canned foods.
Most of the American crop receives the California ripe olive process, which gives a dark fruit, rich in flavor and food value. Other methods used include the Spanish green olive process.
The Spaniards brought the olive to America and it reached California in 176. Olive trees live longer than most other fruit trees. Some of the trees brought by the Spaniards to California are still alive. There are olive trees in Palestine that probably date back to the beginning of the Christian Era.
In all the varieties of olive, a tree can fertilize its flowers with its own pollen. In some seasons there is evidence the trees benefit if they receive pollen from other trees.
Most varieties do not bear large crops one season after another. There is a slack season in between. This manner of growth is called "alternate bearing."
The olive tree has greater powers of growing where the climate is very hot and dry. But for bearing good fruit, the tree needs a moderate supply of water. The fruit matures from October to January and is injured if the temperature falls below 26 degrees Fahrenheit.
Italy is the world's leading olive growing country, followed by Spain, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Portugal, Morocco and Algeria. Italy and Spain together produce about three fifths of the total world output.
California's central and southern orchards are the only ones in the United States that produce commercial crops. Olives grow in the states along the Gulf of Mexico, but trees in this area do not bear fruit.