BIPENING AND PICKLING OF CALIFORNIA OLIVES. 5 



season. Altogether it is evident that the increase in oil is the strik- 

 ing feature in the development of the fruit. 



THE PICKLING OF OLIVES. 



There are two methods for rendering edible the fruit of the olive 

 tree, only one of which is commercially valuable. By allowing the 

 olives to soak in brine or fresh water, which is frequently changed, 

 for from 6 weeks to 2 months, the bitter principle is decomposed or 

 removed, and a very palatable article is produced. This method, 

 however, consumes too much time, and the losses due to mold and 

 softening of the fruit bar its general use on a large scale. 



Although there are, of course, minor differences in various plants, 

 the general commercial method of pickling ripe olives is as follows : 

 The olives are picked by hand. The buyer gives instructions to the 

 pickers as to the color desired, which varies from " yellow " to red 

 or tinges of red. Usually at least three pickings are necessary to 

 obtain the maximum amount of olives of the desired color. Some- 

 times the fruit is sent 500 miles to the factory, as from Butte County 

 to San Diego. Such long shipments are made in barrels or wooden 

 vats, the fruit being covered with a weak brine to which is sometimes 

 added a small amount of caustic soda, about one-fourth pound to 

 the gallon. 



In the factory the first operation is grading to size, for which 

 purpose several machines have been designed. The most common 

 type of grader consists of a series of vibrating screens with circular 

 holes of gradually increasing size. This gives grades of three or 

 four sizes, the olives smaller than nine-sixteenths inch being gen- 

 erally used for oil. In another common modification the screen bot- 

 toms are made of narrow tin strips, the distances between which cor- 

 respond to the diameter of the holes in the other machine. Both of 

 these machines tend to bruise the fruit somewhat. To avoid such 

 bruising another very simple and satisfactory machine, consisting 

 of a series of rubber-covered rolls which are set at slight angles to 

 each other and inclined, is used. The opening between the rolls is 

 smallest at the top of the incline, and largest at the bottom. The 

 rolls rotate in pairs in opposite directions, so that the inside sur- 

 faces turn upward. The olive rolls down the incline, and there is 

 no tendency to mash the olive or bruise it by sudden contact with 

 any sharp edges. When the opening between the rolls becomes 

 greater than the short diameter of the olive it drops through into 

 boxes below, according to its size. The size graduations are usually 

 made on the basis of a difference of about two-sixteenths inch in 

 diameter. There are no recognized trade standards for the size 

 grades or for their commercial designations. Each packer has his 



