RIPENING AND PICKLING OF CALIFORNIA OLIVES. 



19 



immature state, in order to secure a fruit with firm flesh. These vari- 

 eties, especially the Sevillano, are inferior in flavor, clue probably to 

 the lack of oil as pickled, but bring a large price on account of their 

 extraordinary size. When pickled by the California method, they 

 may be said to differ from a green pickled olive in that they are black 

 ancl do not have th© 

 piquant flavor of the 

 green pickle. Con- 

 sidering these facts, 

 it seems impractica- 

 ble to attempt to set 

 any maturity stand- 

 ard for these olives. 



Properly speaking, 

 the Nevadillo olive, 

 one grove of which is 

 represented in figure 

 10, is an oil olive, 

 although it is some- 

 times pickled. The 

 curve in this dia- 

 gram, as well as re- 

 corded analyses, indicate that it could easily meet any minimum oil 

 standard set for the Mission olive. 



As a matter of interest and for comparison with the data just 

 given, a number of averages for olive varieties,^ without reference 

 to maturity, are given in Table 4. 



Table 4. — Composition of olives of several varieties. 



\ \ \ \ ^ ^ 



Fig. S. — Percentage increase in oil content of fruit flesh of 

 Sevillano olives taken from various groves in 1916. 



Variety. 



Number 

 samples 

 exam- 

 ined. 



Number 

 olives 



per 

 pound. 



Pit. 



Oil in 

 flesh. 



Mission 



112 



38 



57 



5 



2 



25 



111.6 

 106.6 

 157.3 

 60.6 

 36.2 

 114.6 



Per cent. 

 17.2 

 14.7 

 17.3 

 12.0 

 14.5 

 16.6 



Per cent. 

 22.51 



Manzanjllo. 



19.73 





22.92 



Ascolanoi .. . 



18.45 



Sevillano ' 



20.19 



ColumbeUa 



19.54 







¥ 



1 The Ascolano and Sevillano samples must have been quite ripe. 

 RESULTS OF EXAMINATION OF PICKLED OLIVES. 



In 1914, and again in 1916, arrangements were made with a number 

 of picklers for the sampling of marked vats of olives, as received, 

 or before pickling began, and at the end of the process. Much 

 practical information was gathered during this work, in which the 

 picklers, with one exception, cooperated cordially. The data from 



iRept. of Work of Agr. Exp. Sta., Univ. Calif., 1898-1901. 



