RIPENING AND PICKLING OF CALIFORNIA OLIVES. 13 
RESULTS OF EXAMINATION OF FRESH OLIVES. 
The data (Table 2) on the samples collected in December, 1914, at 
which time practically all olives should be ripe, are interesting. 
These samples, which were carefully selected and segregated on the 
color basis, ranged from green to purple. The first four samples in 
the table were picked from the same or adjacent trees in the same 
grove, as were all the other pairs of samples bearing the same sample 
number. Size is recorded 
as number of olives per 
pound and also in average 
short diameter in six- 
teenths of an inch, as both 
these methods of designa- oO) 
tion areused commercially. 
It may be mentioned that 
diameter and weight. are 
not exactly related, ow- 
ing principally to differ- , so 
ences in shape. Four col- 
K 
ors are distinguished 
t 
green, yellow, red, and 
purple. By green is meant 
“orass” green. Theterm <0 
“yellow,” although com- 
monly used by the grower, 
is @ misnomer, as it is a 
yellowish green, which ap- 
ZO} 
mae OL INFLE 
& 
~ So = ar 
ea SOLE = ita 
mrs, tO 
pears just before the first 70) 
3 ASTS 
the various sets of samples 3k papa cpr] 
in Table 2 coming from X x 
the same trees or grove N ‘ ; 
shows that the olives with Fie. 1.—Changes in percentage composition of 
the more advanced colors Mission olives occurring during ripening in 
1915. 
usually are larger and 
heavier than the others, that they have a lower percentage of pits, 
and, as a rule, are higher in solids in the fruit flesh and contain more 
oil in the flesh. The oil in the flesh on the dry basis does not appear 
to be related closely to the color, being frequently nearly the same for 
the purple and green olives and sometimes higher in the green sample. 
The amounts of protein and ash in the flesh are roughly equal, fairly 
uniform, and do not appear to bear any relation to color. The com- 
position of the pits also bears no relation to the colors. In general, 
then, among olives from the same tree or grove, the ones with deeper 
