46 
OLIVE. 
or fewer defects, loses its limpidity in a certain 
time, and is very apt to become rancid. With all 
the care that can be taken, olive-oil will lose its 
good qualities, and become disagreeable to the taste, 
after being kept a length of time. When the olive 
is over ripe it yields a large quantity of oil, which, 
however, is of an inferior quality; and it is from this 
attempt of the planter, to make the most of his pro- 
duce, by leaving the fruit till it drops from the trees 
before it is pressed, that so much indifferent oil is 
received from the oil countries. 
The taste for olives must be always acquired ; 
since they are acrid, bitter, and extremely disagree- 
able, till we become used to their flavour. The 
Lucca olives, which are smaller than the others, 
have the weakest taste ; the Spanish, or larger, the 
strongest; those from Provence, which are of a 
middling size, are generally the most esteemed. 
