Like green olives, black olives also require pickling in water and salt but generally for a longer period of time.

Black olives are normally ready for consumption around 70 days after harvesting, with the olives remaining on the tree for a longer period of time in order to increase their exposure to the sun.

As soon as the olives turn black on the tree they are picked and then pickled for around 40 days in water and salt to remove their bitter taste.

Black olives are harvested from October to February and come in a variety of shapes and sizes with many different processing options, such as whole, pitted, sliced and, although not so popular, stuffed with Pimento, Garlic, anchovies and other ingredients.

Black olives range from small, known in the industry as “superior”,to large sizes, known as “super Colossal” with a number of different types available including Spanish, Greek and Moroccan. Black olives differ in taste due to the many different ways in which they can be cured, processed and preserved, such as salt and oil curing and air drying.

The same as green olives, Spanish olive producers usually pack their olives in pasteurized cans and tins, and Moroccan producers use a vacuum packing process. Greek olivesare packed authentically in traditional plastic pails.