GREEK OLIVES

Then there's the olives. They are a dish unto themselves, and a great appetizer. Great olives are a prefect addition to a cheese plate and should always be around when entertaining guests. While there are literally hundreds of different olive varieties, there are a couple that are the most common. We're all familiar with green and black olives. The Greek versions of these will be far more flavorful than their domestic counterparts. Then we move on to Kalamata olives, purplish-black olives which are tender and melt in your mouth. Kalamata olives are pickled in wine vinegar. They taste soft, salty, and sweet, not bitter. Often, if you taste something bitter while eating olives, it is because the pit, or stone, of the olive has been compromised or cut somehow and is flavoring the olive. Much like a broken cork in a bottle of wine can ruin your day, an olive stone will make your face wince. Ok, where were we? The last, type of Greek olive we'll discuss is the Atalanti olive. Named for the town of Atalanti on the Aegean Sea in eastern Greece, these green olives turn pale grey and purple as they ripen. They pack more of a zing than other olives, which makes them great in recipes or perfect on their own. This is by no means the end of the olive saga. This list could go on and on. Try all kinds of different olives and see which ones you like best.

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