The olive tree is so common that I think it’s quite useless to make a description of it. Its fruits not only provide an edible and tasty oil but they can be also eaten and used in many different dishes.
Pouring oil clumsily brings bad luck: to avert disgrace it’s necessary to throw salt three times behind yourself. Also dreaming of it is considered ominous.
On the whole we’re interested in two varieties: green olives, generally available on the market brine-cured; and black olives cured in salt brine, wine vinegar, oil. Green olives are indispensable for certain bitter-sweet dishes such as rabbit “alla cacciatora”, caponate, mixed hors d’oeuvre. On the other hand black olives give a special taste to pizza, some types of stockfish, fish “alla ghiotta” and “focacce rustiche”.
Olives are largely consumed in Sicily, especially as hors d’oeuvre, cured with spices in salt brine, wine vinegar, oil. Also used in bitter-sweet cooking, caponate, ghiotte, pizza, ripieni.
