Olea europaea Picholine - Olive tree

The Picholine Olive is a very old variety originating from Gard. It has medium vigour and bears fruit quickly. It produces olives generally used as green table olives. It yields a very fruity, green, slightly bitter and pungent oil. The Picholine Olive is self-fertile. It is not very resistant to cold and is fairly resistant to parasites. Harvest takes place in September for green olives, October for black olives, and from November to mid-January for oil.

The expansion of the olive tree is linked to the establishment of the Mediterranean climate, which is the major constraint for its cultivation. The domestication of the olive tree is believed to have taken place six millennia ago. Olive trees are long-lived trees. The oldest olive tree in the world is now 3000 years old. The Picholine Olive originates from Gard. Its name comes from the Picholini brothers, Italians who invented a recipe to make olives edible while preserving their green colour. This variety from Gard was the one that responded best to this recipe. Today, it is cultivated throughout the Mediterranean region.

The olive tree is a very branched tree, with a gnarled trunk, hard and dense wood, and cracked brown bark.
The leaves are elongated ovals, borne on short petioles, fairly tough, entire, with rolled edges, they are shiny dark green on the upper surface, and light green-silver with a prominent midrib on the lower. The foliage is evergreen, but that doesn't mean its leaves are immortal: they are constantly renewed.
The small white flowers are grouped in small clusters of 10 to 20, growing in the axils of the leaves in April-May on the previous year's wood. The Picholine Olive is self-fertile, although the presence of a pollinator is recommended.
The olive is an elongated ovoid fruit, whose skin is covered with a thick bloom. It is green and turns black when fully ripe.

Green olives are not consumed straight from the tree. They must first be prepared to remove any bitterness. There are many methods for preserving these green table olives. They are all based on the same principle, in 3 steps. 1/ Removing bitterness, either with a caustic soda bath, a quick solution, or an ash lye, a more traditional and slower method. 2/ Rinsing. 3/ Brining, with or without fermentation. For black olives, removing bitterness is not necessary.

Table olives are eaten once prepared. They can also be used to produce olive oil.