Mission olive: United States's table and oil variety
America's historic variety: carried by the Spanish missions, it built California's black table olive industry.
The beginning of olive growing in the Americas is tied to one variety: Mission. It takes its name from the Spanish missions — carried to California by way of Mexico in the 18th century.
The California black olive
Mission became the basis of an American industry: the California-style black olive. That method differs from Mediterranean natural brining:
- The fruit is picked at green maturity.
- It is aerated while held in an alkaline solution, and darkens by oxidation.
- The colour is fixed with ferrous gluconate (E579).
- Then it is canned.
So the smooth, matte-black, soft olive in the can is not naturally black — it was picked green and darkened. For the comparison with natural brining: how olives are cured.
Why Mission?
The variety itself is not remarkable; it was chosen for hardiness. Mission adapts to cold, drought and varied soils better than Mediterranean cultivars — the first thing you want in a plant taken to a new continent.
Today it is also pressed for oil in California, giving a moderate, balanced oil.
Compared with Türkiye
Mission's story is the mirror image of Gemlik's: each established a region's black table olive identity. The difference is method — Gemlik darkens on its own in natural brine, Mission is darkened chemically.
The taste difference follows from that: natural brining preserves the fruit's own aroma, while the California style yields a product that is uniform but neutral. On judging what you have bought: has the olive gone off?
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