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• That white film on your olive brine: mould or yeast?

  The white layer that forms on home-brined olives is usually not mould but a film-forming yeast — though that does not make it harmless. There are visible criteria for telling them apart. Together with the pH and salt ceilings the Turkish Food Codex sets for brine, here is what can be saved and what has to be thrown out.

  … jar and there is a white layer on the surface of the brine. Search online and you will find the answer split in two: "harmless, skim …

• Black Olives in Brine, Naturally Fermented

  The oldest and most patient method: ripe black olives go into salted water uncut and give up their bitterness on their own over several months.

  … they do not need to be fully dried. Make the starting brine: dissolve 240 g of rock salt in 4 litres of water (6%). Put the …

• Olive Brine Tonic (Non-alcoholic)

  A savoury, alcohol-free take on the Dirty Martini: olive brine, tonic and lemon.

  Fill the glass with ice. Add the olive brine and lemon juice and stir with a spoon. Pour the tonic slowly down the side of the …

• How do you reduce the salt in olives?

  Draining the brine does not remove the salt — it has worked its way into the flesh. A Spanish study measured that soaking in water cuts sodium by 61-72%, but the same process also carries away up to 78% of the potassium and softens the fruit. The legal salt ceiling for table olives is 8% by weight, and the "low salt" claim requires no more than 4 grams per 100. Which method works how well, and what does each one give up?

  … the surface of the fruit; the salt itself has **worked into the flesh** over weeks of curing. Rinsing cleans the outside and does not touch the …

• Can people with diabetes eat olives and olive oil?

  It looks like one question but contains two: table olives and olive oil. Neither is off limits in type 2 diabetes; olives carry too little carbohydrate to measure a glycaemic index for, and oil carries none. The real limiting factor is not blood sugar but the salt in the brine.

  … limiting factor is not blood sugar — it is **the salt in the brine**, and that is the part most often skipped. ## How much carbohydrate …

• Antalya's crop is up 30%: of 70,000 tonnes of olives, 55,000-60,000 head for the mill

  According to the Antalya Commodity Exchange, the province's olive crop is rising about 30% from some 55,000 tonnes last season to around 70,000 tonnes, with 13,000-14,000 tonnes of olive oil and 10,000-15,000 tonnes of brined fruit expected. Harvest opened on 15 September. There is movement on the registration front too: an EU application has been filed for the Tavşan Yüreği olive, and a geographical indication file is under way for the Beylik variety.

  … of brined table fruit** at the end of that harvest. Picking opened on **15 September** at Zeytinpark in the Kepez district, and the province's olive area …

• Table olives with half the salt: potassium, calcium and magnesium instead of sodium

  Researchers at Spain's Instituto de la Grasa (CSIC) cut sodium in pimento-stuffed green Manzanilla olives from 14,216 mg to about 7,100 mg per kilogram. Potassium, calcium and magnesium salts added to the packing brine made the olives a source of these minerals.

  … have one weak point: **salt**. 100 grams of stuffed green olives in brine supply about **59%** of the daily sodium reference intake. Researchers at the **Instituto …

• How to Store Olives: From an Opened Jar to a Winter Batch

  How long does an opened jar last, what to do when the brine runs low, how to keep dry-cured olives? Why mould forms and what the white film actually is.

  … it refrigerated. The critical point is that the olives stay under the brine — any that rise meet air, and that is where mould starts. As …

• How are black table olives made? Natural ripening versus blackening

  Two different black olives sit on the shelf: ripened on the tree and brined, or picked green and blackened by oxidation. Both lawful, but not the same product.

  … the skin inward; the pit stays pale. After picking it goes into salt brine and the bitterness leaches out over six months to a year. The …

• How are green table olives made? Three methods, three results

  Green olives cannot be eaten off the tree; the bitterness must be removed. The difference between Spanish-style, natural brine and scored methods sets time, texture and taste.

  … an advantage for table use, because oily fruit softens faster in brine. The registration document for Antalya Tavşan Yüreği gives the difference in numbers: 9 to …

• How to recognise a good table olive — and what to check when buying

  Is the colour mottled, the brine clear, the calibre stated? Concrete checks for buying table olives, whether Gemlik is an oil or table variety, and how to store them at home.

  … smell or any sharpness beyond salt means put it back. The brine. It should be clear. Cloudiness, heavy sediment or floating matter is a poor sign. …

• The Erkence olive: the cultivar that sweetens on the tree

  Erkence accounts for 3.5% of Turkey's olive trees. It is the Aegean's earliest-ripening cultivar and has a property with few equivalents anywhere: the fruit loses its bitterness on the tree, without brine.

  … only in certain districts Salt content (hurma)zerobecause it never enters brine ## How the tree-ripening works Long treated as a "climate miracle", the mechanism has been …

• Are my olives spoiled? Mould, bulging lids and softening

  A white film on brine is not always mould. But a bulging lid is not debatable: discard it unopened. How kahm yeast differs from mould.

  A white layer on the surface of the brine. A bulging lid. Olives gone soft, the liquid cloudy, the smell changed. Almost anyone who [brines olives …

• Marinated Olives

  The easiest way to turn plain brined olives into a meze overnight: olive oil, lemon zest, garlic and oregano.

  Drain the olives, rinse once in cold water and dry them well — wet olives will not take up the oil. Toast the coriander seeds in a dry pan for 30 seconds, until…

• Savoury Olive Cake

  A breakfast cake bringing together brined olives and olive oil — a Turkish take on the Italian savoury cake tradition.

  Heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a loaf tin with olive oil. Beat the eggs in a deep bowl, then stir in the olive oil and milk. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt…

• Virgin Mary with Olives

  The alcohol-free counterpart of the Bloody Mary: tomato juice, spices and olive brine.

  Fill the glass with ice. Mix the tomato juice, lemon juice, brine, hot sauce and seasonings in a jug. Combine by pouring between two glasses. Pour …

• Dirty Martini

  The classic olive cocktail: gin, dry vermouth and olive brine, garnished with green olives.

  … ice in a mixing glass and add the gin, vermouth and olive brine. Stir with a bar spoon for 20-30 seconds. ⚠ Do not shake — …

• Olive and Olive Oil Glossary

  Oleuropein, lampante, pomace, malaxation, designation of origin… Short, verifiable definitions of olive and olive oil terms.

  … process of removing an olive's bitterness in water, brine, dry salt or lye. Dry-salt cured olives Ripe black olives cured in layers of rock salt in …

• Olives and Olive Oil: Frequently Asked Questions

  Does the fridge test work, what separates extra virgin from riviera, can you fry with olive oil? The 18 most common questions, answered briefly.

  … with the cost of the raw material. [More →](/en/olive-oil-fraud-and-adulteration) ## When are olives harvested? In Turkey the harvest generally begins in October and runs to January. …

• Olive Oil Soap: How It Is Made, Its Types and How to Choose

  How saponification works, why curing takes months, and how to recognise genuine olive oil soap.

  … is complete 3. It is washed with brine to separate out excess alkali and glycerine 4. The hot paste is poured onto the floor or into …

• Table Olives: Types, Curing and How to Choose

  From green to black, cracked to dry-cured: how table olives are made, chosen and kept.

  … flesh relative to the stone, the better - **Firm texture** — fruit that does not collapse in brine - **A stone that separates easily** — essential …

• Sieves shut until 16 October in Akhisar: the table-olive price protest spreads to a second basin

  In Akhisar's Zeytinliova neighbourhood, growers and commission agents have shut their sieves and halted harvesting and sales until Friday 16 October; purchases also stopped in Ballıca and Bünyaniosmaniye. In Ataeymir, in Aydın's Karacasu district, buying was suspended for three days from 8 October. Türkiye has no state floor price for table olives, and the cooperative union treated as the reference has not yet announced its 2026/27 purchase prices.

  … side — the union, the traders and the stuffing industry — and on how full their warehouses are and how much cash they hold. The same …

• What is an olive harvest net, and how do you choose one?

  A net spread under the tree does two jobs at once: it keeps the fruit off the soil and it speeds up collection. Olives that touch the ground give higher-acidity oil, and fruit left on the ground feeds the next generation of olive fruit fly. Here is how to choose a net — material, weight, size — and how to lay it.

  … returns as staining and softening in the brine. We collected those defects in [quality problems in table olives](/en/quality-problems-in-table-olives). ## Fruit left on the ground is next …

• Olive Oil Prices: Week 41 of 2026

  Week 41 of 2026: Turkish exchange prices, European producer prices and exchange rates side by side.

  … seasonal. ## Turkey: supermarket shelf ProductUnitLowestAverageHighestChains Black table olives₺/kg99,50327,17673,756 Extra virgin olive oil₺/L249,00424,44879,907 Green table olives₺/kg194,44349,551470,297 Riviera olive oil (refined blend)₺/L199,00343,49879,606 Olive paste₺/kg225,00475,941073,164 Prices are stripped …

• When does the olive harvest begin?

  The harvest starts in late September and runs into February. Erkence is earliest, Memecik hangs into mid-December, and Mission's table and oil harvests are two months apart.

  … is the clearest example: - **Table harvest:** late October to November - **Oil harvest:** mid-December to February More than two months apart. The reason is simple: …

• Why is olive oil bitter and pungent? Is it spoiled, or is it good?

  The bitterness and throat-catching pungency of freshly pressed olive oil is not a fault but a signal of polyphenols. Bitterness comes from oleuropein, pungency from oleocanthal, and both count as positive attributes in the international tasting standard. We also separate them from the defects they get confused with.

  … early-harvest, polyphenol-rich oil in your hands. The oil to worry about is not the one that burns your throat — it is the one that makes …

• How are olives harvested? What five picking methods cost the tree and the oil

  Hand picking, poles, combs, trunk shakers and straddle harvesters each charge a different bill — to the fruit, to the tree and to the acidity of the oil. Which method suits which grove, and what goes wrong on harvest day.

  … brine — problems we covered in [quality problems in table olives](/en/quality-problems-in-table-olives). The drawback is not only cost but speed. In a large grove, as the harvest …

• Olive Oil Prices: Week 40 of 2026

  Week 40 of 2026: Turkish exchange prices, European producer prices and exchange rates side by side.

  … seasonal. ## Turkey: supermarket shelf ProductUnitLowestAverageHighestChains Black table olives₺/kg99,50326,50673,756 Extra virgin olive oil₺/L249,00414,44639,957 Green table olives₺/kg211,11342,131293,827 Riviera olive oil (refined blend)₺/L199,00342,30879,605 Olive paste₺/kg225,00475,941073,164 Prices are stripped …

• Olive Oil Prices: Week 39 of 2026

  Week 39 of 2026: Turkish exchange prices, European producer prices and exchange rates side by side.

  … seasonal. ## Turkey: supermarket shelf ProductUnitLowestAverageHighestChains Black table olives₺/kg99,50309,21614,295 Extra virgin olive oil₺/L249,00417,87639,956 Green table olives₺/kg124,86334,681293,826 Riviera olive oil (refined blend)₺/L199,00369,47879,604 Olive paste₺/kg225,00478,351073,163 Prices are stripped …

• Black olive harvest paused for ten days in Akköy, Didim: a price ladder from 30 to 100 lira

  In Akköy, a village in the Didim district of Aydın, growers and olive buyers have jointly agreed to suspend black olive harvesting and buying for ten days, saying announced prices do not cover costs. The price ladder published by the village headman's office runs from 100 lira a kilo for the largest grade down to 30 lira for the smallest. Growers say picking costs alone exceed the price on the lower grades.

  … olives in brine** stood at 150 lira a kilo as of 3 September 2026 — but that is a product that has been cured, graded, has …

• How to store olive spread: homemade, opened jars and freezing

  Homemade olive spread is kept in the fridge in a clean glass jar, covered with a thin layer of olive oil, and eaten within about a week. For opened shop-bought jars, the time on the label applies. Spread with garlic or fresh herbs should never be left at room temperature.

  … brine in the olives already carries enough. Salt has some preserving effect, but not enough to make homemade spread safe at room temperature. ## Making it …

• Green olive harvest begins in Málaga: 2.5 to 3 million kilos expected for Aloreña

  Table olive harvesting has begun in Spain's Málaga province with better prospects after years of drought. The protected-origin Aloreña de Málaga is expected to yield 2.5 to 3 million kilos, and trees are heavily laden with Hojiblanca, which supplies more than 90 per cent of the province's table olives. September heat, however, is shrivelling fruit on rain-fed land.

  … months. The method is fast, standardised and suited to large volumes; most pitted olives sold stuffed with pepper or anchovy are prepared this way. **Aloreña and …

• Olive Oil Prices: Week 38 of 2026

  Week 38 of 2026: Turkish exchange prices, European producer prices and exchange rates side by side.

  … seasonal. ## Turkey: supermarket shelf ProductUnitLowestAverageHighestChains Green table olives₺/kg111,88366,261293,827 Black table olives₺/kg109,50338,67904,846 Extra virgin olive oil₺/L249,00456,821185,807 Riviera olive oil (refined blend)₺/L199,00339,12879,606 Olive paste₺/kg225,00475,941073,164 Prices are stripped …

• How many calories are in olive oil? Tablespoon, teaspoon and 100 ml

  One tablespoon of olive oil has about 120 calories and one teaspoon about 40. Extra virgin, refined blends and sunflower oil carry almost the same energy. A measure table, plus how to count it in salads and cooked dishes.

  … out for the olive itself. With olives, fruit size, flesh ratio and brine all matter, which is why [the calories in a single olive](/en/how-many-calories-in-an-olive) can vary …

• What Are the Benefits of Olives? What Do They Actually Provide?

  What olives do and do not provide. Fat, fibre, vitamin E, iron and polyphenols — without overstatement, with portions, and without skipping salt.

  … medium olive~4-5 kcal 10 olives~40-50 kcal 100 g brined olives115-145 kcal Almost all of it comes from fat; carbohydrate is very low. "An olive" is not …

• What Are Black Olives? What Are Their Benefits?

  What black olives are, how they differ from green, and how many calories. Iron and copper, the polyphenol difference, and the two different black olives on the shelf.

  … olive~4-5 kcal 10 olives~40-50 kcal 100 g brined olives115-145 kcal It is widely believed black olives are markedly higher in calories than green, but the gap …

• What Are Green Olives? What Are Their Benefits?

  What green olives are, what they contain and how many calories. Fat, fibre, vitamin E and polyphenols — and the salt that portion talk must not skip.

  … from oleuropein, and the fruit cannot be eaten straight from the tree — brine, alkali treatment or scoring must remove it first. How many calories? PortionCalories …

• What are green olives, and how do they differ from black?

  Green olives are not a separate variety but the same fruit picked early. What sets the colour, why pick green, and where the difference from black begins.

  … share is wanted, because oily fruit softens faster in brine. Green fruit is firmer and stands transport and processing better; stuffed olives are only possible with …

• Fraud in table olives: lye, artificial blackening, copper sulphate — how and why

  Natural debittering takes 6-12 months. Which of the methods that cut it to days are lawful, and which are fraud? Lye, artificial blackening, copper sulphate — and six ways to spot fake olives.

  … quickly in a dilute alkaline solution; what takes months in natural brine finishes in days. In lawful production the process is controlled: concentration and time are …

• The Çelebi olive family: seven types, two separate geographies

  Çelebi is not one variety but a family name. Tesbih Çelebi yields above 22 percent oil while Hamza, Yuvarlak and Yün Çelebi stay under 18. Measured values for seven types.

  … table use, because oily fruit softens faster in brine. The lower tier under 18 percent is inefficient for oil, while its dimensions have not been measured …