Should you eat salted olives?

Olives are one of the most important agricultural products in the countries of the Mediterranean basin. It is an important product that contains vitamins, minerals, and proteins as well as oil.

Olives come in a variety of sizes and are usually green and black. Most olives are used to extract oil but some are preserved to be enjoyed in meals, especially in the Mediterranean cuisine.

The importance of Green olives:

Olives are fruits that grow on the olive tree, which grows in the Mediterranean tropical, central Asia, and parts of Africa. Researchers have found an olive seed in Spain that dates back 8000 years and archaeological evidence suggests that early civilizations cultivated olive trees as a crop as early as 2500 BCE.

Raw olivesare far too bitter to eat, and can only be enjoyed after they are processed, usually by curing or pickling them. Most of these fruits are made into olive oil, but some of them are preserved to be enjoyed in meals.

Green olives are harvested before they are fully ripe. This kind of olives has a high nutritional value and health benefits.

The nutritional facts of green olives:

Olives contain 115-145 calories per 3, 5 ounces (100gram), or about 59 calories for 10 olives. The nutritional facts of 3, 5 ounces of olives are:

·Calories: 115

·Water: 80 percent

·Proteins: 08 grams

·Carbs: 6,3 grams

·Sugar: 0 grams

·Fiber: 3, 2 grams

·Fat: 10, 7 grams

So they are an unusual fruit because of their high-fat content. Their most abundant fat is oleic acid, which may have several health benefits.

Vitamins and minerals:

This type of olivesis a good source of several vitamins and minerals. This fruit's beneficial compounds include:

• Vitamin E: High-fat plant food usually contains high amounts of this powerful antioxidant.

• Calcium: the most abundant mineral in your body, calcium is essential for bone, muscle, and nerve functions.

• Sodium: most olives contain high amounts of sodium since they're pickled in brine or saltwater.

So they are a good source of vitamin E, iron, copper, and calcium. They may also contain high amounts of sodium.

Health benefits:

The vitamins and antioxidants found in it may provide important health benefits. For example, some studies have shown that olives may protect against osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become brittle or weak.

Green olives are also rich in vitamin E which can improve skin health and help your immune system. So if you're trying to boost your vitamin E intake, green olives are the healthier choice.

Add to that olives may provide health benefits, especially for heart health. Consuming olive oil, especially the extra virgin variety, may reduce the risk of heart disease and mortality rates in people who have a high risk of this condition. It lowers cholesterol which has been linked to heart disease.

They may help reduce chronic inflammation and relieve symptoms of these and other conditions. For example, research has shown that the consumption of olives protects from various chronic diseases. A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health has found a positive association between good fats and positive outcomes in women having in Vitro Fertilization.

Also, it reduces the cancer risk and prevents type 2 diabetes by helping the body regulate glucose.

What are Salted olives?

Olives can be cured using brine, dry salt, or water. Do you love olives but can't really handle all that salt?

Understandable, lots of people find olives way too salty, especially the green ones. It seems that black ones are the mildest around, and you can often find them in low sodium versions. But what if your favorites are green olives? Why are they so salty? And is there anything you can do about it? Well as it turns out there is a very reasonable explanation for all that salt, and yes you can do something about it!

Salt removes most of the bitterness naturally found in fresh, raw olives. Let's explain why olives need to be cured in brine, of all things. Fresh, raw olives are amazingly bitter; too bitter you can't even eat a whole olive. You can trust Greeks and Romans from thousands of years ago, they discovered that first.

So the original idea was to soak the fresh fruits in water to draw all the bitterness out, but this takes a very long time, so salt was added to the water. This method is possibly the most common and is widely used for green olives. After a while, it was discovered that a small amount of lye also works to remove and break down oleuropein.

That being said, most olives are cured with salt or a brine solution and left to ferment. Green ones are always treated this way, while blackfruits are often treated with lye. Eating too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, so be aware.

Low salt olives, the best for your health:

How to fix overly salted olives? Okay, note what you can do about those salted olives. The best method is to let them in cold fresh water for a few hours. You can wash them if you like but only wash the ones you're going to use immediately. If you drain and wash a big quantity and then eat only a few of them, they will go bad very quickly.

Or you could opt for black olives which are the least salty and bitter of all since they have been allowed to ripen. To conclude, you may love salted olives so enjoy your meals with them, but be wary of eating too much.