ABSTRACT
The olive fruit is a drupe. It has a bitter component (the glucoside oleuropein), a low sugar concentration (2.6%–6.0%), and a high oil content (10%–30%). Such characteristics prevent olives from being consumed directly from the tree and promote diverse processes to make them edible, which can slightly differ between areas of production (Garrido Fernández et al. 1997). The Trade Standard Applying to Table Olives (International Olive Oil Council [IOOC] 2004) de…ned this food as “the product obtained from suitable olive cultivars, processed to remove their natural bitterness, and preserved (by natural fermentation, heat treatment, or preservatives) with or without brine until consumption.”
