SMART SHOPPING: OLIVES
Jarred olives come in three basic types at the supermarket: brine-cured green (left), brine-cured black (middle), and salt-cured black (right). Curing is the process that removes the bitter compound oleuropein from olives to make them suitable for eating. Brine-cured olives are soaked in a salt solution; salt-cured olives are packed in salt and left to sit until nearly all their liquid has been extracted, then covered in oil to replump. Both processes traditionally take weeks or even months. For canned California olives, on the other hand, producers use lye, which “ripens” the olives artificially in a matter of days, then further process the olives to turn their green flesh black.