WEBVTT - Pitting Our Wits Against Kalamata Olives 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.240 Hello, and welcome to Savor production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.640 I'm Annie and I'm more in Vocal Bomb and today 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.200 we have an episode for you about Kalamada olives. 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:22.480 Yes, and I have to tell you I love a 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:27.400 Kalamada olive. But wow, did this episode give me some trouble? 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:32.760 Because people love they love talking about olives, and they 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:33.960 love talking about olive oil. 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.840 Uh huh, And I think it was mostly talking about 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:44.960 olive oil. Finding the information about table olives specifically, which 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.240 is what we as humans call the things that we 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.960 eat out of hand like a Snack's that? 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:52.320 Yeah. 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.680 Less information is about. 0:00:56.360 --> 0:01:04.720 That, yes, and confusing information often, but I feel we 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:10.360 have done our best here and a lot of legally 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:14.120 used to talk about which you know, yeah, I'm someone 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:18.160 that enjoys that. Well, Lauren, was there any particular reason 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:19.080 this was on your mind? 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.440 I think I realized we had never done an olive 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:28.560 episode and maybe maybe you suggested something about olives for 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:29.320 Mother's Day? 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:31.840 Oh yeah, my mom does love olives. 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:36.080 Okay, heck yeah, and I and I didn't select it then, 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:38.560 but I was like, yeah, sure, let's let's return to that. 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.280 Let's have that be a headache for today. Sure, and 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.880 here we are. I do also love a Columnuda olive 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:50.640 and this this was an episode where the cravings are 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:55.760 so strong I need am as a plate immediately immediately. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:58.280 My mom actually gave me some. 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:04.120 Oh I hate you a little bit right now. Oh 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:09.840 it's fine. I you know, I haven't checked. I strongly 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.840 believe that somewhere deep in my pantry, I have like 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.519 a little packet of Colmuda olives that I got. And 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.120 there was like a year or two ago I was 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.440 ordering a lot of those like food boxes because I 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.240 was like, Wow, I'm not feeding myself. I guess I 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.440 need to figure out a way to get other people 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.359 to make choices for me, so that'll actually do this thing. 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:32.520 And I think I still have a packet from that. 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.480 I hope, so me too, hope. So I mean I 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:40.360 can buy more. It's not a problem, just you know. Yeah, 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:42.919 but it would be nice, It would be so good, it. 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:49.280 Would be nice. Well, yes, I think because this was 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:53.519 our first foray in two oliops, we have been putting 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:58.000 off olive oil. Oh yeah, that's one of the reasons. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:02.680 It might have been a little bit difficults But never fear, 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:06.960 I've found many rabbit holes. I wanted to go. 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:08.800 Down cool awesome. 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:13.079 Yeah, yes, so one day many episodes will come from 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:21.000 this one. But here's our entry, our appetizer. But I 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:28.000 guess that brings us to our question. Kalamada olives what 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:28.680 are they? 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:33.519 Well? Kalamada olives are a cultivated variety of table olives 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.080 that are picked when they've reached this deep reddish purple 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:41.280 black in color. They're oblong around it at one end 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.760 and pointed at the other, a little over an inch 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.440 in length and like half that in width, maybe three 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.920 by one and a half centimeters, fleshy, with a thin 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.600 skin and a stony, oblong seed in the center, which 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:58.040 can be removed during processing. They're fermented in brine and 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:02.520 then packed in either brine olive oil, sometimes with some 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.680 nice like heady herbs, giving them a final texture that's 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.560 pleasantly soft and chewy with a slight snap from the skin, 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:18.000 and this buttery, rich, briny savory flavor that's slightly fruity, tart, funky. 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.520 The flavor and texture will depend on the exact process used, 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.400 you know, like like they can be milder or stronger, 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.919 kind of meltier or chewier. They can also be dried 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:32.400 resulting in a somewhat meteor texture. They're often eaten as 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:34.400 they are as a snack or part of like a 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.760 snacking plate, though they can also be tossed whole or 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.960 sliced into salads, pastas, or stews, or chopped fine to 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.320 make spreads or dips. They're kind of a powerful flavor, 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:47.840 but the sort of thing that keeps you coming back 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.839 for more. With that combination of like rich and bright, 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:55.520 they're like a sparkle in the darkness. 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:03.440 Yeah, just have a lovely, tame, zippy like when you 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.960 bite into it, it does feel like oh yeah, oh yeah, 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:09.640 kind of a jolt of electricity almost. 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:15.760 Yeah, yeah, okay. The Kalamada variety of olives are named 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:17.760 for the area they come from, which is around the 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:22.440 city of Kalamada in southwestern Greece on the Peloponnese Peninsula. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.640 Olives in general grow on these evergreen trees that can 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:28.400 range from like a bit over human height to like 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.960 sixty feet that's twenty meters tall. Their trunks tend to 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:36.239 be increasingly gnarled the older that they get. The trees 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.760 have these like leathery silver green leaves, and they thrive 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:43.240 in hot subtropical weather and can with stand drought, though 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:45.640 of course, like their fruit yield won't be as good 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.400 if they don't get enough water. Makes makes sense. Yeah, 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.800 They flower in the spring around April to May, and 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:56.039 apparently kalamada trees in particular, they're a variety of the 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.440 overall species of olive of like fruiting olive. Apparently, lamadas 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.279 are bad itself pollinating, like you really have to have 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.880 other cultivars nearby in order to make it happen. If 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.440 they do get pollinated, the flowers will develop a single 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.039 fruit through the summer that will mature in the fall. 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:14.919 For table olives, they're picked when they're mature but not 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:19.840 quite ripe, around November. In the case of kalamadas, oil 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:22.919 olives are picked after they're ripe around like December, because 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.520 the oils develop as they ripen. The fruits are either 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:30.400 handpicked or gently shaken from the trees. And olive fruits 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.760 are drupes, meaning that they have a pit a seed 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.560 that's encased in a hard outer shell in the center 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.919 of the fruit, like a peach or a cherry. The 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:44.240 thing is fresh. Olives don't last very long, and kalamadas 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.200 in particular are a little bit bitter, So how do 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:53.800 you preserve them while also reducing the bitterness? Fermentation? Yeah, yeah, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:59.200 yeah yeah. The fermentation process used on kalamada olives is 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.839 called Greek style processing. It involves submerging the olives in 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.400 a brine solution that's like six to ten percent salt 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.440 and storing them for four to twelve months, adding more 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.239 salt to the top of the vessels as needed. During 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.920 this time, the olives will undergo spontaneous fermentation thanks to 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:19.560 the wild bacteria and yeasts that grow alongside them, including 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:24.040 some familiar lactic acid bacteria, which are friendly bacteria that 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.960 eat sugars and poop acids, which helps guard the olives 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:32.400 against unfriendly bacteria and yeasts. The acid also adds flavor, 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.880 and both the bacteria and yeasts produce other flavors as well. 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:43.200 Bacteria and yeast poop. Researchers are still looking into the 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:48.520 exact strains that facilitate the process. One DNA study found 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:53.280 hundreds of strains of both bacteria and yeasts in each 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:59.480 sample that they tried working together in these lovely little microbiomes. Generally, 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:05.360 industrially produced kalamada olives are made without starter cultures, which 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:09.120 is a little bit like weird in the fermentation universe, 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:12.680 but I love it like definitely. Some of the research 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.840 happening right now is looking at helping producers standardize their 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.560 brine microbiome by developing starter cultures. So I don't know 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.840 what the future will hold, but here we are. After fermentation, 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:26.280 the olives can be dried, or they can be packed 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.440 in brine or olive oil. Before packing, they might be pitted, 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.600 after which they might be had quartered, sliced into rings, 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:36.000 or diced. Pitted klamadas might be stuffed with something like 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.480 a little bit of garlic or a peel of lemon 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.720 or orange. They can also be smoked, or the packing 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:46.320 liquid can be seasoned with herbs or spices. There is 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:51.160 a pedo protected type of Kalamada olives, which are Kalamada 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:55.599 olives of Myscinia, Macinia being the prefecture that Kalamada is 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.960 the capital city of. I think, and I ran into 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:05.640 some translation related difficulties while reading for this episode, but 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:09.719 I think the PDO process involves hand harvesting, making a 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.719 slice lengthwise down the al of before fermenting, and then 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.920 after fermenting, marinating in vinegar and olive oil. I think 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:22.920 if you know more about this right in, But I 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:25.360 do know that only about five percent of kalmada olives 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:29.839 carry this pdo And yeah, however precisely they're made. They're 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:32.160 used on their own as a snack or part of 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.440 a messe plate that's like a snack or appetizer plate, 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.920 or as a topping for whatever savory dish. Or it 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:40.840 can be cooked into stews to add a little bit 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.679 of brine and brightness in there, or they can be 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:45.679 chopped into like a topknot or something. 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:46.400 Oh. 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:50.040 They're just so fruity but also like meaty, chewy and 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:51.840 also salty savory at the same time. 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.079 They're lovely. They're really lovely. 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:58.400 Minus the crunch. I feel like their nature snack chip. 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.240 Oh yes, I was reading all the ways people use 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.680 them as part of this research, and I was like, 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:09.280 why have I never thought of topping roasted cauliflowers? 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:13.520 Oh yeah, right, any kind of roasted veg just yeah, 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:15.199 like like pull it out of the oven or off 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.720 the grill and toss a little bit of kalamado olives 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.200 on there. Yeah, why wouldn't you? 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:30.880 It's what have I been doing? Anyway? Well, what about 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:31.760 the nutrition? 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.560 Olives are a good for you, but nutrient dense food. 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:38.280 They've got a bunch of good fats and proteins, plus 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:42.000 a bunch of vitamins and minerals and other micronutrients. A 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.120 surfing size is like five to eight olives, so like, 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.680 watch your portion sizes. They do contain a lot of 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:50.559 sodium too, so watch out for that if that's something 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:51.400 you're watching out for. 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:58.000 Dang all right, good to know, good to know. Well, 0:10:58.000 --> 0:10:59.800 we do have some numbers for you. 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.320 We do, okay, So as I said, cultivated olives all 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.640 belong to the same species, but there are over two 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:17.720 thousand different varieties. Grease produces the second most table olives 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:22.200 in the world after Spain, and Kalamada olives make up 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.559 a little bit less than a third of Greece's table 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:31.520 alive market, being the second most important cultivar that they produce. 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:37.240 Grease harvests around ninety thousand tons of Kalamada olives every 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:44.360 year from some thirteen nine hundred farms. About ninety percent 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.720 of those olives do go towards the production of table olives, 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.360 not olive oil, of those that are. Of those table 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.600 olives that are produced, eighty five percent are exported to 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:58.760 other countries, and of that total, about sixty percent are 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:00.440 pitted before being sold. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:06.720 Interesting because I ran into this trouble a lot in 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:10.240 the history section as well, whereas like how many were 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:14.560 being exported, how many were being pitted? Difficult? 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:18.040 Yeah, those are numbers from I want to say, right 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.679 around like twenty eighteen to twenty twenty. The PDF I 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:24.440 was reading wasn't dated. 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:27.800 I love it when, which is fun. 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:33.560 But the scientific paper that reference to the PDF was 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:37.240 from twenty twenty, so I strongly believe it was from 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:42.720 the past couple of years. I think that that also 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.319 because they're a natural product. Of course, you're going to 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.839 have different harvest numbers every year. I read a bunch 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:53.320 of different ones. Ninety ninety thousand tons seemed like a 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.960 decent recent one. 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:58.600 Yeah. Yeah. 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.520 If anyone was like in a life or death situation 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.520 where they needed to answer completely honestly about this, I 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:07.000 just want to make sure that you have the full story. 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.680 Wow, and also let us know what was going on. 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:22.040 I Hopeulley, you don't, but right right, Oh goodness, Okay. 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.559 Greece does hold a festival of olive oil and olives 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.440 every year. This year it was held in the city 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.640 of Kalamada in like late May early June. I think 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.719 it was in its tenth year, and that it's mostly 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:41.240 like an agriculture industry learning networking conference. They've got presentations 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:46.319 and exhibitions from researchers and other academics, plus representatives from farms, 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:52.800 oil mills, packagers, producers of the machinery and other technologies, buyers, exporters, 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:57.319 and the restaurant industry. They also have tastings and contests 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.920 for both table olives and olive oil us a cocktail 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:07.560 competition involving the winning olive oils, and apparently it is 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:13.679 the largest expo of its kind in the Mediterranean. Oh, listeners, please, 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.480 oh my goodness, let us know if you've been Oh 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:18.640 my goodness, Yes. 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:19.479 I'm involved. 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:24.240 Oh heck, it sounds really cool in a very niche, 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:30.240 agricultural nerdy kind of way. Yeah. And I will say, 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.920 because you made a face about the olive oil in 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:39.880 cocktails situation, y'all. And he definitely made a face. I 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.520 I was wondering about that being like a translation issue 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:48.320 as well. Certainly table olives can go into uh into cocktails, 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:54.040 But my dear and dearly departed friend Darryl did used 0:14:54.040 --> 0:15:00.000 to make a martini for his wife mel with all 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:03.880 of oil instead of olive brine, because she didn't like 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:09.160 olives but wanted the martini experience. And it was really 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:11.040 just a little floater of olive oil on there, like 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:14.240 a really nice robust one, so good with the vermouth 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:18.440 and the in the gin. Yeah, anyway, I. 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.720 Can see that working, especially if you have a good 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:21.800 quality olive oil. 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:26.120 Yeah, yeah, yeah, because kind of plays off of the 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.800 like fruity spicy flavors of the gin. Anyway. Okay, here 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:33.040 we are one last number for you. A mature olive 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:38.000 tree can produce some fifty thousand flowers a year, only 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:41.120 about one to two percent of which will actually develop 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:41.640 into fruit. 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:52.160 Huh. That's my brain is struggling to make sense with 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.360 those numbers because it seems like a lot and then 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:56.040 like a little. 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:00.520 I mean, but that's we love all of But that's 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.160 one to two percent. One to two percent of five 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:04.840 hundred thousand is still quite a bit. 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:12.320 Yes, that's true. That's true. Okay, okay, all right, Well 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.480 the history is quite tangly, but we do have a 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:18.480 history for you. 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:20.880 We do, and we are going to get into that 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:22.760 as soon as we get back from a quick break 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:24.520 for a word from our sponsors. 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:37.560 And we're back. Thank you sponsors, Yes, thank you. Okay, 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:45.160 different episode episodes, but olives in general are quite old. 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:48.840 Fossil evidence suggests that the leaves of olive us go 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:53.520 back over two point five million years, a long time. 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.400 They likely originated from what is now Syria and Asia Minor, 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:00.960 although I've seen a bunch of other their places floated 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:05.720 as well. Historians believe humans domesticated the olive tree around 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:08.200 eight thousand years ago, making it one of the first 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:14.080 trees people ever domesticated, which demonstrates the importance, perhaps of 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.040 this crop. Evidence indicates people were eating all of us 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:20.920 picked from the wild earlier than that, though at least 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:25.120 ten thousand years ago. The discovery that the olive could 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:30.280 be pressed for oil happened soon after domestication and changed 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:36.040 the landscape of so many cuisines. But again a separate 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:41.880 episode or probably episodes, because olive oil is huge, and 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:44.959 every thing I was reading wanted to make this all 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:48.119 about olive oil, so it was kind of complicated, and 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.760 here I am doing it, But just a couple facts 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:54.480 in here. In nineteen ninety seven and all of oil 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.800 press dating back six five hundred years was discovered. Older 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.840 presses going back eight thousand years have been discovered too, 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.879 so it was really happening in tandem. From what we know, 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:10.000 at least in their early days, the pits and oil 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:14.600 may have been used as a fuel for fires, but 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:20.760 olives not today olive oil. By eight hundred BCE, all 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:26.080 of cultivation was widespread across Greece. Kalamada alive specifically are 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:31.359 indigenous to Greece's Messenia region and particularly its capital and 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:35.520 port city, Kalamada, a location with local water resources and 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:39.000 a mild climate. A lot of the specifics are lost, 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.200 but the production of this variety was probably going strong 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.959 from about three hundred CE to the fourteen fifty CE. 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:48.720 They were a big part of the local diet but 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:55.040 also economically valuable. According to one source, one of the 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:59.760 first known written mentions of Kalamada olives particularly comes from Homer, 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:04.560 who described them as black as wine. They were eaten 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:09.280 as table olives, fermented with brine to make the bitterness palatable, 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:12.919 but a good chunk of olive production went to olive oil. 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:19.040 Certainly, table olives like klamados are one of the oldest 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:24.159 and most continually popular fermented vegetables of the Mediterranean basin. 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:30.919 Yes and Kalamada olives were prized by the ancient Greeks 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:34.160 for their flavor and perceived health benefits. From the early 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:38.480 days of their cultivation. Growers picked them by hand, and 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:43.280 then they went into a multitude of products on top 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.600 of that, olives in general or just a really popular 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:51.199 food stuff in the region. Soon that popularity spread from 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:53.960 Greece to other parts of Europe like Rome and Spain 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:58.159 and North Africa. Trees were planted via cuttings, and the 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:02.280 by products of olive oil production were used to feed livestock. 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.880 The tree was fairly hardy and long lasting, which made 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:11.520 it even more profitable. Olive oil could be used to trade, 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:15.480 and the all of itself gained a cultural significance in 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.919 places like Greece, where the olive branch became symbolic of peace. 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:24.439 Producing olives and olive oil was fairly lucrative for the region, 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:31.679 and entire cities focused almost entirely on growing olives. But 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:38.919 a lot of specifics around early production of Kalamada olives 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:44.199 are missing. Researchers have made educated guesses, though one is 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:47.400 that the early brine used was probably saltwater, and then 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:52.840 the olives were possibly flavored with available ingredients. Another thing, 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:58.720 because olives are such a historically culturally valuable product, there 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:01.760 has been discourse and are argument about who was growing them, 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:04.800 and who could grow them, and if they were as 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:08.639 commonplace in ancient Greece as we often have been told 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:12.000 as the narrative often goes or instead a luxury crop 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.600 grown and enjoyed by the wealthy. If you want to 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:20.600 learn more about that, entire books exist, which speaking of 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.240 fun rabbit hole of the episode, but a brief investigation 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:30.200 that I did suggest that people started stuffing pimentos into 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:33.359 olives in France in seventeen hundreds to mitigate some of 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:37.480 that bitterness, and the process was done by hand. This 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:40.840 was the earliest date I could find two people stuffing olives, 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:45.480 which people sometimes do with kalamados. But again this was 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:49.280 a real brief research session and I didn't even include 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:53.200 pimento in my search, but it was pretty much most 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.800 of what popped up. But I did learn that stuffed 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:01.439 all of innovations continue, and I'm interested to learn more 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:01.920 about it. 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:07.760 I do love like a blue cheese stuffed olive, or 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:08.960 like a feta stuffed olive. 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:13.880 It's really nice. Yeah, yes, my brief research indicates that's 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:17.520 relatively recent and I want to go down that rabbit 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:19.560 hole so bad maybe one day. 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:26.080 Yeah. Olives were grown pretty much only right around the 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:31.359 Mediterranean basin until European colonizers from that area started exporting 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:34.159 them as they traveled during like the fifteen hundreds on. 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.800 They mostly remained a Mediterranean product, though until like five 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:44.520 hundred years later, around the year two thousand, serious cultivation 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:50.040 efforts began in climate appropriate areas of China, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:50.840 and Chile. 0:22:51.920 --> 0:23:00.000 And then jumping way ahead confusing legally es all right, 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:04.920 nineteen ninety six, the European Union granted a protected designation 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:09.320 of origin to Kalamada olives produced in Messenia under its 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:13.639 Greek name. However, this caused some controversy amongst all of 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:17.600 girers outside of the region in Greece who grow olives 0:23:17.640 --> 0:23:20.320 using the same cultivar and felt like they should be 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:23.679 able to use the name. This went all the way 0:23:24.119 --> 0:23:27.440 up to the Supreme Court in Greece in twenty eighteen. 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:32.160 Yeah, and for a while there producers of Kalamada variety 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:35.760 olives outside of this Pedo area had to call their 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:39.440 olives kalaman olives, which I'm pretty sure is a synonym 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:42.640 in Greek, but isn't a well known term outside of. 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:48.920 Greece, so right, So in twenty twenty two, the government 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:52.080 decreed that all producers of this variety of olive could 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:56.240 use the Kalamada name in Greece. Perhaps obviously, the number 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:00.399 of exported Kalamada olives went up pretty significantly after that, 0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:03.199 which was sort of the crux of the whole argument 0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:07.159 for Greek all of farmers outside of that region. But 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:11.960 then producers outside of Greece started using the name, so 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:16.960 no one's happy, so say ya. Producers appealed this twenty 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:21.120 twenty two decision in hopes of re registering the regional 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:25.480 requirement of their products. In twenty twenty four, they registered 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:29.880 the alive on the World Intellectual Property Organization are WIPO, 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:33.440 which is an international legally binding register for things like 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:39.240 appellation of origin. It's actually way more complicated than all 0:24:39.280 --> 0:24:42.000 of this, so if you want to look into it, 0:24:42.040 --> 0:24:45.280 you can, and it's been going on for a long time, 0:24:45.359 --> 0:24:48.480 these legal battles and disputes around who can use the name. 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:54.680 Have been going on for decades and people have strong opinions, 0:24:55.320 --> 0:24:58.920 and the articles about them. I like, I'd never want 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:00.639 to make a light of something like that, this because 0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:04.360 it is people's livelihoods. Oh sure, yeah, but the articles 0:25:04.400 --> 0:25:07.320 around them are kind of like and then this person 0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:09.720 through shade this person, and it's. 0:25:09.640 --> 0:25:13.359 Just it's a lot of drama. It is, it is. 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:17.119 It comes off very dramatic and again, yes it is serious, 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:21.200 but it's sort of reported on like a reality TV 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:23.720 show and I'm like, what is going on? Yeah? 0:25:23.840 --> 0:25:26.600 Exactly, yeah, exactly. 0:25:28.520 --> 0:25:33.439 Other serious note. As with many agricultural products, climate change 0:25:33.640 --> 0:25:37.879 is affecting all of production. Recent droughts in places like Spain, 0:25:38.000 --> 0:25:41.800 France and Morocco have caused a drop in Kalamada crop yields. 0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:46.000 For example, in twenty twenty three, due to like weird 0:25:46.040 --> 0:25:49.920 temperatures and low rainfall, the oil producing segment of the 0:25:49.960 --> 0:25:53.560 Kalamada region was down about a third of its usual crop. 0:25:54.320 --> 0:25:56.680 I didn't see a number for the table producing areas, 0:25:56.720 --> 0:26:01.240 but still researchers are working on it though. The EU 0:26:01.520 --> 0:26:04.600 actually launched an all of Climate project in twenty twelve 0:26:04.680 --> 0:26:09.280 to help test technologies for like adaptation to and mitigation 0:26:09.400 --> 0:26:13.600 of climate change around the Mediterranean and specifically all of 0:26:13.920 --> 0:26:18.600 growing regions. The city of Kalamada is participating in a 0:26:18.800 --> 0:26:21.920 EU mission for one hundred cities to go climate neutral 0:26:21.960 --> 0:26:26.480 by twenty thirty, and farmers are integrating measures like solar power, 0:26:27.040 --> 0:26:31.159 optimized water use, reduction of plant waste through composting up, 0:26:31.240 --> 0:26:34.280 further boosting of soil health through crop irrigation with like 0:26:34.400 --> 0:26:36.520 nitrogen fixing legomes, etc. 0:26:38.920 --> 0:26:44.520 Yeah, people are definitely really thinking about this. 0:26:45.000 --> 0:26:48.600 Oh yeah, yeah, ways. 0:26:48.320 --> 0:26:53.600