[Sca-cooks] olives/olive oil question

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Stefan li Rous:
>Is olive oil pressed from
>fresh olives? Or from those that have been processed?

Fresh.

>  If fresh,
>then how come you can eat the oil with no problem, but the olives
>need to be processed?

 From the web page at

http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Olea_eur.html :

>Main constituents
>In leaves and fruits of the olive tree, a phenolic seco-iridoid called
>oleuropein is found; it is the hypotensive principle. Before pickling olives,
>the oleuropein is removed either by treatment with lye or by lactic
>fermentation; the remaining residues of oleuropein are sometimes said
>to prevent diseases resulting from high blood pressure.

Presumably oleuropein is water-soluble. Olive oil pressings are only
55% actual fat, though, so much of  the oleuropein may be left behind
after racking or skimming.

Adamantius