Here's everything worth knowing about greek olives and how to pick them, what they are, how to store them, and what to use instead, plus 15 recipes to cook tonight.

What are greek olives?

Greek olives are tree-ripened olives cured in brine, the kind that taste boldly of salt and ripe fruit with the wood-and-vinegar tang of real fermentation. Kalamata is the famous one: a deep purple-black, almond-shaped olive with firm, meaty flesh. The category also covers green Halkidiki and the wrinkly, oil-cured throumba.

What sets them apart is the cure. Greek olives are brined or salt-cured slowly, so they keep their fruity bite and their pit. That is the opposite of the bland canned "black olive" you slide onto a finger.

You will find them whole with the pit in, plus pitted and pre-sliced jars. Most are packed in brine, sometimes a little oil, occasionally with herbs and garlic.

How to Use Greek Olives

Their job is to deliver a salty, briny punch in one bite, so they go in late and in moderation. A handful turns a plain salad Greek.

The feta and crisp vegetables in a classic Greek Salad with Peppers need those dark olives for contrast, and Greek Millet Salad scatters them through grains the same way.

Chop them into a tapenade or dip. Pulse pitted Greek olives with olive oil and garlic, then add a little lemon to cut the richness, and you have the salty backbone of something like Greek Pita Dip.

They hold up to heat, so they go into braises and baked fish. Baked Salmon Provencale and Halibut Steaks Marengo tuck olives in with tomato and herbs, where the brine seasons the whole dish as it cooks.

Tuna & Olive spaghetti and Pistachio Olive Bread show the same trick in pasta and a savory loaf.

Olives also love a sandwich. Greek Sandwich and Greek Salad Sandwich lean on them for the salty hit that cuts through bread and cheese.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Greek olives pair with the flavors of their home: feta and tomato, cucumber and oregano, lemon and good olive oil. Their saltiness also flatters oily fish, lamb, and roasted peppers, anything that welcomes a sharp, briny edge.

The biggest mistake is salting a dish that already has olives in it. They are cured in heavy brine, so taste and adjust seasoning at the very end, after the olives have given up their salt.

The second is forgetting the pits. Most Greek olives are sold with the pit in, since pitting before the cure would let brine wash out the flavor.

Always warn anyone at the table. Never assume a "pitted" jar is fully pit-free, because a stray stone slips through and cracks a tooth.

To pit one quickly, lay it flat and press with the side of a knife until the flesh splits, then pop the stone out. It bruises the olive, which is fine for chopping but not for a whole-olive garnish.

Greek Olives vs Canned Black Olives

These are not the same product. California black olives are picked unripe, cured in lye to strip bitterness fast, then darkened with oxygen and a touch of iron, which is why they come out uniformly black and soft, mild to the point of bland.

Greek olives are picked riper and brine-cured slowly, keeping a firmer, meatier texture and a complex, fruity-salty flavor. If a recipe wants a real olive presence, the canned kind cannot stand in. Use the canned ones only where you want color and a soft, neutral bite.

Buying and Storing

Buy Greek olives from the deli olive bar or in a jar, choosing ones that look plump and glossy rather than shriveled or mushy. Pit-in olives generally taste better than pre-pitted, which lose a little flavor to the brine.

Keep them submerged in their brine. The liquid is the preservative, so an olive left exposed above the line dries out and spoils faster. Top up a low jar with your own brine of one teaspoon salt per cup of water if needed.

Stored covered in brine in the fridge, opened olives keep for several weeks, often a couple of months. Use a clean utensil each time, since crumbs and stray oil in the jar shorten their life.

Do not pour off the brine when you finish. Save it to season a dressing or a marinade, or to pour into a dirty martini; it carries the same concentrated flavor as the olives.

Quick facts

In Chinese

希腊橄榄

British (UK) term

Greek olives

en français

olives grecques

en español

aceitunas griegas

Recipes using greek olives

There are 15 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 15 recipes