Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-03-27
OLIVES WILL Be HIGH.
CROPS ARE VERY SHORT IN FRANCE
SPAIN AND ITALY.
Some Facts That Will Be Interest
ing to CalifOrnians Who
Grow Olives.
New York Star. March 1s. 1891. |

NEW 1Ork Stdr Marcn 10, 1880.
Quite likely those who love olives will
md them an expensive luxury this year.
Table olives have gone up 20 per cent. in
Spain, the country from which most of the
olives brought to the United States are i'm
ported. The cause is short crop. Last
year about two hundred thousand gallons
OF Spanish olives were brought to this
country. This year scarcely two-thirds as
many will be imported. The crop of 1889
began to come in early in January. The
crop was harvested in August and Septem-
Der. In the olive-growing region of Spain
the olives are gathered by the farmers and
sold to local shopkeepers. These sell to
wholesalers, and the latter prepare the
olives for export. Olives intended for table
use are first saponified, which means
''soaped )" that is, the olives are treated
with alkali to neutralize the oil. When
this process is finished the olives are put in
brine, and in due time they are exported.
They reach this country In kegs, barrels
and hogsheads, holding from Is to $50
gallons.
The French olives come in packages con-
tanning from Is to 35 gallons. The small
est Spanish olives are larger than the
largest French olives, and the finest Span
ish olives are selected for expectation to
this country because people here are will
ing to pay the highest price for the best
The largest Spanish olives are the Repa-
drones. Ofthe largest of these about thirty
five make pound. 1t is an unusually fine
olive, however, that weighs half an ounce.
After the Repadrones come the Padrones,
then the Medisvas and the Reinas. or
Queen olives. There is also round Span.
ish olive known as the little apple" be-
sides many varieties unknown here
OF the French olives, only few thou
sand gallons come to the United States.
They are Vardalias, Picholines, Amelaux
and Crescents. The Vardalas are much
like the Spanish little apples" but smaller,
more oily, satier and greener All French
olives are rich in oil. The Picholines are
good but no longer popular The Amelaux
long, lemon shaped olives, were once
popular, but are not so now. The Cres-
scents, those little, salt sweet, sage-green
olives served at the French and Italian
tables d'hote, have superseded most other
French olives in the United States.
A few dried Tuscan olives are imported
into this country. They are stoned before
coming over, and the process of drying
are consume ed by resident Italians. Much
of the Italian olive crop is made into oil.
and in spite of the cottonseed oil that so
cleverly counterfeits it, olive oil is largely
imported into the United States. The best
comes from Tuscany, where it has been
made for centuries. The Italian olive crop
is short this year, and the price of oil will
be considerably higher than it has been for
several years. In consequence, cottonseed
oil will be more used than heretofore.
Far down town on the West Side is
great olive packing house. In spacious
cellar the newly imported olives are kept
in great hogsheads. sometimes $4,000
worth together. 1t is an agreeable thing to
go through this cellar and have an olive
fresh from the original brine" handed out
OF the hogshead for your delectaton. Those
who know the olive trade, buy their olives
in the original brine and find them much
better than those that have been bottled.
Few persons know this, however, and
most of the olives in this country are re-
tailed in quart glass jars. They are put up
in clear new brine, and look much cleaner
and prettier than the original brine, but
lack the rich flavor of those sold in the
latter condition.
The greater part of the olives imported
to this country are consumed here, but some
are eApOTteu W OOutQ America and few
of the finest go to England. In ordinary
years olives retail at 80 to 60 cents Quart.
but this year they are likely to reach rs to
80 cents, and they will be scarce at that.
Experts are able to distinguish the several
varieties of olives at a glance or bite, but
even an expert cannot ascertain the age of
an olive which has been properly cured.
With skillful caring, olives keep sweet
four or five years; but ill-cured olives lose
their favor within year. One reason of
the threatened shortness of the olive pack
this year is the fact that the reserve stores
in Europe have been exhausted by reason
of several recent short crops
There are a few olive groves in Califor
MIA but their fruit cuts no figure in com
merce, though some OF the groves date
back 200 years, to the time of the early
Spanish settlements. Many of the best
Spanish olives come from old trees. but
such trees usually bear full crop only
every other year. The demand for olives
in this country has steadily grown of late
years; and with the increase of Italian i'm
migration, the taste for this fruit has ex-
tended to all classes of the community, SO
that the olive is no longer luxury of the
rich.