The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1900-02-22
USES OF OLIVE OIL.
Verv Valuable in Medicine and
Manufacturing.
France Furnishes % with the Great
er Portion Consumed-HOw the
olives Are Harvested
and Handled.


Olives Are Harvested
and Handled.
Olive Oil suggests to the lay mind lit
tie beside salad; and statistics regard
ing the amount of olive oil imported
into the United States annually would
call up vistas of indigestion appalling
even in this dyspeptic nation. Then,
too, the facts about the adulteration of
olive oil are calculated to harrow the
feelings Of a people opposed, on general
principles, to being cheated by anyone
whose profits are not intended for
American use. National pride helps an
American to endure being cheated by
fellow countryman; but to be done"
by foreigner is gall and bitterness.
In the matter of adulterated olive oil,
however, Americans connive at their
own destruction. They cast their bread
upon the waters in the shape of cotton
seed oil exported to France and
Italy; and, after many days, it comes
back to them in bottles labeled pure
olive OIL" They pay for pure olive oil
plus the duty of so cents gallon. and
then eat their salad in content.
By far the largest share of our olive
oil is imported from France. The best
and the worst comes from Italy. The
olives Of Lucca, in fact of the whole
Tuscan district, are famous for their
flavor and make the most delicious olive
oil on the market; but the Italfans
haven't the practical business ability Of
the French, and have never made their
oil industry compete with, that OF
France. The market for French oil
is so great that the olive crop of France
is always inadequate to supply the de-
mand; and every year many French
manufacturers send into Italy, buy w
Italian oil, clarity it, and sell it under
their own labels.
In earlier days the olives were gath
cred by shaking the trees; but that
practice has been abandoned, because
it was proved that the bruising of the
fruit harmed the flavor of the oil. Now,
the olive pickers climb into the trees
and pick each olive separately, laying
it carefully in basket. The fruit is
crushed in presses much like our CT
der presses, and the oil is allowed to
stand until sediment forms. Then it
is poured off into another TASK and al
lowed to stand once more. After it is
fairly clear it is strained through cot
ton wool or through mixture of char
coal and sand, and is then ready for
adulteration and packing.
Fully three-fourths of the olive oil
on the market Is more or less adul-
terated, usually with cotton-seed oil;
but the quality of the olive oil generally
sold throughout the United States has
improved greatly within recent years.
There was a time when foreign manu-
facturers expressed in their own YER
nacular the theory that any old olive
oil would go in America; but the Amer
lean palate has been educated at con-
siderable expense, and to-day the
United States is the best market in the
world for the better grades of olive
oil. The oil is shipped in bottles or in
bulk. Some American dealers, among
them many of our most trustworthy
firms, prefer to buy oil in bulk, test it
and put it up under their own labels,
guaranteeing its purity. Other dealers
buy it in bulk for other reasons. They
buy good oil, adulterate it to suit their
wishes, and then bottle it under a fic-
titious foreign label. It is guaranteed
pure by some firm that does not exist.
The most trustworthy foreign makers
usually put up various grades of oil.
and their first quality grade is to be
trusted.
Only a comparatively small percent
age of the olive oil imported by this
country is used for culinary purposes.
Large quantities Of the purest brands
are employed for medicinal use, the
remarkable remedial and -alimentary
value of the pure oil being well-es-
tablished fact in medicine. In the
treatment of gall stones it has been
found an efficacious agent; and in other
diseases, tuberculosis, scrofula, amaze
mia, etc., its curative qualities are of
great value.
Hundreds of gallons of olive oil are
also imported annually for use in the
preparation of soaps, pomades and To-
tons of all kinds; and yet pure olive
oil soap is rare as the dodo. Great guam
titles of the cheapest quality of oil are
used in our silk and wooden factories.
It is made from the pulp of the olives
after all the best of the oil has been
extracted, is shipped in large wooden
casks and is admitted free of duty be-
cause intended for use in American
manufacture.
A well-known New York importer,
when asked about the grades Of olive
oil, said:
II have just ordered 200 gallons Of
French and Italian oil. About two
thirds of it will be pure. The rest win
be adulterated with my full knowledge
and consent. A great many consumers
will not pay a price for olive oil which
will enable us to pay the duty on pure
oil and make a profit. They say that
there are oils on the market for lower
price and that they will buy them. We
must meet competition; but our first
grade of oil is absolutely reliable, and
don't mind telling you that when
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