We already know that olives do grow in Britain, and I've just found another
example.

We were at Clacton Pier today and they have three olive trees in enormous
pots at the front of the pier.

All three had black (now slightly wrinkled) olives - a good crop on each
tree.

When I have time I'll post the pictures.

Cheers

Dave R

David WE Roberts wrote:
We already know that olives do grow in Britain, and I've just found
another example.

We were at Clacton Pier today and they have three olive trees in
enormous pots at the front of the pier.

All three had black (now slightly wrinkled) olives - a good crop on each
tree.

When I have time I'll post the pictures.

Cheers

Dave R

Strange that passers by didn't pick them when ripe. Nowadays we tend to
regard anything not on a supermarket shelf as inedible. I guess the
birds weren't interested either- can't say I blame them.

Uncured olives are almost inedible, and being black won't catch the birds' attention. Also, if they are in pots, they belong to someone, so taking the crop is theft.

Olives can ripen sufficiently to be edible without curing, and are available in that condition in Morocco. I've eaten them in that condition found in an olive grove in Marrakech in early January. I think you may need a warm enough climate for them to get that far without rotting though.

Then why do blackbirds raid the blackcurrant bushes and later in the year the blackberries and elderberries

On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:03:31 -0500, beccabunga
wrote:

Uncured olives are almost inedible, and being black won't catch the
birds' attention.

I've picked and eaten ripe olives in Greece. They were quite good but
the flavour was very different to cured olives. I've also had uncured
olives that tasted very bitter.

Steve

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"echinosum" wrote in message
...

beccabunga;877486 Wrote:
Uncured olives are almost inedible, and being black won't catch the
birds' attention. Also, if they are in pots, they belong to someone, so
taking the crop is theft.
Olives can ripen sufficiently to be edible without curing, and are
available in that condition in Morocco. I've eaten them in that
condition found in an olive grove in Marrakech in early January. I think
you may need a warm enough climate for them to get that far without
rotting though.

A couple of ripe olives found their way into my pocket while I was crossing
the Atlas Mountains in Morocco about ten years ago.

The two small trees, ca. 2 ft. high, are now growing here in pots and I
put them outside every summer. The leaves are smaller and shinier green
than the usual olive tree, but a nice souvenir of a good holiday.

echinosum wrote:

Olives can ripen sufficiently to be edible without curing, and are
available in that condition in Morocco. I've eaten them in that
condition found in an olive grove in Marrakech in early January. I think
you may need a warm enough climate for them to get that far without
rotting though.

Mine were black, and soft, and - bloody awful until cured.

--
Rusty