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FOOD

Cured

If your olive expertise is limited to whole versus pitted, here are a few to try from the rotating selection on our olive bar. Bella di Cerignola: Handpicked in the sunny fields of Puglia, Italy, these smooth, buttery beauties are known for their enormous size and crisp, meaty bite. Calamata (or Kalamata): These naturally cured deep purple, almond-shaped Greek table olives boast an intense smoky, tart olive flavor. California Sevillano: These plump, meaty Sicilian-cured green olives have a briny, buttery flavor. Also available in a garlicky marinade. Castelvetrano: Green-hued Sicilian Castelvetrano olivesaremeaty,withabutteryflesh,andasweet,mildflavor. Niçoise: Herbal French olives are a must for salade Niçoise and tapenade. Seasoned Black Greek Olives: These naturally cured Greek olives have a meaty texture and

O lives and olive oil are cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet, which encourages more plant-based foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts, and replacing butter with healthy fats like olive oil. Both are high in oleic acid, a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid, which has been found to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis and increase good cholesterol, and a good source of vitamin E. 90 percent of tree-ripened olives are turned into olive oil. (It generally takes over 1,000 olives to make one liter of oil.) Though olives are most closely associated with Mediterranean cuisine, they’re cultivated all over the world, especially wine regions where the climates — long hot summer and mild winters — are friendly to olive trees. Olive trees in hospitable climates like Italy, Spain and Greece can live for more than a century. All olives start out green and darken as they ripen, going from green to light brown to

reddish-brown to purple to black. (Olives are considered “green ripe” when they’ve reached full size but haven’t begun to change color.) Green olives picked at the start of the harvest season have a firm texture and a slightly nutty flavor. Darker olives picked toward the end of harvest are softer, meatier and have a richer flavor. The olives you’ll find on our shelves and olive bar have been cured. Olives should never be eaten raw. They contain the compound oleuropein, which makes them sharp and bitter, and need to undergo a curing process before they’re ready to eat. There are five types of curing used to leach out the oleurpoin: oil-curing, in which fully ripened olives are slowly fermented in brine, a process that intensifies the olive’s natural flavors; water-curing; air-curing; lye-curing, a Spanish method; and dry-curing, which involves storing the olives in salt for several months. Typically the longer olives are cured, the more multi-layer their flavor.

tart, slightly acidic, red-wine vinegar flavor. Warm Olives (Yields 1 cup) WHAT YOU WILL NEED Zest from 1 small lemon ¼ cup Rouses extra-virgin olive oil 1 small rosemary sprig 2 small garlic cloves,

thickly sliced chile threads (optional) cups mixed olives, such as Calamata, Cerignola, Niçoise, Sevillano and Castelvetrano

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HOW TO PREP With a zester carefully peel off a strip of the lemon skin, working top to bottom. Turn the lemon as you go so you remove only the yellow part. In amedium saucepan, combine the lemon zest with the olive oil, rosemary and garlic and cook over moderate heat until the garlic just begins to brown, about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the olives and let stand for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Olives are distinguished by variety (Calamata, Cerignola, Niçoise, etc.), the region where they are grown, when they are picked, and how they are cured.

Eat Right with Rouses

Healthy Fats “The days of encouraging low-fat diets may have backfired since it led to the belief that “low-fat” automatically implies the item is healthy. In fact, many low-fat foods are loaded with sugar or even sodium to compensate, which can bring on another world of problems. Thankfully, the blanket statement of “low-fat” is dissipating to give way to the phrase “healthy fats.” Healthy fats are unsaturated fats, specifically monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Unlike saturated fats that are solid at roomtemperature, unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature. Monounsaturated fats help lower cholesterol, while polyunsaturated fats can protect against heart disease.” —Esther, Rouses Dietitian

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