Olive (fruit)
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For other uses, see Olive (disambiguation)
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 19th century illustration
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| Olea europaea L. |
The olive (Olea europaea) is the fruit of the olive tree or "oliver". It is an important food crop in Italy, Spain and especially in Greece among other countries around the Mediterranean. It is naturally very bitter, but after a long time in salt, it becomes a very tasty and healthy food (though extremely fatty - it is one of the fattiest cooking oils in use surpassing palm, canola and other vegetable oils). Olive oil is the juice produced by crushing olives. In Roman literature, the olive branch is used as a symbol of peace: "extending the olive branch". Lots of important writers and illustrators use olive branches around text to give it a greater artistic credit (a similar effect is achieved with wheat).
