Olives belong on every Turkish breakfast table. Here are the best-known Turkish olive varieties, the difference between black and green olives and how to spot artificially blackened ones.
Black vs. green olives
Both grow on the same tree. Green olives are harvested before they ripen and are firmer and slightly bitter. Black olives ripen on the tree, turn dark purple to black and taste milder and oilier.
How to spot dyed black olives
- Check the ingredients: E 579 (ferrous gluconate) or E 585 (ferrous lactate) means the olives were blackened.
- Naturally ripened olives are not uniformly jet-black but dark purple-brown.
- In Germany such olives are often labelled „geschwärzt“.
Turkish olive varieties
| Variety | Region | In short |
|---|---|---|
| Sele | Akhisar | Black olives cured in baskets with salt. → Sele olives |
| Gemlik | Bursa | Small, oily black breakfast olives. |
| Domat | Akhisar | Large green olives, often stuffed or cracked. |
| Ayvalık | North Aegean | Best known for olive oil. |
Olive oil
For salads and dipping use extra virgin olive oil: Lychnos Extra Virgin 750 ml; for daily cooking a large tin: Lychnos 5 l.
FAQ
What are olives called in Turkish?
Zeytin; black olives are siyah zeytin, green olives yeşil zeytin, olive oil zeytinyağı.
Are black olives dyed?
Some are – look for E 579 or E 585 on the label.
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