Olive Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers
What was olive oil used for in ancient Greece?
A: To anoint kings and athletes.
Where was olive oil burnt?
A: In the sacred lamps of temples as well as being the "eternal flame" of the
original Olympic Games.
Victors in the Olympic games were crowned with what?
A: Olive leaves.
It was purely a matter of local pride that the Athenians
claimed what?
A: That the olive grew first in Athens.
According to Pliny the Elder what grew in the middle of the
Roman Forum?
A: A vine, a fig and an olive tree.
Mentioned several times in the New Testament is "what" east
of Jerusalem
A: The Mount of Olives.
In what religious text is the olive tree and olive oil
mentioned seven times?
A: In the Quran.
In the Quran the olive is praised as a what?
A: A precious fruit.
Olives are substitutes for what (if not available) during
Ramadan fasting?
A: Dates.
90% of all harvested olives are turned in to what?
A: Oil, while about 10% are used as table olives.
Table olives are classified by the IOC into 3 groups
according to the degree of ripeness achieved before what?
A: Harvesting.
What are the three classifications?
A: 1. Green Olives, 2. Semi-ripe or Turning
Color Olives, 3. Black Olives or
Ripe Olives.
Green olives are picked when they have obtained full size,
but before what?
A: Before the ripening cycle has begun.
Semi-ripe olives are picked at the beginning of the
ripening cycle, when the color has begun to change from green to what?
A: Multi-color shades of red to brown.
Black, or ripe olives are picked at full maturity when
what?
A: Fully ripe.
Raw or fresh olives are naturally what?
A: Very bitter.
What must be done to olives to make them palatable?
A: They must be cured and fermented, thereby removing oleuropein, a bitter
phenolic compound.
The curing process may take from a few days, with lye, to
how long with brine or salt packing?
A: A few months.
With the exception of California style and
salt cured
olives, all methods of curing involve a major fermentation involving what?
A: Bacteria and yeast that is of equal importance to the final table olive
product.
Farmers in ancient times believed that olive trees would
not grow well if planted more than what?
A: A certain distance from the sea.
Olives are now cultivated in many regions of the
world with
what?
A: Mediterranean
climates, such as
South Africa, Chile,
Peru, Australia, and
California.
In 2011, how many hectares were there planted with olive
trees in the world?
A: About 9.6 million hectares.
That is more than twice the amount of land devoted to what?
A: Apples, bananas or mangoes.
When are olives harvested?
A: In the autumn and winter.
In the Northern hemisphere, when are green olives picked?
A: At the end of September to about the middle of November.
In the Northern hemisphere, blond olives are picked from
when to when?
A: From the middle of October to the end of November.
In the Northern hemisphere, when are black olives
harvested?
A: From the middle of November to the end of January or early February.
How are most olives harvested today?
A: By shaking the boughs or the whole tree.