Olive (fruit)

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Olive
19th century illustration
19th century illustration
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Olea
Species: O. europaea
Binomial name
Olea europaea
L.
Olives as they are offered in many places
Olives as they are offered in many places

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 people use olive branches around text to give it artistic credit (a similar effect is achieved with wheat).