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72-612: Tintina is a municipality and village in Santiago del Estero in Argentina . This article about a place in Santiago del Estero Province , Argentina is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 27°02′S 62°43′W  /  27.033°S 62.717°W  / -27.033; -62.717 Santiago del Estero The city houses the National University of Santiago del Estero , founded in 1973, and

144-513: A city wall, will be long in falling to decay if tied in this manner. Olives were one of the main elements in ancient Israelite cuisine . Olive oil was used for not only food and cooking, but also lighting, sacrificial offerings, ointment , and anointment for priestly or royal office. The olive tree is one of the first plants mentioned in the Hebrew Bible , and one of the most significant. An olive branch (or leaf, depending on translation)

216-478: A few days with lye, to a few months with brine or salt packing. With the exception of California style and salt-cured olives, all methods of curing involve a major fermentation involving bacteria and yeast that is of equal importance to the final table olive product. Traditional cures, using the natural microflora on the fruit to induce fermentation, lead to two important outcomes: the leaching out and breakdown of oleuropein and other unpalatable phenolic compounds, and

288-697: A highly successful commercial venture from the 1860s onward. In Japan, the first successful planting of olive trees happened in 1908 on Shodo Island , which became the cradle of olive cultivation in Japan. In 2016, olive oil production started in India , with olive saplings planted in Rajasthan's Thar Desert . Favoured by climate warming, several small-scale olive production farms have also been established at fairly high latitudes in Europe and North America since

360-568: A piece of the trunk, the root, a twig, or a stake. According to Pliny the Elder a vine, a fig tree and an olive tree grew in the middle of the Roman Forum ; the olive was planted to provide shade. (The garden was recreated in the 20th century). The Roman poet Horace mentions it in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: "As for me, olives, endives , and smooth mallows provide sustenance." Lord Monboddo comments on

432-474: A protected area situated on the border between the provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero, where a group of iron meteorites were found, estimated as having fallen in a Holocene impact event some 4,000–5,000 years ago. In 2015, Police arrested four alleged smugglers trying to steal more than a ton of protected meteorites. ) The city was the capital of the Intendency of San Miguel de Tucumán during

504-444: A rock to hasten the fermentation process. The olives are stored for a period of up to a year in a container with salt water, lemon juice, lemon peels, laurel and olive leaves, and rosemary. Some recipes may contain white vinegar or olive oil. Most commonly applied to green olive preparation, around 60% of all the world's table olives are produced with this method. Olives are soaked in lye (dilute NaOH, 2–4%) for 8–10 hours to hydrolyse

576-504: A single primary cultivar and a secondary cultivar selected for its ability to fertilize the primary one. In recent times, efforts have been directed at producing hybrid cultivars with qualities useful to farmers, such as resistance to disease, quick growth, and larger or more consistent crops. Fossil evidence indicates that the olive tree had its origins 20–40 million years ago in the Oligocene , in what now corresponds to Italy and

648-422: A very close succession of ties made of charred olive wood, binding the two faces of the wall together like pins, to give it lasting endurance. For that is a material which neither decay, nor the weather, nor time can harm, but even though buried in the earth or set in the water it keeps sound and useful forever. And so not only city walls but substructures in general and all walls that require a thickness like that of

720-502: Is a very short, humid season between December and February, with up to 140 millimetres (6 in) monthly; however, this rain falls during a handful of very strong thunderstorms, and so the amount that falls on a given year is extremely variable. Fall is still warm, with average highs of 27 °C (80.6 °F) in April, and lows of 14 °C (57.2 °F). Temperatures can still soar to 40 °C (104.0 °F) in this season. Rainfall

792-744: Is also the most recommended and best possible oil for the lighting of the Shabbat candles . Due to its importance in the Hebrew Bible, the olive has significant national meaning in modern Israeli culture. Two olive branches appear as part of Israel's emblem and the olive tree is Israel's national tree. [1] Apart from being mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament ), olives play an important role in Christianity. The Mount of Olives , east of Jerusalem ,

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864-511: Is also very dry in Santiago. The high temperatures, extreme dryness and high winds create a very dusty environment. In October, the average high is already 31 °C (87.8 °F), and rainfall only arrives in late November. December is as hot as January, and the abundant rains make the landscape green for a few months. Total precipitation is low, 609 millimetres (24 in), and varies from one year to another. Some important figures related to

936-520: Is highest in Greece, followed by Italy and Spain. The composition of olive oil varies with the cultivar, elevation, time of harvest and extraction process. It consists mainly of oleic acid (up to 83%), with smaller amounts of other fatty acids including linoleic acid (up to 21%) and palmitic acid (up to 20%). Extra virgin olive oil is required to have no more than 0.8% free acidity and fruity flavor characteristics. Table olives are classified by

1008-606: Is known as Olea europaea ' Montra ' , dwarf olive , or little olive . The species is cultivated in all the countries of the Mediterranean , as well as in Australia, New Zealand, North and South America and South Africa. It is the type species for its genus, Olea . The tree and its fruit give their name to the Oleaceae plant family, which also includes species such as lilac , jasmine , forsythia , and

1080-808: Is mentioned several times in the New Testament . The Allegory of the Olive Tree in St Paul's Epistle to the Romans refers to the scattering and gathering of Israel. It compares the Israelites to a tame olive tree and the Gentiles to a wild olive branch. The olive tree itself, as well as olive oil and olives, play an important role in the Bible. The olive tree and olive oil are mentioned seven times in

1152-412: Is more subdued than other methods. The brine is changed on a regular basis to help remove the phenolic compounds, and a series of progressively stronger concentrations of salt are added until the product is fully stabilized and ready to be eaten. Applied to green, semi-ripe, or ripe olives, these are soaked in water or weak brine and this solution is changed on a daily basis for 10–14 days. The oleuropein

1224-561: Is one of the most important cultural aspects of the city, with typical folklore chacarera and zamba . Some renowned artists and groups include the Manseros Santiagueños, the Ábalos Brothers (led by Adolfo and Alfredo Ábalos), Jacinto Piedra and Dúo Coplanacu. The city is home to the Asociación Atlética Quimsa , 2015 champion of Argentina's Liga Nacional de Básquet . The team plays its home games at

1296-537: Is produced by the yeast fermentation, lactic, acetic, or citric acid is often added to the fermentation stage to stabilize the process. Applied to green, semi-ripe, or ripe olives, they are soaked in lye typically for longer periods than Spanish style (e.g. 10–72 hours) until the solution has penetrated three-quarters of the way into the fruit. They are then washed and immediately brined and acid corrected with citric acid to achieve microbial stability. Fermentation still occurs carried out by acidogenic yeast and bacteria but

1368-517: Is scarce, and becomes practically 0 for 5 months: in July, only 3.7 millimetres (0 in) are expected. Winters bring very pleasant days (20 °C (68.0 °F)) with markedly colder nights (under 6 °C (42.8 °F)). Nonetheless, these averages are obtained through an alternance of heat waves and cold waves: short periods of 28 to 35 °C (82.4 to 95.0 °F) are followed by frosty days with highs around 12 °C (53.6 °F), and sometimes

1440-666: Is table olives which can be stored without refrigeration. Fermentations dominated by lactic acid bacteria are, therefore, the most suitable method of curing olives. Yeast-dominated fermentations produce a different suite of metabolites which provide poorer preservation, so they are corrected with an acid such as citric acid in the final processing stage to provide microbial stability. The many types of preparations for table olives depend on local tastes and traditions. The most important commercial examples are listed below. Applied to green, semiripe, or ripe olives. Olives are soaked in salt water for 24–48 hours. Then they are slightly crushed with

1512-473: Is the oldest city in Argentina, it preserves little of its former Spanish colonial architecture , except for several churches. In 1576, the governor of a province in northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a huge mass of iron, which he had heard that Natives used for their weapons. They called the area "Heavenly Fields," translated into Spanish as Campo del Cielo . (This term now refers to

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1584-435: Is typically gnarled and twisted. The small, white, feathery flowers , with ten-cleft calyx and corolla , two stamens , and bifid stigma , are borne generally on the previous year's wood, in racemes springing from the axils of the leaves. The fruit is a small drupe 1–2.5 cm ( 3 ⁄ 8 –1 in) long when ripe, thinner-fleshed and smaller in wild plants than in orchard cultivars. Olives are harvested in

1656-592: The Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (People's Revolutionary Army, ERP ), the two leading guerrilla organizations during the wave of unrest in the 1970s. The city is home to numerous important Argentine artists, such as Ramon Gómez Cornet , Carlos Sánchez Gramajo, Alfredo Gogna, Ricardo and Rafael Touriño in visual arts, and Jorge Washington Ábalos, Bernardo Canal Feijóo, Clementina Rosa Quenel, Alberto Tasso, Carlos Virgilio Zurita and Julio Carreras (h) in literature. Santiago's musical heritage

1728-516: The Acropolis ; it was still to be seen there in the second century AD; and when Pausanias was shown it c. 170 AD, he reported "Legend also says that when the Persians fired Athens the olive was burnt down, but on the very day it was burnt it grew again to the height of two cubits ." Indeed, olive suckers sprout readily from the stump, and the great age of some existing olive trees shows that it

1800-645: The Belgrano and Mitre railways. An elevated commuter rail line known as Tren al Desarrollo is under construction in the city, connecting Santiago del Estero to the city of La Banda . Notes : Under construction, work in progress Santiago del Estero lies in a transition zone between more temperate climates, typical of the Pampa, and the hotter climates of the Chaco region: while daytime highs are decidedly very hot, nights tend to cool down more than most locations in

1872-760: The Estadio Ciudad de Santiago del Estero . In 2021, the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades was inaugurated in Santiago del Estero. The stadium is expected to host ten matches of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup . Olive The olive , botanical name Olea europaea , meaning 'European olive', is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae , found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin , with wild subspecies found further afield in Africa and western Asia . When in shrub form, it

1944-689: The International Olive Council (IOC) into three groups according to the degree of ripeness achieved before harvesting: Raw or fresh olives are naturally very bitter; to make them palatable, olives must be cured and fermented , thereby removing oleuropein , a bitter phenolic compound that can reach levels of 14% of dry matter in young olives. In addition to oleuropein, other phenolic compounds render freshly picked olives unpalatable and must also be removed or lowered in quantity through curing and fermentation. Generally speaking, phenolics reach their peak in young fruit and are converted as

2016-725: The Linear B syllabic script. The olive tree, Olea europaea , is an evergreen tree or shrub native to Mediterranean Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is short and squat and rarely exceeds 8–15 m (25–50 ft) in height. 'Pisciottana', a unique variety comprising 40,000 trees found only in the area around Pisciotta in the Campania region of southern Italy , often exceeds this, with correspondingly large trunk diameters. The silvery green leaves are oblong, measuring 4–10 cm ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 –4 in) long and 1–3 cm ( 3 ⁄ 8 – 1 + 3 ⁄ 16  in) wide. The trunk

2088-505: The Quran , and the olive is praised as a precious fruit. Olive tree and olive oil health benefits have been propounded in prophetic medicine. Muhammad is reported to have said: "Take oil of olive and massage with it – it is a blessed tree" ( Sunan al-Darimi , 69:103). Olives are substitutes for dates (if not available) during Ramadan fasting, and olive tree leaves are used as incense in some Muslim Mediterranean countries. In Palestine

2160-681: The Universidad Católica , founded in 1960. Other points of interest include the city's Cathedral , the Santo Domingo Convent, and the Provincial Archeology Museum. The Santiago del Estero Airport is located 6 kilometres north of the city, and has regular flights to Buenos Aires and San Miguel de Tucumán . The climate is subtropical with cool dry winters and wet humid summers. It receives an average annual precipitation of 600 mm, and

2232-514: The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata , and first seat of its bishop; those were later moved to Salta and Córdoba respectively. Santiago del Estero stands in the middle of an extensive but largely semi-arid agricultural region. Originally a dry forest area, the abundance of quebracho attracted timber industries of British capital during the 19th century, leading to extensive deforestation;

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2304-461: The vine , but he makes clear (in 1.16.10) that the cultivated olive must be vegetatively propagated; indeed, the pits give rise to thorny, wild-type olives, spread far and wide by birds. Theophrastus reports how the bearing olive can be grafted on the wild olive, for which the Greeks had a separate name, kotinos . In his Enquiry into Plants (2.1.2–4) he states that the olive can be propagated from

2376-501: The 1950s on, though the public sector remained the largest employer. Santiago del Estero's population reached 100,000 in 1970. The province, however, remained one of the poorest in Argentina, falling further behind. In 1993, the city made international headlines when rioting erupted around the governor's mansion. What began as a protest by government workers who had not been paid in three months, soon grew to 4,000 demonstrators who burned cars, destroyed government buildings and even invaded

2448-568: The British-owned Central Argentine Railway reached the city in 1884. The province, in 1948, elected a young Peronist activist, Carlos Arturo Juárez , as its Governor. Santiago del Estero's central political figure during the second half of the 20th century, he soon became indispensable to local politics (even out of power). A true Caudillo (strongman), his amiable demeanor belied a record of ruthlessness towards opposition figures. The construction of

2520-525: The Chaco. It has a hot semi-arid climate ( BSh ) bordering on a humid subtropical climate ( Cwa ) under the Köppen climate classification . The city is notorious for its very hot summer weather: the average high is 34 °C (93.2 °F) and 40 °C (104.0 °F) are attained on a regular basis; the highest temperature on record is 46.5 °C (115.7 °F) on November 1, 2009. Nighttime temperatures are 20 °C (68.0 °F) in midsummer. There

2592-498: The Spanish type fermentation process, but the lye treatment process is skipped and the olives are placed directly in fermentation vessels full of brine (8–12% NaCl). The brine is changed on a regular basis to help remove the phenolic compounds. As the caustic treatment is avoided, lactic acid bacteria are only present in similar numbers to yeast and appear to be outdone by the abundant yeasts found on untreated olives. As very little acid

2664-468: The United Nations adopted in 1946 is a world map with two olive branches. The olive tree, Olea europaea , has been cultivated for olive oil, fine wood, olive leaf , ornamental reasons, and the olive fruit. About 80% of all harvested olives are turned into oil, while about 20% are used as table olives. The olive is one of the "trinity" or "triad" of basic ingredients in Mediterranean cuisine ,

2736-549: The archaic Proto-Greek form *ἐλαίϝα (* elaíwa ) ( Classic Greek ἐλαία elaía 'olive fruit; olive tree'. The word oil originally meant 'olive oil', from ŏlĕum , ἔλαιον ( élaion 'olive oil'). The word for 'oil' in multiple other languages also ultimately derives from the name of this tree and its fruit. The oldest attested forms of the Greek words are Mycenaean 𐀁𐀨𐀷 , e-ra-wa , and 𐀁𐀨𐀺 , e-ra-wo or 𐀁𐁉𐀺 , e-rai-wo , written in

2808-429: The cities of Cordoba , Rosario and Buenos Aires to the south and San Miguel de Tucumán , Salta and San Salvador de Jujuy to the north. National Route 64 connects the city to San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca , the capital of Catamarca Province . In November 2008, a new long-distance bus terminal was inaugurated, replacing the previous bus terminal in the city. The city has historically been connected through

2880-426: The city of Santiago del Estero; the former strongman died in 2010. The Vicecomodoro Ángel de la Paz Aragonés Airport was built in 1959 and currently has flights to and from Buenos Aires operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas . In recent years it has been refurbished and expanded given that it was operating at full capacity. The city's main road connection to other provinces is National Route 9 , which connects it to

2952-583: The climate is warm. Santiago del Estero and its surroundings are home to about 100,000 speakers of the local variety of Quechua , making it the southernmost outpost of the language of the Incas . It is one of the few indigenous languages surviving in modern Argentina. After a series of exploratory expeditions from Chile starting in 1543, Santiago del Estero del Nuevo Maestrazgo was founded on July 25, 1553, by Francisco de Aguirre (although some historians consider its true foundation to be in 1550). Although it

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3024-468: The community that do not possess land. This is practised through the tradition of leaving fruit on a tree during the harvest so that those who do not have land and are unable to take part in the harvest can still reap the benefits. The Great Seal of the United States first used in 1782 depicts an eagle clutching an olive branch in one of its talons, indicating the power of peace. The Flag of

3096-628: The early 21st century. There were an estimated 865 million olive trees in the world as of 2005, and the vast majority of these were found in Mediterranean countries, with traditionally marginal areas accounting for no more than 25% of olive-planted area and 10% of oil production. Olives are thought to have been domesticated in the third millennium BC at the latest, at which point they, along with grain and grapes, became part of Colin Renfrew 's Mediterranean triad of staple crops that fueled

3168-667: The eastern Mediterranean Basin. Around 100,000 years ago, olives were used by humans in Africa, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, for fuel and most probably for consumption. Wild olive trees, or oleasters, have been collected in the Eastern Mediterranean since ~19,000 BP. The genome of cultivated olives reflects their origin from oleaster populations in the Eastern Mediterranean. The olive plant

3240-645: The emergence of more complex societies. Olives, and especially (perfumed) olive oil, became a major export product during the Minoan and Mycenaean periods. Dutch archaeologist Jorrit Kelder proposed that the Mycenaeans sent shipments of olive oil, probably alongside live olive branches, to the court of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten as a diplomatic gift. In Egypt, these imported olive branches may have acquired ritual meanings, as they are depicted as offerings on

3312-402: The fruit matures. Once ripening occurs, the levels of phenolics sharply decline through their conversion to other organic products, which render some cultivars edible immediately. One example of an edible olive native to the island of Thasos is the throubes black olive, which becomes edible when allowed to ripen in the sun, shrivel, and fall from the tree. The curing process may take from

3384-424: The generation of favourable metabolites from bacteria and yeast, such as organic acids, probiotics, glycerol, and esters, which affect the sensory properties of the final table olives. Mixed bacterial/yeast olive fermentations may have probiotic qualities. Lactic acid is the most important metabolite, as it lowers the pH, acting as a natural preservative against the growth of unwanted pathogenic species. The result

3456-568: The green to purple stage. O. europaea contains a pyrena commonly referred to in American English as a "pit", and in British English as a "stone". The six natural subspecies of Olea europaea are distributed over a wide range: The subspecies europaea is divided into two varieties , the europaea , which was formerly named Olea sativa , with the seedlings called "olivasters", and silvestris , which corresponds to

3528-657: The history of Santiago del Estero are Colonel Juan Francisco Borges , who led the local battalion of the Army of the North during the Argentine War of Independence (and an ancestor of writer Jorge Luis Borges ), the 19th-century painter Felipe Taboada, as well as Francisco René and Mario Roberto Santucho , founders of the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (Workers' Revolutionary Party, PRT ) and

3600-658: The homes of prominent politicians. Juárez, by the 1990s, was readily ordering his opponents' deaths, notably that of former Governor César Iturre in 1996 and of Bishop Gerardo Sueldo in 1998. The 2002 deaths of two local women, however, were traced to Juárez's assassin, Antonio Musa Azar, and in an attempt to retain power, Juárez resigned (appointing his wife, Nina Juárez , governor). The bid failed, however, as President Néstor Kirchner signed an executive order removing Mrs. Juárez from her post in March 2004. The Juárez couple, in their nineties, subsequently lived under house arrest in

3672-758: The leaves. The same insect is commonly found today on olive leaves, showing that the plant-animal co-evolutionary relations have not changed since that time. Other leaves found on the same island are dated back to 60,000 BP, making them the oldest known olives from the Mediterranean. Olives are not native to the Americas . Spanish colonists brought the olive to the New World , where its cultivation prospered in present-day Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. The first seedlings from Spain were planted in Lima by Antonio de Rivera in 1560. Olive tree cultivation quickly spread along

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3744-500: The natural microbiota present on the olives that survive the lye treatment process. Many organisms are involved, usually reflecting the local conditions or terroir of the olives. During a typical fermentation gram-negative enterobacteria flourish in small numbers at first but are rapidly outgrown by lactic acid bacteria species such as Leuconostoc mesenteroides , Lactobacillus plantarum , Lactobacillus brevis and Pediococcus damnosus . These bacteria produce lactic acid to help lower

3816-532: The nearby Quiroga Dam (on the Río Dulce ) in 1950, eased the city's chronic water shortage and spurred the growth of local agriculture, based on cotton and olives . The city's first school of higher education, the Instituto Superior del Profesorado (a normal school ), was established in 1953. The city developed a sizable manufacturing sector based on textile mills and other light industry from

3888-620: The old wildly growing Mediterranean species O. oleaster , with the seedlings called "oleasters". The sylvestris is characterized by a smaller, shrubby tree that produces smaller fruits and leaves. The subspecies O. e. cerasiformis is tetraploid , and O. e. maroccana is hexaploid . Wild-growing forms of the olive are sometimes treated as the species Olea oleaster , or "oleaster." The trees referred to as " white " and " black " olives in Southeast Asia are not actually olives but species of Canarium . Hundreds of cultivars of

3960-410: The oleuropein. They are usually considered "treated" when the lye has penetrated two-thirds of the way into the fruit. They are then washed once or several times in water to remove the caustic solution and transferred to fermenting vessels full of brine at typical concentrations of 8–12% NaCl. The brine is changed on a regular basis to help remove the phenolic compounds. Fermentation is carried out by

4032-402: The olive in 1779 as one of the foods preferred by the ancients and as one of the most perfect foods. Vitruvius describes of the use of charred olive wood in tying together walls and foundations in his De Architectura : The thickness of the wall should, in my opinion, be such that armed men meeting on top of it may pass one another without interference. In the thickness there should be set

4104-443: The olive rarely thrives at a distance from the sea, which in Greece invariably means up mountain slopes. Greek myth attributed to the primordial culture-hero Aristaeus the understanding of olive husbandry, along with cheese-making and bee-keeping. Olive was one of the woods used to fashion the most primitive Greek cult figures , called xoana , referring to their wooden material; they were reverently preserved for centuries. It

4176-547: The olive tree and plant carry the symbolic connotations of resilience, health, ancestral ties and community. Researchers have found that the olive tree is tied into the Palestinians' Sutra, A’wana and Sumud . The tree is a means of survival and security, represents their bond to their land, community and animals. Olive trees also serve as a symbol of their identities, which include their physical and emotional aspects and their socio-cultural values. Palestinian people view

4248-415: The olive tree are known. An olive's cultivar has a significant impact on its colour, size, shape, and growth characteristics, as well as the qualities of olive oil. Olive cultivars may be used primarily for oil, eating, or both. Olives cultivated for consumption are generally referred to as "table olives". Since many olive cultivars are self-sterile or nearly so, they are generally planted in pairs with

4320-437: The olive trees as the first witnesses that Palestine is their homeland. The harvest season is referred to as "Palestine’s wedding" and is considered a national holiday when schools close for two days so that pupils and teachers can join in the harvest. This holiday allows community and family members to gather and serves as a ritual that encompasses their values surrounding family, labour, community and aid for other members of

4392-592: The other two being wheat for bread , pasta , and couscous ; and the grape for wine . Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking, for frying foods or as a salad dressing . It is also used in cosmetics , pharmaceuticals , and soaps , and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps , and has additional uses in some religions. Spain accounts for almost half of global olive oil production; other major producers are Portugal, Italy, Tunisia, Greece and Turkey. Per capita consumption

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4464-555: The pH of the brine and therefore stabilize the product against unwanted pathogenic species. A diversity of yeasts then accumulate in sufficient numbers to help complete the fermentation alongside the lactic acid bacteria. Yeasts commonly mentioned include the teleomorphs Pichia anomala , Pichia membranifaciens , Debaryomyces hansenii and Kluyveromyces marxianus . Once fermented, the olives are placed in fresh brine and acid corrected, to be ready for market. Applied to green, semiripe and ripe olives, they are almost identical to

4536-463: The thermometer fails to reach 8 °C (46.4 °F). The thermometer does descend below −5 °C (23.0 °F), and the record low is −9.0 °C (15.8 °F) on July 18, 1975. Late in the winter, heat waves become much more common, and in September, 40 °C (104.0 °F) are already possible. The pattern of intense heat waves followed by cool, windy weather is typical of spring, which

4608-740: The true ash tree . The olive's fruit, also called an "olive", is of major agricultural importance in the Mediterranean region as the source of olive oil ; it is one of the core ingredients in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines . Thousands of cultivars of the olive tree are known. Olive cultivars may be used primarily for oil, eating, or both. Olives cultivated for consumption are generally referred to as "table olives". About 80% of all harvested olives are turned into oil, while about 20% are used as table olives. The word olive derives from Latin ŏlīva 'olive fruit; olive tree', possibly through Etruscan 𐌀𐌅𐌉𐌄𐌋𐌄 ( eleiva ) from

4680-534: The valleys of South America's dry Pacific coast where the climate was similar to the Mediterranean. Spanish missionaries established the tree in the 18th century in California . It was first cultivated at Mission San Diego de Alcalá in 1769 or later around 1795. Orchards were started at other missions, but in 1838, an inspection found only two olive orchards in California. Cultivation for oil gradually became

4752-451: The wall of the Aten temple and were used in wreaths for the burial of Tutankhamun . It is likely that, as well as being used for culinary purposes, olive oil was also used to various other ends, including as a perfume. The ancient Greeks smeared olive oil on their bodies and hair as a matter of grooming and good health. Olive oil was used to anoint kings and athletes in ancient Greece. It

4824-585: The wealth of the Minoan civilization . The ancestry of the cultivated olive is unknown. Fossil olea pollen has been found in Macedonia and other places around the Mediterranean, indicating that this genus is an original element of the Mediterranean flora. Fossilized leaves of olea were found in the palaeosols of the volcanic Greek island of Santorini and dated to about 37,000 BP . Imprints of larvae of olive whitefly Aleurobus olivinus were found on

4896-636: Was brought back to Noah by a dove to demonstrate that the flood was over ( Book of Genesis 8:11). The olive is listed in Deuteronomy 8:8 as one of the seven species that are noteworthy products of the Land of Israel . According to the Halakha , the Jewish law mandatory for all Jews , the olive is one of the seven species that require the recitation of me'eyn shalosh after they are consumed. Olive oil

4968-449: Was burnt in the sacred lamps of temples and was the "eternal flame" of the original Olympic games. Victors in these games were crowned with its leaves. In Homer's Odyssey , Odysseus crawls beneath two shoots of olive that grow from a single stock, and in the Iliad , (XVII.53ff) there is a metaphoric description of a lone olive tree in the mountains, by a spring; the Greeks observed that

5040-502: Was first cultivated some 7,000 years ago in Mediterranean regions. For thousands of years olives were grown primarily for lamp oil, with little regard for culinary flavor. Its origin can be traced to the Levant based on written tablets, olive pits, and wood fragments found in ancient tombs. As far back as 3000 BC, olives were grown commercially in Crete and may have been the source of

5112-733: Was possible that the olive tree of the Acropolis dated to the Bronze Age. The olive was sacred to Athena and appeared on the Athenian coinage. According to another myth, Elaea was an accomplished athlete killed by her fellow athletes who had grown envious of her; but Athena and Gaia turned her into an olive tree as reward. Theophrastus, in On the Causes of Plants , does not give as systematic and detailed an account of olive husbandry as he does of

5184-522: Was purely a matter of local pride that the Athenians claimed that the olive grew first in Athens. In an archaic Athenian foundation myth , Athena won the patronage of Attica from Poseidon with the gift of the olive. According to the fourth-century BC father of botany, Theophrastus , olive trees ordinarily attained an age around 200 years, he mentions that the very olive tree of Athena still grew on

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