Olives

I'm in zone 10 so of course they grow here.   They are a common landscaping plant here.

These days however there is a major problem when growing olives - the olive fly maggot. Or something like that. It is a fly that lays eggs in the fruit, and when the fruits are ready, so are the maggots. In my part of the world they are a real problem, and I believe they are also problems in most if not all major olive growing regions. There are sprays and treatments, but they require constant, careful application, and are not always effective. 

When making olive oil the problem with the maggots are caused not only by the maggots within the fruits themselves, but their burrowing causes tissues of the fruit to decay and give the expressed oil an off taste - bitter and rancid. Processors don't like to extract oil from fruits with over 30 percent 'infection' rate. 

As for growing olives to process not for oil, but for the fruits, it is not easy. Even if you can avoid the olive fly maggots. I did it years ago before the fly's arrival, and the results were not very good. These days there would be more info available on the internet so you might have a better chance of success.

The olive fruit fly. I did not know about this pest. I suppose they have been a problem as long as people have grown olive trees.

They are a relatively recent introduction to California. The big problem here is that olive trees are major ornamentals  in people's yards, and as street trees, as well as trees in vacant fields grown from falling fruits. And most of these are not treated for the olive fly. Most of these trees are not grown for their fruits, but rather for the attractive, evergreen, gray 'lacy' foliage. Hence they are not treated for the fly. And in my area, the few people who try to grow the trees for the fruits are fighting a losing battle to try to control it.

You can tell which fruits are affected because they have a lumpy appearance as the maggot burrows it's way though the fleshy parts. Quite ugly looking. And when you break the olive open, it's all 'icky' inside. 

www.oliveoilsource.com/page/olive-fly-control

I remember this from early childhood. Olives, though always available at grocery stores, are not a traditional food in this area. We were having a meal at my grandmother's, and she had olives on the table. An uncle said, "Olives are an acquired taste." I do not remember having an olive until I was an adult.

They were/are the green pimento-stuffed olives, tom 🕊, as well as ripe unpitted dark ones. I like the dark ones the best.

What is life without olives?!!

When I was in high school all the kids would stop at the donut shop while walking home from school. I would go next door and buy a small jar of the green, pimento stuffed olives.

Nowadays I go to the olive bar at Whole Foods and buy all kinds- from spicy mixed kalamata and green olives, to those dark oily and wrinkly french olives, plain kalamata; some are stuffed with small garlic cloves or feta cheese or tiny onions; some are mixed with cranberries; and much more. They come pitted and with pits.
It's an olive lovers paradise!