Why Fresh Olives Are Actually Inedible

The elegant bowl of olives at a dinner table might make your lips pucker with their salty-sour bite. However, freshly plucked olives are almost inedible due to their bitterness.

Raw olives have an off-putting bitterness due to the presence of the phenolic compound oleuropein. It acts as the fruit's defense mechanism by deterring voracious creatures.

Olives must first be cured to be edible. Only 10 percent of those harvested are estimated to become cured table olives, while the other 90 percent are used to make olive oil.