Are Olives Edible?

Did you know, Olives are inedible straight from the tree? 

In fact they can make you quite unwell.  So how and why did people first start eating them more than 6000 years ago? 

Only after a prolonged brine fermentation are the bitter compounds leached to the point that they become not only edible but also delicious. 

Our founder Giles (and chief Olive Geek) has a theory (yet unproven) that trees growing near the ocean may be the answer. 

He hypothesises that the fruits from these trees fell into the surf, where they would have been washed in the salty brine and fermented so that they became naturally edible. 

Once this was discovered, the process was slowly adopted and led to the cultivation of olive groves.