Olive Picking

We too have collected some big fat olives from our very own trees, and have prepared them for eating during 2009. Over the Christmas holidays, one of our sons decided to collect some for himself and take them back to London for the month-long period of preparation (soaking in water, which must be changed every day). Some of them were marked with the familiar little black spot which means there is probably a Dacus grub inside, so in the interests of research they cut the olives open to investigate and lo, indeed, there was a white maggoty looking grub. After that they cut open some of the other olives that didn't have any outward signs, and every single one had a grub inside! Needless to say, the attraction of eating olives - ever again - has lessened considerably!

Now that the olive trees in Corfu are no longer sprayed from the air (thank goodness), there is a much higher incidence of the Dacus. Early olives are not normally affected, but it is worth bearing in mind that from December onwards, the grubs may be inside your otherwise perfect-looking shiny black olives.

I also found another use for olives this year. I picked some of the biggest, threaded them, sprayed them gold and used them to decorate a tiny cypress tree!
Susan