Ripe Olive

For olives that are to be served as table olives, generally the olive is chartreuse colored when it is ripe and harvested. It can then be turned black through a curing process involving oxidation. The majority of olives to be picked for producing the higher quality olive oil are most often harvested at the red-ripe stage, but there are some olives to be processed for oil that are picked while they are green in color. Olives that are overripe bruise easily, but are often used since they can be detached easily form the tree.