Damaeus wrote:
> Mark Thorson > posted:
>
>> Olives are naturally very bitter, and the purpose of curing them is to
>> remove that bitterness.

It's a wonder they are considered edible given the treatment it takes to
make them edibile. I wonder if some trees grew near a tidal pond and
the olives that fell into the sea water cured enough to give someone the
idea.

> I actually do like black olives, but I can only eat one olive by itself if

I like black olives. I like green olives more. I like the various
fancy types of olives even more still. Small batch varietals from Santa
Barbara CA rule.

> all I'm going to do is eat an olive. I like them sliced on pizza and on
> salads. That's pretty much it. I sometimes would put black olives on my
> homemade pizzas to make them a little saltier without adding salt.

Green olives burn very easily, but since I like them I want them on my
pizza instead of black olives if possible. Very few places offer green
olives on pizza, maybe because of the burning problem maybe because they
are less popular than black ones. The prick is to put the "toppings"
underneath the cheese. Which both protects the green olives from
burning and makes the word "topping" a misnomer.

> Actually salting pizza, especially after it's already baked, has always
> made pizza taste very odd to me, so I never have salted pizza at the
> table. If it needs salt, I find a way to work it in with the hamburger
> meat, or by putting olives and/or feta cheese on it. A little feta goes a
> long way on a pizza that has pepperoni on it.

I like pepperoni and it's salty enough that I've never considered
salting a pizza. Dusting it with garlic powder, though ...