i love olives!

I have only recently discovered the joys of olives, and have offered to bring a selection to my family on Thanksgiving for a tasting to see if I can spread the love. Does anyone have any recommendations for a place to purchase a nice variety of olives?

Thanks!

Whole Foods (at least the store on Ashland) has a pretty nice olive bar where you can mix and match a bunch of different kinds. You can also go to an Italian Grocery store like Bari Foods or Caputos and/or the Greek market on Halsted.

Danak,

There are lots of sources for olives, so it kind of depends upon where you live, but I get my holiday olives from Caputo's on Harlem in Elmwood Park. They have maybe 10 or so varieties, and the prices are usually good. I usually get some of the small black cured, the big purple, bright green almond-shaped, and some of the small green.

Hammond

Athens Grocery in greektown also has a decent selection of olives. They're just south of the Parthenon.

My absolute favorite olives, sad to say, are jarred and branded with a big corporate logo: "Ionian" green olives on the "Peloponnese" brand (a Hormel company). They're submerged in brine and are green with a slight crunch left to them. I don't know why I'm so addicted to them, but I can eat a jar in a sitting and crave them some more.

Somehow it works.

I've seen them for sale at cub foods, jewel, and other grocery stores in the country. The benefits of the hormel name are all too apparent.

-ed

gleam wrote:Athens Grocery in greektown also has a decent selection of olives.

Ed,

Speaking of Athens Grocery there's an interesting Athens Market post on c-h by Antonius, which covers olives. Another past post by Antonius with olive info can be found Here

There is olive info in the follow-up threads of both posts.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Speaking of Athens Grocery there's an interesting post on c-h by Antonius, which covers...

Gary,

Thanks for citing my posts on c-h but the one on Athens Market I reposted on a more interesting food-oriented site, here:

Athens Market on LTH



By the way, I was at Athens Market about a month ago and there was a crew with an excessively slick 'host' doing a segment for a show to appear on the Travel Channel. I doubt they'll include the bit with me since I had to correct their 'expert' (a Greek woman, but likely more expert in show-biz than food) about what volvi actually are.



More olive news hopefully later today!



Antonius

Caputo's has a great selection that won't break the bank

Olive bars are being introduced at many of the local Jewel and Dominick's stores ... an idea that came - about 10 years ago to many other markets.

The ONLY olive bar that was worth a special stop was at Wegman's.

what about the Treasure Island at 2121 N.Clybourn? They have a small olive bar, and it's a nice grocery store in general. (Some of the other TI's leave a little to be desired in terms of stock and cleanliness, but this one is consistently nice.)

Or Fox & Obel at 401 E.Illinois. Precious, expensive, but a lot of wonderful things you won't find elsewhere....
I espeically like their Provence-style olives which are tiny and sweet.

try Middle Eastern Bakery and Grocery; 1512 W. Foster Ave. there are tons of other goodies there, too. great little market.

If you are not in Chicago then try Persimmon Grocery and EuroMart (10% off on Tuesdays, I think) in Champaign-Urbana.

I get mine when i do my regular shopping at Caputo's Cheese market in melrose park. About 5-6 different types in the case as you just walk in and they also have them stuffed with different cheeses. Does the harlem Caputo's also offer the stuffed olives? Anyway, you cant beat the prices.

bob

There's a little Italian market in Beverly called Calabria, on 103rd St. They cure their own black olives, and they're the best I've ever had. Everytime I visit my sister in Michigan I have to bring her a container of them. They're great by themselves, and they are good in recipes. I've used them in tomato salads and pasta puttanesca.

I haven't been in there in quite a while, but Fox and Obel used to have a good olive selection. They did green olives cured with crushed red pepper that were really good.