Black Olives

I turn my head and stare up at the roof of the truck cab. He has no idea I'm here, and I don't know where he's going. Upon a chance sighting of her ex-boyfriend, Virginia does something most of us have only dreamed of. Unseen, she jumps into the back of his Jeep, and remains hidden all day, observing the man she once loved. She's compelled to complete her unfinished portrait of their breakup, and relive the magical thinking of their romance. I knew him by heart for ten years and he me, Vir-ginia reflects. And now, only nine months later, I know nothing at all. The novel unfolds over the course of one day, ping-ponging between Virginia's fear of discovery and the illicit thrill of "breaking and entering" into the life of her former lover. Will she finally confront him, as she's longed to do since they parted? Will she slink away in defeat? Any woman who has ever lived and loved will find herself swept up in Virginia's mesmerizing journey.

This book covers the history, botany and agricultural aspects of the crop, summarising the techniques that have been developed to improve harvesting, processing and packaging of olives. Full details are provided relating to the physico-chemical and microbiological aspects of processing of each of the olive types. It will serve as a practical guide to agricultural scientists, food scientists and technologists who are involved in the preparation of table olives.

This manual provides olive growers and processors with nationally accepted guidelines for ensuring the quality and safety of processed table olives. Covers all aspects essential for the production of safe, nutritious and marketable table olives.

Contains over seventy recipes that use olives, including goat cheese and olive pastries, fried rice with green olives, and olive-crusted pork fillet.

The only single-source reference on the science of olives and olive oil nutrition and health benefits Olives and Olive Oil as Functional Foods is the first comprehensive reference on the science of olives and olive oil. While the main focus of the book is on the fruit’s renowned health-sustaining properties, it also provides an in-depth coverage of a wide range of topics of vital concern to producers and researchers, including post-harvest handling, packaging, analysis, sensory evaluation, authentication, waste product utilization, global markets, and much more. People have been cultivating olives for more than six millennia, and olives and olive oil have been celebrated in songs and legends for their life-sustaining properties since antiquity. However, it is only within the last several decades that the unique health benefits of their consumption have become the focus of concerted scientific studies. It is now known that olives and olive oil contain an abundance of phenolic antioxidants, as well as the anti-cancer compounds such as squalene and terpenoids. This centerpiece of the Mediterranean diet has been linked to a greatly reduced risk of heart disease and lowered cancer risk. Bringing together contributions from some of the world’s foremost experts on the subject, this book: Addresses the importance of olives and olive oil for the agricultural economy and the relevance of its bioactive components to human health Explores the role that olive oil plays in reducing oxidative stress in cells-a well-known risk factor in human health Provides important information about new findings on olive oil and lipids which reviews the latest research Explores topics of interest to producers, processors, and researchers, including the fruit’s chemical composition, processing considerations, quality control, safety, traceability, and more Edited by two scientists world-renowned for their pioneering work on olive oil and human health, this book is an indispensable source of timely information and practical insights for agricultural and food scientists, nutritionists, dieticians, physicians, and all those with a professional interest in food, nutrition, and health.

Long used in sacred ceremonies and associated with good health, the nutritional and health promoting benefits of olives and olive oils have been proven by an ever-increasing body of science. From cardiovascular benefits to anti-microbial, anti-cancer, antioxidant activity and effects on macrophages and aptoptosis to cellular and pathophysiollogical process, olives and olive oils are proving important in many healthful ways. For example, reactive components in olive oils or olive oil by-products have now been isolated and identified. These include tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl acetic acid elenolic acid and oleuropein. Oleic acid is the main monosaturated fatty acid of olive oil. These have putative protective effects and modulate the biochemistry of a variety of cell types including those of the vascular system. Some but not all components have been characterised by their putative pharmacological properties. It is possible that usage of these aforementioned products may have beneficial application in other disease. However, in order for this cross-fertilization to take place, a comprehensive understanding of olives and olive oils is required. Finding this knowledge in a single volume provides a key resource for scientists in a variety of food an nutritional roles. Explores olives and olive oil from their general aspects to the detailed level of important micro-and micronutrients Includes coverage of various methodologies for analysis to help scientists and chemists determine the most appropriate option for their own studies, including those of olive-related compounds in other foods Relates, in a single volume resource, information for food and nutritional chemists, pharmaceutical scientists, nutritionists and dieticians Presents information in three key categories: General aspects of olives an olive oils; Nutritional, pharmacological and metabolic properties of olives and olive oil; Specific components of olive oil and their effects on tissue and body systems

The market is flooded with products posing as elixirs, supplements, functional foods, and olive oil alternatives containing phenols obtained from multiple olive sources. This technically-oriented book will be of value to nutritionists and researchers in the biosciences. It unravels the body of science pertaining to olive minor constituents in relation to new chemical knowledge, technological innovations, and novel methods of recovery, parallel to toxicology, pharmacology, efficacy, doses, claims, and regulation. Topics include: the biological importance of bioactive compounds present in olive products; developments and innovations to preserve the level of bioactives in table olives and olive oil; and importance of variety, maturity, processing of olives, storage, debittering of olives and table olives as a valuable source of bioactive compounds. Presents detailed information concerning the claimed benefits of olive oil and discusses the permitted health claim to EFSA on oils with natural phenolics Recovery of bioactive constituents from olive waste is comprehensively described Explores the relationship betwen phenolic levels and sensory evaluation Features chapters on the clinical and cellular mechanisms and health effects of olive, important for functional foods research

'A very funny tome' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Hilarious' DAILY MAIL 'A profoundly instructive course in the idiosyncrasies of Greek law, custom and culture ... entertainingly chronicled' SAGA * * * * * * From Radio 4 presenter, bestselling author and national treasure John Humphrys, a funny and engaging memoir of building a home in Greece written together with his son Christopher. It was a moment of mad impulse when John Humphrys decided to buy a semi-derelict cottage and a building site on a plot of land overlooking the Aegean. A few minutes gazing out over the most glorious bay he had ever seen was all it took to persuade him. After all, his son Christopher was already raising his family there so he would help build the beautiful villa that would soon rise there. What could possibly go wrong? Everything. John was to spend the next three years regretting his moment of madness. Some of it had its comic side. He learned to cope with a drunken peacock falling out of his favourite tree and even a colony of rats invading his bedroom. Some of the humans proved trickier: the old man demanding payment for olive trees in the middle of John's own land; the neighbour who dragged his lovely old fishing boat onto the beach and set fire to it after a row with his wife. And, of course, the builders. Was the plumber who electrocuted him in the shower vengeful or merely incompetent? John learned a lot about Greece in a short time. He grew to love it and loathe it in almost equal measures, but was never for a moment bored by it. And Christopher learned a bit more about John. Their shared experience revived keen memories for him of growing up with a father for whom patience was never the strongest virtue... Here father and son capture the idyll and the odyssey as paradise is found, lost and regained.