Olives need a special bath before you can eat them

You can't eat an olive straight from the tree because it's packed with bitter compounds, mainly oleuropein. This natural defense mechanism makes raw olives unpalatably astringent. To transform them into the delicious fruit we know, olives undergo a curing process that breaks down these bitter elements. Methods like brining in saltwater, lye treatment, or dry salting have been used for millennia, with evidence of olive cultivation dating back to 6000 BC.