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The Turkish pantry

Antalya Tavşan Yüreği Olives

Antalya

A firm-fleshed Antalya olive with a gently heart-shaped fruit, most often prepared as a green table olive.

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Antalya Tavşan Yüreği is a local olive variety grown in Antalya. Its fruit is broad toward the stem and narrows toward the tip, giving it a heart-like shape. It is especially associated with green table olives; fresh harvested fruit and cured olives are different forms.

Fresh green olives in a shallow cream dish and on pale stone beside an olive branch.

Types & forms

Fresh harvested olives

Green to yellow-green fruit is collected for processing. Raw harvested fruit is not the same product as a prepared table olive.

Cured green table olives

Prepared olives may be sold cracked or slit and held in brine. The curing method, salt level and any added flavorings depend on the producer.

What to look for when buying

  • Look for the full Antalya Tavşan Yüreği name and origin information; a pointed green olive alone does not establish the variety.
  • Check whether you are buying raw fruit for processing or ready-to-eat cured olives. Read the ingredients for added seasonings and salt.

Prepare & cook

  • For serving, choose cured table olives and prepare them according to the producer’s directions.
  • Remove the pits when a dish calls for pitted olives. Cracking or slitting an olive does not mean its pit has been removed.
  • Fresh harvested olives require a curing process. Use an established curing method rather than treating raw olives as ready-to-eat table olives.

Store it well

  • Follow the producer’s storage directions for cured olives, including instructions after opening.
  • For fresh harvested fruit, follow the grower’s handling instructions and protect the olives from crushing while arranging processing.

Substitutions depend on the dish

Other cured green olives

For a dish using prepared olives, choose another cured green table olive with comparable firmness and seasoning. It will not carry the same cultivar or regional identity.

Olive oil

Olive oil provides fat rather than the texture and salt of table olives; it cannot replace whole olives in a dish.

Nutrition

Nutrition varies with curing, brine and added seasonings; use the prepared product’s label.

At the Turkish table

Green table-olive production is a notable use of Tavşan Yüreği in Antalya. The variety is valued for firm flesh that separates readily from the pit.