The Turkish pantry
Edremit Gulf green slit olives
Edremit Gulf green slit olives combine a firm bite with olive-fruit flavor. Narrow scores in the skin distinguish this northern Aegean table olive from crushed or stuffed olives.
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Edremit Körfezi Yeşil Çizik Zeytini is a registered green table olive from the defined Edremit Gulf area. The Edremit olive, also known as Ayvalık, is harvested before full dark ripeness, scored lengthwise and cured before sale. The fruit keeps its whole shape and its stone. A little natural bitterness remains part of its character; these are ready-cured table olives rather than raw fruit for immediate eating.
Types & forms
Green slit olives
The cured fruit is whole, beige to yellow, with narrow lengthwise cuts, and is sold in packing brine. Green in the name describes its harvest stage before dark ripeness, rather than a promise of bright green color after curing.
Different sizes
Packs can contain different fruit sizes. Choose for the way you plan to serve them; larger fruit is not proof of a better origin.
What to look for when buying
- Look for the full Edremit Körfezi Yeşil Çizik Zeytini name and traceable producer and geographic-indication information.
- Choose clearly labeled, ready-cured olives with intact packaging and visible whole fruit.
- Check the label for stones, ingredients and after-opening instructions. Slit olives are a different preparation from smashed or stuffed olives.
Prepare & cook
- Drain only the amount you will serve and taste before adding any dressing or salt.
- Serve as a table olive at breakfast or with meze; let its own fruit flavor remain noticeable.
- Remove the stones before chopping into a salad or a cooked dish that calls for pitted olives.
Store it well
- Follow the unopened pack’s storage instructions. After opening, follow its refrigeration and use-by directions.
- Keep the remaining olives in their supplied packing brine in a closed container, using a clean utensil; do not dilute the brine or top it up with plain water.
Substitutions depend on the dish
Another naturally cured green slit olive
Can give a similar bite and gently bitter flavor, but carries a different origin. Compare saltiness before seasoning the dish.
Cracked green olives
Can work where the recipe needs green table olives, though their broken flesh and texture differ from the scored whole fruit.
Nutrition
Nutrition varies by producer and product. Use the label on the pack you buy for its nutrition values.
At the Turkish table
Olives grown around the Gulf serve both the oil press and the table. Çizik describes the lengthwise scoring that helps distinguish this preparation within the region’s olive culture.