18th May, 2004

GRAHAM LEWIS takes a look at the Mediterranean olive, a Biblical fruit tree on the comeback...

Picture: Nick Axelis, iStockphoto.com

If I mention the word olive, does your mind turn to a particular paint colour, perhaps a dear old aunty who dates from the early 1900s or Popeye’s famous girlfriend “Olive Oil”? Or you might relate them to food, perhaps the ever present black olive on your weekend pizza. In this case, olives are a bit like anchovies: most people either love or hate them.

Recent research is indicating that virgin olive oil is extremely good for your health and it is frequently listed in the “must have foods” section of many fat reduction and weight loss diets. The olive tree (Olea europaea) is also making a big comeback in Australian gardens.

Being of Mediterranean origin, the olive tree is very suitable to the Australian climate. It requires little water once established and can survive in fairly extreme coastal conditions. Its medium-sized stature and green/grey leaf colour also contributes to its appeal as a feature tree. Alternatively it can be mass planted in rows to provide an effective screen from prevailing winds or harsh western sun.

In Biblical times, the olive tree was one of the most valuable trees known to the Jews. There are many references to it in scripture as well as to its derivative, olive oil. The tree is quite common in the Holy Land, and in many places it is the only tree of any substantial size.

The branches of the wild olive are rather stiff and covered in spines while the cultivated tree is typically a multi-branched evergreen, around 20 feet tall with a gnarled trunk and smooth ash-coloured bark. The leaves are leathery and the flowers are small, yellow or white.

Picture: Kate Goodwin, iStockphoto.com

The fruits are large, black or violet, ripening in September. It is the outer fleshy parts of the fruit which yield the valuable olive oil now so much sought after. The ripe fruit is eaten raw as is the green unripe fruit. The wood of the trunk is hard, rich, yellow or amber in colour, and finely, often attractively, grained. Consequently, it is still used for the finest cabinet work.

As a symbol of sovereignty, olive oil has been used in coronations. The oil was also used for sacrificial offerings, as fuel for lamps, a tonic for the hair and skin, and medicinally in surgical operations.

The fruit is usually gathered by shaking or beating the tree, but a few fruits were always left on the boughs for the poor, the stranger, orphan or the widow. Perhaps the most well remembered grove of olives in the Bible are those on the Mount of Olives where Jesus went for his final prayer time before his crucifixion. It is perhaps for this reason that the mention of the word olives brings to mind the thought of Jesus’ intense suffering beneath the canopy of these trees.

The fact that he actually sweated drops of blood during this prayer time has always been of special significance to me. The value of olive oil for my longevity on this planet maybe of some significance. However, it is the precious blood of Jesus that will always be of greater value.