Green And Black Olives - How They Are Different

Maryam Ayres Author: Maryam Ayres Time for reading: ~1 minutes Last Updated: August 08, 2022
Green And Black Olives - How They Are Different

The essential difference between the two types of olives is the amount of sodium, which is twice as high as for greens.

The nutritional value of black olives is almost identical to that of greens. The key word is almost : their only significant difference is in the sodium content - greens contain twice as much sodium as blacks. This is especially important for people with high blood pressure, who need to be careful with salt intake. Also, not all black olives are ... black.
 
Both green and black olives are the fruit of the same plant. Greens are picked earlier before they are fully ripe, and blacks - later, after ripening. Both "species" have a strong bitter taste, which must be removed by soaking them in saline solutions.
 
However, their color can also be influenced by the way they are processed after collection. This is especially true for cheaper, often canned black olives - they are green olives colored in black. A common practice in case of stagnation of already harvested products - in order not to be discarded, green olives are exposed to strongly alkaline solutions and oxygen, which causes their tissues to darken. Subsequently, a preservative is added to fix the color of the olives, and then, regardless of their treatment, they are stored and transported in saline solution. 
 
 
 
It is from this saline solution that the high sodium content comes. Elevated sodium in the human body raises blood pressure and is a major factor in many cardiovascular diseases . According to nutritionists, the daily dose of 1500 milligrams should not be exceeded . Five medium-sized black olives contain between 115 and 125 mg of sodium, about 8% of the daily intake. In contrast, 5 medium green olives contain between 220 and 380 mg of sodium - from 15% to 24% of the total daily intake. 
 
This is only due to the way the olives are treated. In their nutritional value, they are almost identical. 15 grams of green olives contain 20 calories, and 15 grams of black - 25 calories. For the same amount, both types of olives contain less than 0.5 g of protein , 1 g of carbohydrates , 0.5 g of fiber , a negligible amount of vitamins and minerals and zero cholesterol and trans fats. 

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