# How much olive oil will one olive produce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 11, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554 "2012-02-11T22:07:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Psittacidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Psittacidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psittacidae)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/1 "2012-02-11T22:07:39Z")
Hey, longtime reader, first time poster. I can’t find any info on the internet about how much oil a single olive would produce (my limited searching skills only locate entire tree yield) Can anyone help? Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/2 "2012-02-11T22:19:21Z")
According to [this site](http://www.hobbyfarms.com/crops-and-gardening/grow-olives-for-olive-oil.aspx) a ton of olives will yield between 12-50 gallons of oil depending on varietal and other factors. You can do the math from there, I guestimated 0.5 oz for the weight of an individual olive which means 0.024-0.10 fluid oz of oil per olive. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/3 "2012-02-11T23:30:57Z")
Here’s some fairly specific olive size data. [sizes of olives](http://www.sizes.com/food/olives.htm) Adjust calculation to the size of the olive being discussed. If per zombywoof’s cite “a ton of olives will yield between 12-50 gallons of oil”. Just do the math. There is a tremendous span of varietal sizes from 32 - 221 olives per lb. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/4 "2012-02-12T06:04:28Z")
If you press it along with a lot more olives, it will produce more usable oil than if you press it by itself. The amount of oil per olive is the same, but if you press a single, lonely olive, the oil will pretty much end up greasing the press before it gets near a bottle… ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/5 "2012-02-12T06:16:34Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > If you press it along with a lot more olives, it will produce more usable oil than if you press it by itself. The amount of oil per olive is the same, but if you press a single, lonely olive, the oil will pretty much end up greasing the press before it gets near a bottle… Similarly, if you put a single grape in a press all you get is a little whine. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/6 "2012-02-12T09:16:51Z")
So how much baby oil do you get per baby? ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/7 "2012-02-12T09:23:44Z")
You don’t get oil from babies you get earl from babies ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/8 "2012-02-12T17:34:22Z")
Baby powder is a useful byproduct when making baby oil. What do they do with the olive powder? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/9 "2012-02-12T18:31:36Z")
What do they do with the pressings? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/10 "2012-02-12T18:33:16Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > What do they do with the pressings? That’s actually a good question. I imagine they would make good compost or even animal feed. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/11 "2012-02-12T22:54:08Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > Baby powder is a useful byproduct when making baby oil. I don’t think it’s very useful. I added some baby powder to a bowl of water and just got some pasty goo, not so much as a couple of fingers. Still, me and the wife’ll keep trying for another couple of weeks. I can’t imagine how everyone else manages. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/12 "2012-02-12T23:52:00Z")
I’m sorry… I saw this thread title and had to say: How much wood can a woodchuck chuck? Ignore this post. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/13 "2012-02-13T00:11:04Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > What do they do with the pressings? [Alternative energy?](http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/07/company-in-israel-uses-waste-from-olives-for-alternative-energy-source/) More[traditionally](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_mill_pomace) it is used either on site as an energy source (cogeneration) or as a soil conditioner: > [@](#): > > Usually it is used as fuel in a cogeneration system or as organic fertiliser after a composting operation. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/14 "2012-02-13T00:55:16Z")
> [@BeaMyra](#): > > You don’t get oil from babies you get earl from babies Really? :dubious: All I ever got out of _mine_ was copious amounts of rather foul and rank… Well, if you’ve ever dealt with what comes out of babies, you get the picture. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![toodlepip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@toodlepip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toodlepip)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/15 "2012-02-13T01:12:39Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > I don’t think it’s very useful. I added some baby powder to a bowl of water and just got some pasty goo, not so much as a couple of fingers. Still, me and the wife’ll keep trying for another couple of weeks. I can’t imagine how everyone else manages. Try reconstituting it with baby oil instead of water. (I know, they should really make the instructions clearer.) You’ll have to experiment with ratios and amounts to suit your requirements, as I learned that one time I tried making grits. ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/16 "2012-02-13T16:10:43Z")
On one of the PBS cooking shows I caught this weekend, the host visited an olive grove and asked about yield. IIRC, they said that the typical olive tree would yield around 1.5 liters of oil per year. If you can figure out how many olives are on the typical tree, you should be able to do the math. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-olive-oil-will-one-olive-produce/612554/17 "2012-02-15T06:06:22Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I’m sorry… I saw this thread title and had to say: > How much wood can a woodchuck chuck? > > Ignore this post. Using the formula: (W + I) \* C where W = the constant of wood, which is well known to be 61, as agreed in many scientific circles. I = the variable in this equation, and stands for the word “if” from the original problem. As there are three circumstances, with 0 equaling the chance that the woodchuck cannot chuck wood, 1 being the theory that the woodchuck can chuck wood but chooses not to, and 2 standing for the probability that the woodchuck can and will chuck wood, we clearly must choose 2 for use in this equation. C = the constant of Chuck Norris, whose presence in any problem involving the word chuck must there, is well known to equal 1.1 of any known being, therefore the final part of this calculation is 1.1. As is clear, this appears to give the answer of (61 + 2) \* 1.1 = (63) \* 1.1 = 69.3. However, Chuck Norris’ awesome roundhouse kick declares that all decimal points cannot be used in formulas such as this, and so it must be rounded to the final solution of 69 units of wood. Read more: [How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? - Answers](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_wood_would_a_woodchuck_chuck_if_a_woodchuck_could_chuck_wood#ixzz1mQafNab8)