# Pipping olives **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2000, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634 "2000-04-13T13:13:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jackas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@jackas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackas)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/1 "2000-04-13T13:13:00Z")
I’m a big fan of olives and was wondering how on earth they manage to pip them so acurately? Is it machine done, if so how do they pip them through the right spot? Is it done just after they are picked or just before they are ready for eating? ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/2 "2000-04-13T13:31:00Z")
Gladys Knight held lengthy auditions. * * * We went right out there and refused to do accoustical versions of the electrical songs that we had refused to record in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/3 "2000-04-13T13:51:00Z")
It’s done on a big machine, on a conveyor belt that puts each olive under a thingie that pokes out the pit. There’s a similar conveyor belt machine that stuffs the red thing (I won’t dignify it by the name “pimiento”) inside. ## I’m not sure what you mean by “just after they are picked or just before they are ready for eating”. Olives grow on trees in groves, they’re picked all at the same time, when the manager decides they’re ready, they’re brought by the truckload to the olive-pitting factory, they’re washed, pitted, stuffed, sterilized, and canned, then distributed to food wholesalers in other truckloads. There are other steps, involving whether you want green olives or black olives, but that’s about it. P.S. to Mully — dang, wish **I’d** said that! 😃 “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/4 "2000-04-13T14:23:00Z")
I thought Popeye was the only one who could pip Olive… when Bluto tried it, Popeye’d clobber him. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/5 "2000-04-15T14:01:00Z")
I think jackas was asking whether they were pipped before or after they were they were pickled, since they were probably pickled first, then packed in the final container. I assume that they’re pipped before pickling, and if I’m wrong with any of this… ah, pip olive you. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/6 "2000-04-15T14:18:00Z")
I once visited a factory where they precessed olives and I remember I was amazed to see the huge quantities of olives… I could not imagine there were so many olives in the whole wide world. I am also a fan of olives, heck I come from the land of olives, but I remember from that day you can only eat so many before you are nauseated by them. I am quite sure the pitting is done after they are pickled. The machine just holds the olive and drives a plunger throug it. It is not as perfect as you may think. many olives are destroyed or otherwise unusable. You just never get to see them. Then they can be filled with red bell pepper, anchovy or whatever and covered again. If you visit Andalucía I am sure you can easily visit any of the factories there. I often tell people to visit factories that are open to the public as they are very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/7 "2000-04-15T14:28:00Z")
There are two parallel streets in downtown L.A. that are one block apart, Olive and Grand. After the Northridge earthquake, the power was knocked out and downtown was pitch-black. Popeye, unable to see, was feeling is way up and down Olive, and thought it was Grand! _rimshot_ ## Thank you. Thank you. I’ll be here all week. 😃 “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/8 "2000-04-15T14:29:00Z")
“his” way… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/9 "2000-04-15T15:54:00Z")
To pip your own olives, push down on one with your thumb & you can feel that pit & pull it. ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/10 "2000-04-15T19:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by jackas: > \*\*I’m a big fan of olives and was wondering how on earth they manage to pip them so acurately? Is it machine done, if so how do they pip them through the right spot? Is it done just after they are picked or just before they are ready for eating? > \*\* I work in an olive factory and I can tell you that the olives are definitely pickled before pitting. The process works as follows: 1. The olives arrive to the factory 2. They are separated from their leaves 3. They are sorted by size 4. The are then treated - either with a) Caustic soda, water, saline & vinegar b) Caustic soda, water, lemon extract c) saline 5. They sit around in containers for several months 6. They are then sorted by size again 7. Then they are either packed whole or pitted. The pitted ones are either packed or cut into rings or diced. There is also a process after step 5 where they can be dyed to make black olives, and then follow steps 6 and 7. There are other olives that are cracked or sliced after step 5. It is all a complicated process, which at my plant should be ending in a couple of weeks, after which we will start pickling cucumbers! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/11 "2000-04-15T20:10:00Z")
Hi, **Curwin!** Welcome to the SDMB! You mean to say you’ve been sittin’ there, waiting all this time to start posting, just because we didn’t happen to get around to your favorite topic?! Geez, why dincha say somethin’!? Like, “Hey, guys, let’s talk olives!” We’d have been happy to oblige… 😃 Well, maybe now you can make up for lost time! Welcome! ## 😃 “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen ---
**Author:** ![jackas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@jackas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackas)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2000, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/12 "2000-04-17T13:45:00Z")
Thanks to everyone for this one (Curwin in particular). I can now enjoy my olives in the knowledge that they have been pipped post pickling at the plant. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2000, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/13 "2000-04-17T14:05:00Z")
Ahhhh it takes me back to the Broadway of the 70’s… " Think about the sun, Pippin…think about it’s golden glance…" Had to go there, sorry… 🙂 Cartooniverse * * * If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel. ---
**Author:** ![VileOrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9e8a1a/32.png) [@VileOrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VileOrb)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2000, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/14 "2000-04-17T15:30:00Z")
Well, I see that everyone is making fun of the word ‘pip’. Did anyone look it up? I did. According to my American Heritage it can mean the “small seed of a fruit.” However, no mention of it being used as a verb. ‘Pit’, however, can be used as both. I have never used, or heard, the word ‘pip’ in reference to anything except R&B and Dominoes. Where are you from? * * * Spring Ice: 2 parts gin, 1 part Cointreau, 1 part Midori, 2 parts fresh squeezed lime, 7-up to fill - Garnish: Orange slice in bottom of glass. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/15 "2000-04-18T06:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > It is not as perfect as you may think. many olives are destroyed or otherwise unusable. You just never get to see them. Actually, I buy “salad olives”, which are green olives that didn’t get perfectly pitted. They’re every bit as tasty, they just don’t look as pretty. I imagine that imperfect black olives get sold to make muffaletta (sp?) dressing. Lynn ---
**Author:** ![Pippy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Pippy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pippy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/16 "2000-04-19T01:23:00Z")
Pipping? did someone say pipping? ---
**Author:** ![jackas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@jackas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackas)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipping-olives/10634/17 "2000-04-19T12:35:00Z")
I am mental!!! Sorry, I have just realised the confusion I have caused starting this thread with reference to the word ‘pip’. I am Australian…enough said.