What is inside an olive?

Calories

Calories tell you how much energy food gives your body. One olive weighs about as much as a coin, around 4 to 5 g. Ten olives have about 40 to 70 calories. That is about the same as one small apple.

The US food database, USDA FoodData Central, has measured it. 100 g of black olives have about 115 calories, and 100 g of green olives about 145. Every kind of olive is a little different, so the label on the jar is the best guide.

Fat, the good kind

Olives are a fruit full of oil. That is why people press them to make olive oil. About a tenth of an olive is fat.

Most of it is a kind called monounsaturated fat, which food experts count among the healthier fats. Olives have no cholesterol at all, because cholesterol only comes from animals.

Fibre and vitamins

Olives have fibre, which helps your tummy work well. 100 g of olives have about 3 g of it. They also have vitamin E, which helps protect your body, and some iron and copper.

Salt

Fresh olives straight from the tree taste very bitter. Nobody would want to eat one. To fix that, they soak in salty water for weeks or months. The bitterness goes away, but the olives become salty.

Too much salt is not good for your body. The World Health Organization says grown-ups should eat less than 5 g of salt a day, which is about one teaspoon. A handful of olives can use up a good part of that teaspoon.

A simple trick is to rinse olives in water before you eat them. That washes off some of the salt.

How many olives a day?

There is no rule. For most people a handful is a tasty snack that fits into a healthy diet. People whose doctor has told them to eat less salt should count olives as a salty food and ask the doctor how many are fine.

Green or black?

Green olives are picked early, before they are ripe. Black olives are picked when they are ripe, or turned black after picking. Black olives usually have a few fewer calories and a little less salt, but the difference between two brands can be bigger than the difference between the two colours.