Are sun dried olives always raw?

MontrealMommy

Hi I love olives and want to incorporate them in my diet. How can I tell if they are really raw?

germin8

Good question. It should be labeled.

I love black olives and mediterranean olives and when I tried the raw ones, I didn’t like them… maybe it was the type I bought.

flybaby

Yeah it is a good question, sometimes certain dried food are labelled sun dried because it sounds good, be careful and look into it, search on the internet or call the company.

debbietook

Hi

I’ve written an article on this. Hope it’s of help.

http://debbietookrawforlife.blogspot.com/2008/0…

MontrealMommy

Thanks all!

achin70

Yeah, it’s a good idea to check your sources. Also, sometimes sun dried olives are rolled in olive oil, and the olive oil is usually not raw, given the expense of using truly raw olive oil. One company I know uses conventially processed (not exactly sure what that means, I’m sure it means it’s pressed in a big bad machine) olive oil. I’ve heard even cold pressed olive oil (also usually pressed in a machine) might not be raw, since temps can reach 160 degrees during processing. Stone-crushed olive oil should be raw, though.

alpdesigns

I wonder about anything sundried. The sun in Texas will fry an egg on the sidewalk. Being sundried doesn’t necessarily mean raw. I think the process is important.

flybaby

I’m happy, because I have found a company who says their sun-dried olives are dried at 25-30 degrees celsius!

achin70

I wonder what the critical temp is for olives. I’ve heard recently that not all enzymes in foods are destroyed at 118 degrees. Supposedly, it’s very food specific. If I remember correctly, the critical temp for cacao is 170 degrees. Maybe agave also can tolerate temps higher than 118 degrees, since it’s derived from a desert plant.