There are many varieties of olive, green, yellow, brown, pink, black, luminous purple, smooth, wrinkled, round,oval, hugely fat or small like sloes. There are, however, two basic types of olive - green & black - and different colours tend to denote degrees of ripeness or areas of origin.
Manzanilla
are firm, glossy and well-flavoured. Usually they
are presented as green olives, but they are sometimes available black.
They are also good quality cocktail olives, and these are the olives that
are often stuffed with almonds, pieces of red pepper, anchovy or citrus peel
to make a tasty snack food.
Hojiblanca
are of a similar size to manzanilla olives, but are
wrinkled, and usually pinkish brown, although, if they are preserved in brine
they tend to look very black.
Sevillano
are picked before they are ripe and are then soaked
in an alkaline solution before being rinsed and packed in brine.
Gordal
these are available green or black, are fairly salty,
and are often combined with herbs and other flavourings.
Picholine
are green to yellow-green, small and elongated, with
a firm flesh.
Nicoise
are brownish, small and usually packed in a herbal
brine with the stalk attached
Tanche
are large, black, juicy and slightly bitter olives
which are cured in oil or brine.
Lugano
these are purplish-black, oval, smooth and
salty.
Kalameta ( greek )
are treated wine brine mixed with oil and vinegar. These
olives are smooth skinned, with a crisp texture
Morrocan
are usually simply washed and left to dry in the sun before
being lightly salted and packed in oil. Consequently they do not keep
well, but they do have a lovely unadulterated fruity flavour. They
are picked at every stage of ripeness, ranging in colour from rose-pink to
brick-red, yellow, brown, purple and black.
Sometimes exported olives are described as " a la grecque
"