Olive is the olive tree's fruit, an evergreen with ancient origins, identified by scholars in different regions of Asia. Currently, the olive tree is cultivated throughout the Mediterranean basin and in California, a country with similar climatic characteristics. In Italy it grows along all coasts and can reach a height of twenty meters.

The leaves are small, oval, dark green on the upper side and silvery on the lower side, while the olive is a drupe, ovoid in shape, green in color which becomes black when fully ripe; inside it there is a hard, long and narrow stone.

The pulp of the olive is used in the preparation of olive oil when the fruit, harvested between autumn and winter, is still unripe. There are also many varieties of table olives, which have different production cycles: green olives (harvested still unripe at the end of summer) and black olives (harvested when fully ripe in winter).

They can be found on the market preserved in oil or brine, cooked in the oven, but also natural, enclosed in jars or can be even sold loose. There are also olives on the market already pitted, plain or stuffed with pepper and anchovy. Olives excellent for an aperitif, but can also be used as an ingredient in many recipes.