i eat olives probably 5 times a week. i simply cannot get enough of them. kalamata, nicoise, picholine, ponentine, taillades, the list goes on and on.

so let's hear it! what's your favorite olive?

kalamata

Spanish.

oil-cured

Nicoise

calamata

I second Gus and Budman- Calamata. I like Nicoise but I find they haven't got enough flesh on them, strongly flavoured though.

i did a side by side comparison just last night of the two(kalamata & nicoise). the nicoise won hands down for flavour.

They are really concentrated thats for sure.

What do you call those little wrinkly black oil cured olives?

I love olives when I can get em where they're good and I remember I need them. Whole Foods sometimes is out of sight out of mind. <sigh>

Question for you olive-lovers: do you find it hard to locate good olives? I do. Like I stated in this thread, my favorite olives come from Spain. I find it almost impossible to find "real" Spanish olives in America. I try & try & try... And, the labels or retailers tell me, "...oh yeah, these are real Spanish, Mediterranean olives." --- Yeah, right. It is very seldom that I find the olives that I like.

I like olives a lot, too.

My current fave since I discovered them for the first time about 6 months ago are Moroccan dried olives. The best way I can describe them is sort of like a sun-dried kalamata. They're the same size but more intense and salty than kalamata, and I love their slightly chewy texture.

I don't drink martinis unless my arm is twisted, but sometimes I've had them served with huge green olives that have a thick sliver of garlic in them. It makes drinking gin or vodka almost worthwhile.

Another olive fan here. Fave: garlic-stuffed Spanish olives from Whole Foods. Downright addicting.

Boardo,
I'm not sure either. Will have a look in the Chefs book.

I love the oil-cured Moroccan ones.

I also love large Spanish olives stuffed with bleu cheese. Oh man!

And jalapeno stuffed.

And garlic stuffed.

And onion stuffed.

Need I go on?

Dadgummit! Now I have a jones (no, not you Jonesy) for some olives and there isn't a single one in the house. They go too quickly around here.

before rehearsal tonight i picked up 1/2 lb of "lucques". they didn't make it home. god they are good. kind of nutty. like an almond meets an avacado.

even almond stuffed are good, too

Between Whole Foods and Central Market good olives are not hard to find. I'm with DdB - the garlic stuffed ones are awesome.

Okay, confession time .......... 3 - 6 olives per day Habanero stuffed olives! great stress relievers. My office mate and I keep a case in our refrigerator in our office