olive green (pink, rose, cranberry, cherry, plum, indigo, black)

all olives start out green, and if left to ripen long enough they will all turn black. sort of like green chiles and red chiles. they both have heat but green chilis are sharper and red are more full bodied. similarly olive oil pressed from green olives tastes different from oil pressed from black olives.  but from a color perspective, the most interesting thing is what happens between the green and the black phases. between those two “normal” colors is a whole spectrum of shades that are never associated with olives unless you live in olive country. the olives in this photo all came from the same tree, on the same day. which one of them is “olive colored?”

olives from green to black