“Dress Up Your Dish” with Black Ripe Olives

I adore black olives. I eat them on pizza. In salads. In sandwiches. Mixed with hummus. Tossed with pasta. By themselves, straight out of the can.

Did you know that California’s olive growers produce more than 95% of the black ripe olives grown in the U.S.? From breakfast to dinner, January to December, and from everyday to gourmet, olives can be as casual or as elegant as you’d like to make them, adding color, texture, and flavor to any meal.

Black Olive, Red Pepper & Cucumber Salad

This refreshing salad I made with ingredients I picked from my mom’s garden. Adding a handful of California Black Ripe Olives made it complete! I forgot to snap a pic before digging in, but it looks a lot like the photo that goes with the recipe that I got from calolive.org.

•    1/2 cup sliced California Black Ripe Olives
•    1 red bell pepper, chopped (I also added yellow to make it even brighter!)
•    1 English cucumber, seeds removed and cut cubes
•    2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
•    1/4 cup garlic-infused olive oil
•    Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Toss together the olives, red pepper and cucumber; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice and olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour this over the veggies, and ta-dah! A healthy, elegant salad in minutes.

For more information about black ripe olives (and more recipes!) please visit www.CalOlive.org.

Disclosure: The California Olive Committee provided me with black olives, recipes, and a gift card to cover the cost of ingredients for sharing the information above.