{"product_id":"the-passionate-olive-isbn-9780345476760","title":"The Passionate Olive","description":"For more than four thousand years, the olive tree has been a symbol of abundance, peace, and longevity. Gifted by a goddess, revered by ancient cultures, and protected by emperors, the olive tree and its precious fruit have played important roles in civilization.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDubbed “liquid gold” by Homer, olive oil has been used for food, medicine, magic, beauty, and divine rituals. Baseball star Joe DiMaggio is even said to have soaked his bat in olive oil. And while it is no longer drawn upon to treat leprosy or massage elephants, the use of this versatile product is growing by leaps and bounds around the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Passionate Olive \u003c\/i\u003eis the ultimate guide to this natural marvel. Along with olive legends and fascinating history, Carol Firenze shares the myriad practical uses of olive oil through the telling of her favorite family stories and by offering unique formulas and recipes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRestore luster to your pearls . . . curb your cat’s hair-ball problems . . . silence squeaky doors hinges . . . soothe your sore throat and dry lips . . . replace artery-clogging butter in your favorite dishes with . . . can you guess? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Passionate Olive\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the secrets of how to enhance your life, love, and health with olive oil and merits a front-and-center spot among your most cherished books. It makes a beautiful gift, too, for just about everyone and every occasion. In fact, you and your friends will want to keep \u003ci\u003eThe Passionate Olive\u003c\/i\u003e and a bottle of olive oil in your kitchen, your bathroom, and even your bedroom.\u003cb\u003eCAROL FIRENZE\u003c\/b\u003e is a board member of the California Olive Oil Council and a professional member of the American Institute of Wine and Food and the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. She received her Olive Oil Consultant Certificate from the Italian Culinary Institute in New York and holds a doctorate in education from the University of San Francisco, with a focus on cultural and communicative understanding. Firenze lives in Los Gatos, California, and is an international management consultant.Chapter one\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLiquid Gold\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOlive oil . . . i just love it! I always have. I adore everything about  it: the color, the feel, the taste, the texture, the variety, the  mystique, the smell—the possibilities. I think my love of olive oil  must be hereditary. Ever since I was a child growing up in an Italian  American family, olives and olive oil have fascinated me. I remember  opening a can of olives, draining the liquid, and putting whole pitted  olives on my fingers and popping them in my mouth sequentially and  eating them with complete delight. I also reminisce about my early  childhood friends being shocked at our family’s use of olive oil  instead of the vegetable oils used in their homes, and their surprised  faces as I dipped bread into oil rather than spreading it with butter.  Even then I was trying to convert people to the magical world of olive  oil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll of my ancestors came from the region of Liguria, an area of Italy  known for its light, flavorful, and delicate oils. I remember savoring  the exquisite tastes of my grandmothers’ cooking and hearing the  stories about how my grandfathers saved money for several weeks to  purchase the precious oil; it was a household priority and a staple and  necessary for food as well as for many other practical things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThroughout history there have been many people who have been completely  amazed by the merits of olive oil. Although treating leprosy, massaging  the skin of elephants, or boiling it to pour over castle walls onto  attackers may not be counted among our current everyday uses for olive  oil, its uses are not only infinite but also legendary. Homer was right  when he named this precious oil liquid gold and sang praises to the  olive tree in his epic poems.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile most people think of olive oil mainly as a culinary condiment,  people of the ancient Mediterranean burned olive oil for illumination  or applied it topically to the body. From ancient times to the present,  people have used it for medicine, for magic, and as part of their  everyday beauty rituals. Olive oil has always been more than a basic  food to the people of the Mediterranean; it’s been the Mediterranean’s  lifeblood and has illuminated history since the beginning of humanity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOlive oil’s mystical glow has been a magical ingredient in religious  and spiritual rituals and a therapeutic resource to cure ailments and  diseases. It was used to anoint kings (often poured directly on their  heads), and it became a “monarch” itself when it became known as the  king of all oils. In ancient Greece, athletes ritualistically smeared  it all over their bodies before engaging in physical exercise, and  winners were crowned with olive branch wreaths. In Rome, gladiators  oiled their bodies as they prepared for competition. Celebrated  physician and Father of Medicine Hippocrates recommended the use of  olive oil for curing ulcers, cholera, and muscular pain. Drops were  (and still are) trickled through holes in the tombs of saints to pay  homage to them. Olive oil perhaps is the missing piece used in building  one of the engineering wonders of the world, answering the question  scholars have posed for centuries: What else could have helped ease the  movement of the great stones to build the pyramids of Egypt?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe history of the olive culture mirrors the history of Western  civilization. Although scholars disagree as to the actual specific  location, the olive tree most likely originated in Asia Minor, probably  in the Caucasus Mountains. What is known is that the first cultivated  olive trees appeared around 6,000 BC in the area of Syria. They then  spread to Crete, Palestine, and Israel. As much as precious petroleum  oil is used as a basis for today’s economy, back then the economy was  based on the production and sale of grain, wine, and olive oil. As  trading moved out into other regions, this commercial network spread  the knowledge and cultivation to what is now Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, and  Greece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy the seventh century BC, olive trees were well established in Greece.  The olive tree was considered so sacred that legislation was written to  prohibit the cutting down of one. Known as Solon’s Olive Protection  Law, and written by the statesman, Solon, the law stated that wrote  that anyone who uprooted or destroyed an olive tree would be judged in  court and, if found guilty, sentenced to death. In fact, the olive  culture was so highly valued and the fruit from trees considered so  sacred and revered that only chaste men and virgins were authorized to  pick the fruit. (I wonder what kind of workforce we could gather today  based on those stringent guidelines?)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Romans planted olive groves and extended olive cultivation  throughout their ever-growing empire. They improved oil-production  techniques by inventing what was to be the prototype of the modern  lever press. Populations conquered by the Romans were often ordered to  pay taxes in the form of olive oil. Why, you may ask? As great  consumers of oil, the Romans could not feed their own citizens with  local oil output (a situation that still exists in Italy today). As  documented in the Museo dell’Olivo (the Carli Olive Tree Museum in  Imperia, Italy), it has been estimated that adult citizens going to  public gymnasiums used as much as 55 liters (14.3 gallons) of olive oil  annually for personal hygiene, for consumption, as a lubricant, for  lighting, for rituals, and as a medicament. That is a lot of olive oil!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe valuable oil played an important role in the development of the  Mediterranean economy. Under Roman rule, the Mediterranean region was  divided according to olive oil markets, and olive oil trading was as  hot a commodity as was dot.com stock in its heyday. Two notable  differences between the dot.com peak and the olive oil peak: First of  all, according to the historian Pliny, by the first century AD, Rome  had excellent oil that was sold “at reasonable prices.” Second, olive  oil is a trend that has lasted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAdvanced ships were built for the purpose of transporting oils a great  distance. Hispania (that portion of the Roman Empire encompassing most  of present-day Spain and Portugal) was the largest supplier of this  precious liquid, and their olive oils were considered the holy grail of  oils and thought to have the finest quality. The oil was shipped in  terra-cotta amphoras (large, two-handled jars with narrow necks). Often  carrying up to seventy kilos of olive oil, these amphoras could be used  only once for three major reasons: olive oil permeated the porous  terra-cotta causing rancidity if used again; they often became damaged  during the voyage; and cleaning and recycling of the amphoras was  unprofitable. The number of discarded amphoras is staggering. In fact,  there is a mountain in Rome called Mt. Testaccio—forty-nine meters high  and one kilometer wide—that is made entirely of methodically broken,  discarded, and stacked amphoras.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe citizens of Rome and other parts of this vast empire consumed great  quantities of Hispania’s wonderful oil. Even the oldest cookbook (that  we know about), written by Apicius in the first century AD and entitled  De Re Coquinaria (“On Cookery”), included many recipes using Hispania’s  oil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOlive cultivation declined during the barbarian invasions. It became  rare and valuable during the Middle Ages, where it was chiefly used for  religious purposes. Religious orders owned a great share of the  cultivated olive trees, and behind monastic walls the precious oil  could be found at the tables of churchmen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe history of olive cultivation in the New World can be traced to  missionaries traveling with Spanish explorers and conquistadors who  carried the olive to Mexico (New Spain), to Caribbean settlements, then  to the mainland of South America (Peru, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile),  and, at last, to what is now California. As early as 1524, Franciscan  missionaries planted olive trees in New Spain. As they prepared for new  settlements (in Baja California), they would take pot cuttings (or  seeds) from existing orchards to their new outposts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSailing in the name of Spain, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus,  while not involved in olive agriculture, noted the importance of olive  oil during his journey to the New World. He is said to have allotted a  daily ration of a quarter liter of olive oil (about 1 cup) to each  sailor aboard ship.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe early history of olive cultivation in present-day California  revolves around the Franciscan fathers. During the second half of the  eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, olive groves were  established at nineteen of the twenty-one California missions,  beginning with San Diego de Alcala and ending with San Francisco Solano  Mission in Sonoma. Only the missions at San Francisco and Carmel do not  have suitable climates for growing olive trees.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHistorically, the original purpose of growing olives in California was  for the making of oil, with the first oil produced in 1803. By the  mid-nineteenth century, olive oil was a thriving industry, but then it  languished. Its popularity was cyclical, and, by the end of the  nineteenth century, table olives became the primary products from the  fruit of the tree (and still are). However, in recent years, a number  of Californians are planting olive trees and harvesting the fruit to  make exceptional olive oil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince 1985, the use of olive oil in the United States has grown  exponentially with the importing of excellent European oils, the  availability of award-winning California oils, the national focus on  health and nutrition, and the growing interest in culinary arts. But  not too many people know that the olive tree itself has always been a  symbol of abundance, peace, longevity, and wisdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCapable of living up to three thousand years, this hardy and  undemanding tree can survive semi-arid climates, shallow soil, and  decapitation. Should a tree die, shoots will begin to grow from the  base. Because of its immortal nature, the tree and the oil produced  from it have developed magical auras and are referenced in numerous  legends, stories, and myths.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMythical, Mystical, and Legendary\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe olive tree has inspired myths and legends and has enjoyed an  unrivaled degree of fame (well, with perhaps the possible exception of  the grapevine). It was especially lauded during the Greek, Egyptian,  and Roman eras. In Greece, the history of olive oil is as old as the  gods of Olympus. One Greek legend accounts for the very origin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eof the olive and associates it with the founding of the city of Athens.  According to the legend, a contest was held in Greece to see which god  or goddess would be the patron of the new Greek city. Athena, goddess  of wisdom, was challenged by Poseidon, god of the sea and horses, to  provide the Greeks with the most useful, divine gift. Poseidon produced  the horse; however, Athena was chosen by Zeus as the winner of the  contest because she provided the most useful gift—the olive tree—noted  for its oil, fruit, and wood and as the symbol of peace, wisdom, and  prosperity. Even today, an olive tree stands where the story of this  legendary competition is said to have taken place. The myth lives on;  it is said that all the olive trees in Athens were descended from that  first olive tree offered by Athena.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThroughout Greece, competitions were held in close connection with the  olive tree. The Olympic Games, held in honor of Zeus, are where Olympic  athletes (massaged with olive oil) believed that wisdom, power, and  strength would be bestowed upon them. It was also believed that if one  polished a statue of Zeus with olive oil, he would be so honored that  he would bring the statue owner a long and happy life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Egypt, the kingdom that worshiped its pharaohs in life as well as  death, crowns of olive branches were ritually offered and placed in  tombs. Olive oil, mixed with sesame and pistachio oils, was applied  prior to the linen wrapping of a mummy. The ancient Egyptians, who also  used olive oil for cosmetics and medicine, believed the olive tree to  be a gift from the gods that would bestow beauty, power, and love to  its users. They also believed that Isis, goddess of fertility and wife  of Osiris, a supreme god of the Egyptians, was responsible for teaching  man how to extract oil from olives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHowever, always competitive, the Romans credit the olive tree and its  oil to their goddess of wisdom, technical skill, and  invention—Minerva—who, according to legend, gave the Romans the art of  cultivating the olive tree. The legendary founders of Rome—the twins  Romulus and Remus—were believed to have been born under an olive tree.  Another legend attributes the wild olive tree to Hercules, who struck  the ground with his mighty club, which then took root. Whatever the  legends, the civilized Romans, to this day, are credited with saying:  “Partes humani cultus necessariae vinum . . . atque oleum  olivarum”—“The necessary ingredients of civilization are wine and . . .  olive oil.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoses, Christ, and Muhammad Have One Thing in Common\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOlive oil occupies a central place in all of the religions associated  with the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The oil has been used for  lamps in temples and for anointing rituals since time immemorial. Olive  oil was sacred to Moses, Christ, and Muhammad.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOlive oil is referenced more than 140 times in the Bible, and the olive  tree, considered the king of all trees, is mentioned over one hundred  times. In Genesis, an olive branch was returned to Noah on the ark by a  dove, signaling the end of the great flood. Since then, the olive  branch has been viewed as a symbol of life and peace. The greatest  religious significance of olive oil is documented in the book of  Exodus, where the Lord tells Moses how to make an anointing oil of  spices and olive oil. The olive tree and olive oil permeates different  ancient psalms and prayers, many of which are recited today, including  Psalm 23:5, “. . . you anoint my head with oil.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the Jewish people, having a plentiful supply of oil, along with  wine, was a symbol of God’s favor. Oil was, and still is, a sign of  God’s blessing because it represents all that is best in life and God’s  generosity to the people he loves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the Christian churches, both Western (Roman Catholic and Protestant)  and Eastern (Orthodox), olive oil is the symbol of God’s boundless  generosity toward humankind and of his never-ending love. Christ  (Christós) means the anointed one, that is, anointed with (olive) oil.  When it is used to anoint people in church, it becomes one of the  channels through which God’s power comes into the world and by which he  blesses Christians with his Holy Spirit.","brand":"Ballantine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303116165349,"sku":"NP9780345476760","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780345476760.jpg?v=1767740882","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-passionate-olive-isbn-9780345476760","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}