If you want to buy wholesale olives Australia, it is important to know the difference between olives and olive oil. A lot of people don’t know how to differentiate the two and could end up buying one in the place of the other. Today, most grocery stores have olive bars with different kinds of exotic varietals. But are olives and olive oils the same nutritionally? Read on as we help you understand the differences and similarities between the two.

Do olive oils and olives have the same benefits?

Both olive oils and olives are promoted as healthy foods because of their high monounsaturated fats. Some cultures have diets that are rich in these types of fats and such cultures tend to have lower rates of cancer, heart disease, and obesity even when their total consumption of fat is on the higher side.

In fact, some scientists and researchers theorise that these types of fats might be less fattening compared to other types of fats because the human body metabolises them and stores them differently. This means that monounsaturated fats seem to be less likely to contribute to heart disease and clogged arteries. Read on to understand more about olives and olive oils before buying wholesale olives.

The differences between olive oil and olives

Here is one big difference between olive oil and olives: Oil is 100% fat whilst whole olives are only 20% fat. This means that a serving of olive oil on one tablespoon contains 120 calories whilst a serving of ten olives contains only 40 calories.

Other differences

Olives that have been cured to be edible contain a lot of sodium whilst olive oil is free from sodium. Polyphenols are largely preserved in virgin olive oil but the curing process removes most of them from olives. Whole olives have some fibre while olive oil doesn’t. Some olives are processed with fermentation and this means that they would be a source of useful bacteria while olive oil is not.

Now you can see that both olives and olive oils have their pros and cons. But it is silly to compare them because they aren’t interchangeable. You are not going to cool your spinach with olives and you are not going to have olive oil as a snack. It is, therefore, important to understand that olive oil is one of the healthiest oils in the world and you can choose olives to make nutritional snacks.

Know the healthiest types of olives

Green olives are higher in polyphenols and they are usually picked before they ripen. On the other hand, black olives are allowed to ripen and they have higher oil content. So when buying olives, you should just decide which ones you need at a particular moment.

Processing olives

You can buy wholesale olives Australia and process them yourself or you can buy processed olives. Raw olives are bitter and hard. They are cured in salt or oil or picked in brine to make them edible. The curing process gets rid of the bitter compounds and makes the fruit soft.