What many people don't know is that the olives
start off as green, like this one.
Now, these two olives, one green one black,
they belong to the same tree.
This one is just a little more ripe.
But all olives start off as green.
Some grow to be black. Some are picked before that.
Some are eaten only green.
So, there are a lot of types of olives,
but they all start green.
(man) One, two, three, four.
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Nina, move.
(Suhail) Okay.
- (Rhoda) You can put it down here. - (Suhail) Yeah.
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(Suhail) I'll put it here.
(Rhoda) What about the bag?
I need to cut two pieces...
and spread it down there.
Get the other one.
So I brought...
A machete.
(Suhail) a machete.
(mouthing)
American accent! Yoo-hoo.
(Suhail) Okay. It's easy to move here.
Okay. So, I'm coming down to help.
And then afterwards,
we come and pickle the green and black olives.
I want to bring gloves and wear proper shoes
because the chickens hung out here
and I can smell their poop. Gross.
(Suhail) As you see...
this 50 shekel...
(whispers) machete?
- "Muh-sheh-tee." - "Muh-sheh-tee."
You know, you cannot go out
on the street at night with this.
It's very dangerous.
Yeah. It's easy.
So, one time, years ago, before we married,
we were working on the tree--
or, actually, my dad was working on the tree--
and he had a ladder standing against the balcony, there,
and he was on it, on top of it.
It's a very old, wooden ladder.
Very shaky. Not stable.
But it was, I think, the only one we had.
And he was standing on the top of it,
and it was a diagonal way,
not very upright.
And he was pruning the tree from that side,
from the other side,
and suddenly, I see the ladder go like this,
and my heart just fell.
(Ruthie) And he's used to,
every time somebody picks olives.
A few years ago, his two sisters fell,
so it's common in the family.
(Rhoda) He came out fine from it.
And look where he is now.
Dad.
You know, the tree symbolizes life--
just the olive tree--
life full of fruit.
Amazing! Thank you, Jesus.
I'm pulling some olives from the branches.
(Suhail) See if maybe I have to cut this one.
That's it!
(Rhoda) Poor Erika. Dad!
(Suhail) This is what we call picking olives.
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This is very useful for the tree, what I did,
the cut I did, because in this way,
you let the light of the sun
come into the tree.
And this way,
I help the tree to be fresh more
and bear more fruit.
There are two ways to pick the olive tree.
The preferable way is what I'm doing, by hand.
It takes a longer time, but it's better for the tree.
The other one is hitting on it with a branch or a stick.
That harms the tree a little bit, unless you're very gentle.
(Suhail) We do like this.
See?
But, this way, it's not good.
It may damage...
the leaves or the branches.
But you have to know how to use it,
not to do the opposite, like this, but like this.
- The direct--
From up to down...
with the leaves, with the branch.
See?
(Sergio) I have here a black olive.
(Ruthie) No, don't... don't eat it.
- Why not?
Ew. Ew.
(Ruthie) You told him to eat it?
(Sergio coughing and gagging)
- (Rhoda) For the show. - (Ruthie) He shouldn't eat it.
(Rhoda) For the show, Mom.
(Ruthie) What show?
(tsking) Rhoda!
I thought she was joking with you!
You don't eat olives until you do them with lemon
and you press them.
Oh, the bitterness!
That was more bitter than the funeral coffee.
So, there they are.
(Ruthie) So, first, we wash them.
And, there used to be a special tool...
from wood to smash the olives.
But, now, I'm gonna use this.
- (Sergio) What?
A can.
But not empty, of course.
Full, so you can do like this.
And the olives come.
(Sergio) Wow.
So, why do you need to crush them?
(Ruthie) So the bitterness goes out and you can eat them.
If you don't want to crush them, you can pickle them,
but eat them, like, next year
or after ten months or something
because they are very, very bitter.
(Sergio) So, if you crush them...
- the bitterness goes away faster? - (Ruthie) Yeah.
And if you put water, soak them,
and for ten days change the water,
they will come better.
Also, some people will take this knife,
and they will do like this.
Like this.
You can pickle them and they can stay longer.
(Sergio) So, you add the lemon, right?
- You added this lemon here? - (Ruthie) Lemon...
and some salt.
Because this is a small amount, so just a little salt.
But, usually, if you have a lot of olives,
they're pickled, and they say "until the egg floats."
They put water...
and they add salt and add salt until the egg floats.
Then, you have the right amount of salt.
But, now, we just put them in this small glass jar.
If you like it a little bit hot,
so you can add also a green pepper...
and some water...
and a little olive oil for the taste.
We keep for 10 days.
And, then, after 10 days,
you are welcome to taste. Okay?
But, what I want to do is just put
a lot of olive oil on this.
We don't use water, just olive oil.
(Sergio) So, how come the black ones
don't need smashing like the green ones do.
- You can smash them. - Yeah?
But you don't put water.
You put olive oil and some salt,
and that's it.
And they're ready.
(Sergio) So, we're gonna keep those until Christmas?
- Yes. Yes. - Ah. Okay.
We keep them for Christmas.
So, if I taste them right now, they will be very bitter?
No, no. You can't.
Very bitter and it hurts your stomach.
And we put fejan.
Fejan is a kind of herb you can put them in
and it adds flavor and smell.
They're done.
And the green ones, when those will be ready to eat?
Maybe 10 days.
Oh, great! So we can taste the green ones in ten days.
But they will stay bitter...
- A little bit edible. Okay. Yeah. - but you can eat them.
So, that's it. We're done.
(Sergio) Wow, that was fast.
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