The California Black Ripe Olive

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The California Black Ripe Olive was invented by a housewife in the late 1800s. Mrs. Freda Ehmann, a widowed immigrant from Germany, developed an improved process to cure ripe olives. In order to avoid the previous result of unattractive mottled green and brown olives, she created a multiple-day process that starts by putting the olives in a lye curing solution that leaches the bitterness out. This is followed by a series of cold water rinses, which removes every trace of the curing solution and during which pure air is bubbled constantly through the olives. This air is what creates their natural, rich dark color – the California Black Ripe Olive! Mrs. Freda Ehmann is considered the "mother" of the canned olive industry due to her ingenuity.  

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