Think you don't like olives? This Aussie method might change your mind - News + Articles

Aug 01, 2025

From citrus and green apple to stewed peaches and plums – these Australian olives taste more like wine than your traditional brined varieties. The secret lies in a waste-free processing method that's turning olive haters into converts.

Olives. You either really love them, or you really hate them. Myself, I’m firmly in the former camp, to such a degree that by the time I was four years old, my mother had to start rationing out my daily serve of olives, to stop me from eating entire jars in a single sitting.

Of course, I know that I’m usually outnumbered by the haters (which works great when you’re out with friends at a Greek restaurant, or at a bar serving martinis – all those olive goodies come straight to me). However, one Australian mechanical engineer may have stumbled upon a solution to our national table olive industry’s current image problem. He’s found a new way to process olives that doesn’t just drastically slash waste – it’s bringing out a whole new world of flavours in this much-maligned fruit.

Olives – the Australian way

The new processing method, named Olives the Australian Way, was created by John Fielke, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of South Australia. It has the potential to revolutionise the table olive industry by offering a more sustainable and efficient way of producing olives while also creating a fruitier product with greater complexity of flavour. Professor Fielke says that judges who tasted his olives at table olive competitions were noting flavours more akin with wine tasting.

“Citrus, green apple, stewed peaches, plums – all those same flavours that you get in wine,” he says. “I’ve never seen someone say that a bottle of wine tastes like grapes. They’ll say it’s got notes of citrus or notes of passionfruit, or of berries.”

Both wine and olives contain phenols – plant compounds that can influence the taste and colour of the end product.

“So just like wine has all those hidden flavours in there, olives have exactly the same [hidden] flavours,” the professor says. “And if you’ve tasted extra virgin olive oil; those peppery notes that you get, the cut-grass flavours? All of those we can experience in our olives as well, besides these fruity flavours.”

How does Olives the Australian Way work?

Olives aren’t edible straight off the tree – they’re too bitter. The traditional methods for removing this bitterness usually involve enormous amounts of water – most commonly via natural fermentation in brine or with the use of lye. Both of these methods are quite labour intensive and require multiple changes of water, which also creates a lot of wastewater, which needs to be disposed of carefully, or it can cause damage to the environment. All of this leads to high production costs.

Professor Fielke’s method is revolutionary in that it uses the same brine to cure the olives from beginning to end – filtering the brine, rather than replacing it. The professor likens it to a swimming pool filter.

“A swimming pool filter takes out all the dirt and organic matter from a swimming pool,” he says. “We’re doing that a little bit more chemically, where the organic matter sticks to the filter itself, and then we wash the filter out. We’re not letting the brine get dirty and then trying to clean it; we’re actually just keeping clean brine clean, and taking that organic matter out.”

The olives are put into the brine as soon as they’re picked at the orchard, and the same brine is used to pack the finished product. It’s a huge saving on water, waste and labour. It’s also creating some amazing flavours.

“We’re capturing all the bitter flavours that come out from the fruit; they come out from the fruit into the brine and then we are stripping them out from the brine,” Professor Fielke says. “The flavours in the fruit seem to stay within the fruit. That’s the interesting thing.”

Olive orchard — Australia’s climate is well-suited to growing olives.

Pipping promise

The professor, together with his wife Sue, has produced 86 tonnes of olives this harvest – their sixth. They have just received a $2 million government grant, with matching support from industry, to further develop the process and explore opportunities for the table olive industry. Professor Fielke says that this method could offer new economic opportunities for our regional areas.

“The Riverland in South Australia has a big wine-growing region with 20,000 hectares of wine grapes, and they are really struggling to sell their grapes,” he says. “This is an alternative to change maybe half of that 20,000 hectares into olives, for both oil and table olives.”

One of the Australian producers that is supplying the professor with olives, and that is watching the process with interest, is Victorian-based Mount Zero Olives. Mount Zero director Richard Seymour says that while they produce their olives using either the traditional Greek fermentation method or Spanish-style lye treatment, they are “keeping a good eye on” what Professor Fielke is doing.

“Who knows? Down the track, we might look to adopt some of those methods as well,” Seymour says.

He also believes that the method offers potential for the industry.

“Absolutely,” he says. “I think we’ve proven it with olive oil, then the next step is obviously with table olives. And initiatives like this I think go a long way to paving that. And then obviously, as we find scale ourselves, and other growers using more traditional methods, we’ll be able to start to take a bit more space back in the deli or on the supermarket shelf.”

What do Olives the Australian Way taste like?

Team delicious. was lucky enough to have a taste of the professor’s hojiblanca olives – a green Spanish variety. As an olive lover, of course I loved them. They still taste like olives, yes, but there is a firmer texture and a lengthier, more interesting journey on the palate, which softens over time. You can, as the professor says, taste the fruit.

Seymour says that he noticed more olive oil flavours in Professor Fielke’s product.

“It’s a different process that doesn’t involve fermentation,” he says “Fermentation is a wonderful thing. It adds character and adds depth and flavour, and creates the beautiful flavour of olives we know today. But at the same time, when we taste olive oil, we never want to taste any kind of fermented characters – we describe olive oil as being grassy or appley or nutty and having all those really fresh notes.

“When we started tasting John’s fruit, we started getting much more of those extra-virgin flavours. That to me is the main difference.”

Sadly, our fervently olive-hating Digital Director was not swayed from his position. But Professor Fielke says that he has seen many other former olive-loathers switch teams.

“I would’ve said 50 percent of people like olives and 50 percent of people don’t like olives,” he says. “Now, of the people who like olives, they all like our olives; of the people that don’t like olives, that other 50 percent? About 80 percent of them actually say ‘I like your olives and I really could eat lots of them’.”

Olives the Australian Way are not yet commercially available for sale, but the professor and his wife are currently working on their brand. So watch this space.

Are olives good for you?

Well, if you eat them by the jarful like me, probably not. Otherwise, yes. Olives are a great source of healthy monounsaturated fats, in particular a type called oleic acid, which has been linked to heart health and reduced inflammation. Olives are also rich in plant compounds known as polyphenols, which have antioxidant properties and can help to reduce the risk of a number of chronic diseases, including cancer. These juicy little wonders are also a great source of fibre, as well as vitamins E and A, which means they’re great for your skin. So taste the fruit and olive long and prosper.