History of black olives and Freda Ehmann
In August, 14, 1919, people got sick from botulism poisoning after a dinner party at a country club near Canton, Ohio. Seven of them died. A week later, epidemiologists went to work, interviewing the survivors. Their report included the menu, the seating chart, and a thorough discussion of who ate what.
The final conclusion:
"The occurrence of poisoning ... can be accounted for only by the ripe olives served at this table."
Among the waiters at the club there is a custom of collecting the delicacies after the diners have finished, and two waiters poisoned did so collect the left-over olives and ate some of them. Later, waiter C.O. carried the olives to the chef with the request that he "Try one of these damn things, they don’t taste right to me." The chef ate two and later died."
The next decade was murder for the olive industry. Nobody would even look at an olive from California. The whole industry switched to a new standard for the ripe California olive.
"It has to be heated to 240 degrees. And only a can would tolerate that, physically—you couldn’t do that with a glass jar."
Eventually, California olives came back. In cans.
In August, 14, 1919, people got sick from botulism poisoning after a dinner party at a country club near Canton, Ohio. Seven of them died. A week later, epidemiologists went to work, interviewing the survivors. Their report included the menu, the seating chart, and a thorough discussion of who ate what.
The final conclusion:
"The occurrence of poisoning ... can be accounted for only by the ripe olives served at this table."
Among the waiters at the club there is a custom of collecting the delicacies after the diners have finished, and two waiters poisoned did so collect the left-over olives and ate some of them. Later, waiter C.O. carried the olives to the chef with the request that he "Try one of these damn things, they don’t taste right to me." The chef ate two and later died."
The next decade was murder for the olive industry. Nobody would even look at an olive from California. The whole industry switched to a new standard for the ripe California olive.
"It has to be heated to 240 degrees. And only a can would tolerate that, physically—you couldn’t do that with a glass jar."
Eventually, California olives came back. In cans.
Like the green ones though.